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I’ve been thinking about something that comes up in a lot of edit letters I write, especially with newer authors.

It’s something I call “The Wikipedia Problem."

Read on and then I want you to let me know if you've struggled with this--or if you recognize it in books that you've read!

Here’s what I mean:

When you read a Wikipedia entry about someone—let’s say Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—you get information. You learn facts. You understand what happened to her, what she accomplished, what her role was in history.

But you don’t feel like you know her. You don’t feel connected to her as a person. You’re not emotionally invested in her story.

You don't particularly care about Eliza based on reading about her life facts on Wikipedia. She's just a historical figure.

That’s because Wikipedia’s job is to deliver information, not create connection.

And here’s the thing: a lot of authors accidentally write their characters like Wikipedia entries.

They give us all the information about their character—what they look like, what happened to them, what they’re doing—but they don’t give us the experience of being in that character's shoes, moving us through their life with them, feeling and experiencing what they are.

The difference between information and experience

In the Wikipedia version of Eliza's life, we know the facts.
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Now think about what you know of Eliza from perhaps the musical Hamilton. Or even the book My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie.

I'll use Hamilton as an example for this newsletter but in the workshop, I'll show you some comparison from the book!

If you've ever seen Hamilton, you experience through Eliza, through her songs and the music, as well as through the songs of her sister, Angelica, the love she had for Hamilton, the betrayal she felt, the grief.

None of that is something you connect with through Wikipedia.

Why this matters more than you think

I've been working in publishing, helping authors with their writing and their careers for 2 decades, and one of the things I pay close attention to is reader behavior. One thing I've noticed in the past few years: readers are putting books down faster than ever. There are so many books to choose from, they spend less time on the ones they're not enjoying.

Here's what I think is important about this: It seems more and more that the books readers stick with (and recommend and re-read) aren’t necessarily the ones with the most interesting plots or the most beautiful writing. In fact, they're rarely the ones with the most beautiful writing.

They’re the books where the readers feel like they’re living the story, not just reading about it. They're experiencing that understanding of what the character is experiencing. They're thinking of the characters as friends, enemies, "book boyfriends", and people who become REAL to them, who inspire them to draw character art, write fan fiction, and get character tattoos.

That's what happens when you use your character details to create a connection. To create fans.

When you write character information instead of character experience, you’re asking readers to observe your story from the outside.

When you write character experience, you’re inviting them to step inside and live it with your character.

The quick test

Here’s how to spot the Wikipedia Problem in your own writing:

Read a scene from your manuscript and ask yourself: “Am I telling the reader about my character, or am I letting them experience what my character is experiencing?”

If you find yourself explaining dry details of your character's life, you may be in Wikipedia mode.

If you find yourself showing what it’s like to be inside your character’s head and heart, sharing the experience and emotions, you’re probably creating experience.

This is exactly what we’ll work on in Tuesday’s Deep POV Workshop

How to stop telling readers about your character and start letting them live inside your character’s world.

The Deep POV Workshop is Tuesday, July 8th at 2pm EST. It's $30 until the live workshop starts, then the price goes up to $50.

There will be a replay!

​Register for the Deep POV Workshop​

You’ve got this. We’ve got this.

Angela

P.S. I said at the beginning that I wanted to hear from you. Do you recognize the Wikipedia Problem as being something you struggle with or that you've seen in books you've read?

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