part of the story, part of the world
I finished reading 'The Dead Zone' by Stephen King yesterday, it's the first King book I've read (I know, shocking given how much I read, they never appealed to me before).
But about half way through, I found that I couldn't put it down, it's a cool (if slightly unusual) feeling to feel like you're so invested in a book that you want to keep reading and reading.
I realise now that the reason this happens for me is because I feel part of the world that the story is happening, I don't feel like a reader, I feel like a participant. I don't know if it's the characters, the pacing, the plot or a combination, but I thought about all the other books I've read and whether this holds true for those I've truly enjoyed and sure enough, it's true.
When I was reading the Cradle series, I was essentially reading them in a day because I felt like part of the world and that these characters were 'real' (for lack of a better word).
I want to write my own fiction, whether that's short stories or longer form and I'm realising now the scale of the challenge if I'm wanting to write a book like that. It hasn't put me off, but it's made me appreciate how good these authors are to build people, a world, a plot so real that it completely engrossed me.
This is appreciation for those authors.
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