Writing a story is like dropping breadcrumbs for the reader, and, in that way, every story is a
mystery.

The author leads the reader through the breadcrumbs.

A well-written story with breadcrumbs properly laid leaves the reader feeling satisfied in their soul that events turned out as they should for the characters.

Unfortunately, sometimes the breadcrumbs aren’t big enough for the reader to see or aren’t frequent enough.

A reader can tell they’ve missed something because when they get to the end of a path, things don’t add up.

What a writer doesn’t want is for a reader to get to the end and say, “Wait a second, I remember that little breadcrumb, but I didn’t think it was important enough to give it much thought.”

Now the reader is annoyed at themselves and, probably, at the writer, too.

And just like that, the reader doesn’t trust the author.

And the author may have lost a reader of their future books.

How can a writer alleviate this situation?

Is there a formula to dropping breadcrumbs?

I think a writer needs to know their story’s ending at the beginning of the drafting process.

Then work backward.

That ending should be the result of carefully dropped breadcrumbs.

If, for example, a piece of fabric is what makes the reader say, “Oh, yes! It was the fabric all along.”

Then your job, from start to finish, is to drop big enough breadcrumbs about the importance of that piece of fabric.

Maybe drop a crumb at least every other chapter but not less often than every three chapters, depending on your book’s length.

At the same time, don’t hit the reader over the head with them.

Scatter them often enough that the reader can follow, but not so much that they roll their eyes each time that piece of fabric or whatever is mentioned.

It should be more of an, “Oh, there it is again,” rather than an “Oh, for crying out loud, I get it already!”

So, finish that first draft.

When you read it back, if you find yourself veering slightly to “Oh, for crying out loud” then you’ve strewn too many crumbs.

Go and sweep up a bit.

If you come to the conclusion of “?!”, you haven’t spilled enough.

There are some things that just can’t be taught, even though they’re important.

“Breadcrumbs” are one of those things.

It’s a gut reaction, not a real formula.

Once you’ve read it through and are satisfied, then give the story to your writers’ group or beta readers.

Listen to their opinions.

This is what first drafts are for.

Enjoy your week,

~ Gail

(Tick tock)

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