In today’s Journal
* Topic: The Squeaky Stair Technique
* Of Interest
Topic: The Squeaky Stair Technique
I’ve long wanted to write a topic about pulling the reader into the story quickly and more deeply by focusing down. That is, writing some small thing that causes the reader or viewer to focus his or her attention down on a fine detail. Doing so causes the reader to lean more closely (or deeply) into the story.
In fact, I recommend you use this technique in literally every opening you ever write. The point of a good opening is to ground the reader in the story. But it isn’t only for openings. It’s a valuable technique you can use any time you want to cause the reader to lean more deeply into the work.
I call this The Squeaky Stair Technique because of the apparently squeaky or broken stair in the television sitcom Modern Family. Once or twice in every episode, Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) stumbles over that stair step.
Sometimes he’s ascending and sometimes he’s descending. But every time he draws attention to the little stumble by glancing down and saying quietly, “I’ve got to fix that.”
As an aside, it might be interesting to obtain some scripts from the show and study what happens just before and just after the squeaky stair event. Chances are it’s something understated but important to the story.
Sometimes The Squeaky Stair Technique is a recurring event in a series, as in Modern Family. In my Crowley series, Wes had a habit of checking his Colt revolvers to be sure they were loaded every time he put them on. (The reader checked them too, every time.)
But this is also a valuable technique in a one-off short story or novel.
As I mentioned in a comment on Garry Rodgers’ recent KillZone blog post (see “Of Interest”), the detective in my novel Situation Solved analyzed the bloodstain pattern at the scene of a murder in her effort to determine what happened, where the killer stood, the angle of attack, etc.
Notice too, though, the detail doesn’t have to be significant or dramatic, like the blood spatter at a crime scene. The squeaky stair in Modern Family is insignificant at best, at least in the overall scheme.
It just has to be a detail, something that focuses the reader’s attention down into the story for a moment. Details are what bring the setting, and in turn the scene and the story, to life.
In my novel The 13-Month Turn, when a quake trembles through a new lunar colony that is under construction, the reader sees a small segment of compacted lunar dust fracturing and shaking loose from the massive blade of a heavy earth mover.
There is no quicker, easier, or more effective way to pull the reader more deeply into the story than to focus his or her attention on a fine detail.
Okay, so over to you. Where else have you seen this technique in use?
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Forensic Bloodstain Pattern Analysis” at https://killzoneblog.com/2022/06/forensic-bloodstain-pattern-analysis.html. Some extra links too.
See “Content Analysis Tools” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/content-analysis-tools/.
See “Getting Book Endorsements (Blurbs): What to Remember, Do, Avoid, and Expect” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/getting-book-endorsements-blurbs-what-to-remember-do-avoid-and-expect/.
See “Why Testing BookBub Ads Targets Pays Off” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/why-testing-bookbub-ads-targets-pays-off/. Be sure to see PG’s take and then click through to the original post.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 550 words
Writing of Blackwell Ops 8 (tentative title, novel)
Day 1…… 2371 words. Total words to date…… 2371
Day 2…… 1305 words. Total words to date…… 3676
Day 3…… 1107 words. Total words to date…… 4783
Day 4…… 1201 words. Total words to date…… 5984
Day 5…… 1872 words. Total words to date…… 7856
Total fiction words for June……… 1872
Total fiction words for the year………… 11777
Total nonfiction words for June… 1120
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 81730
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 95379
Calendar Year 2022 Novels to Date…………………… 0
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 66
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. I’ve never said WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among other topics.