My family is kind of odd.
Different, perhaps, than what mainstream society is like.
Maybe your family is like mine . . .
We actually like each other. And we like to be together!
That’s why last Friday night, we were cuddled on the couch—me, my husband, and my two kids—watching old reruns of Looney Tunes!
That’s right folks!
Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote.
You know ‘em, you love ‘em.
My daughters laughed until their bellies hurt. My husband and I shared “remember when” stories of watching these cartoons as kids.
We know Wile E. never gets the Road Runner.
We know Bugs always outsmarts Elmer.
And we know that sweet singing bird is forever out of reach of that mean puddy tat.
So why do we watch them over and over and share them with our kids decades later?
Because they bring back fond memories, good feelings. They make us laugh together as a family. They help us connect, reminisce, and make new special memories.
It’s all the same elements of a good novel.
It’s all the same reasons we stay up way too late until the Kindle battery dies, because we just want to read one more chapter.
There are lots (and LOTS) of novels available in all the genres. What makes you choose one off the shelf? Why do you “add to your cart” on Amazon? How good does it have to be to pass onto your friends?
Most likely, your answers include the same reasons my family likes to watch the old-school Looney Tunes. It makes us feel good. It helps us escape from current troubles. It gives us that euphoric feeling of childhood.
If you’re a novel writer, you’ve got to evoke these feelings in your readers.
If you’re a novel reader, you want to feel these things when you read.
So share with me, what other reasons keep you turning page after page in a book? What current novels are you reading now?
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