Improve Your Writing with Subtext that Engages an Audience

Roland Barthes, a French philosopher and a literary theorist, concluded that what a reader experiences from a written work is like a dialogue taking place in the mind. There is an exchange of ideas between reader and author. The author triggers a series of ideas and images with every word, and no 2 readers experience them exactly alike, so each reader's experience is going to be unique. This is a boon for writers because it enables us to create surefire ways to get the most mileage out of our words, and whether or not a reader becomes interested isn't left to pure chance.

Subtext is a subtle art. Scholars have dedicated entire books to the subject. So we're going to focus our discussion on just 4 concrete writing tips, ones we can manipulate at will.

Start By Establishing A Rapport

When 2 strangers meet, there can be awkward misunderstandings and differences in opinion until they get to know one another and begin developing a rapport, when both are tuned to the same wavelength. The same is true in writing, and it is therefore the writer's job to connect with his or her reader immediately. This occurs during the introduction, usually in the first several paragraphs where the writer promises to meet reader expectation with a certain kind of story, using a certain tone, where story premises are laid out, thereby locking the writer into delivering on those promises with an ending that satisfies the premise. This is the Implicit Promise or Writer's Contract. Use it to your advantage.

Here you let your readers know you're not going to do all their thinking for them. Engage them from the first word. You'll supply just enough information so they can continue making informed guesses. Readers don't need to know everything up front; they're good at picking things up on the fly. They don't need back-story to get what's happening. In fact, part of the fun is not knowing, and finding clues along the way is far more satisfying than having every little detail spoon-fed.

What Is Said And Unsaid: Both Are Equal

The unspoken language of writing is a fill-in-the-blanks proposition, the kind of relationship in which the writer-reader partners are both adept at taking cues. The author drops a string of clues, suggestive images, a trail of emotionally charged word-pictures:

A naked thigh. Darkened apartment. Half-opened window.

The reader recognizes the tipoff, starts getting nervous, and feels fear on the victim's behalf. The writer anticipates audience reaction, choosing words and phrases that cut at a desired response. Now as the author we can begin toying with our reader-for as long as we desire, for as long as we control the words, the emotional content. We'll place clues, suggesting the victim recognizes a familiar scent; instead of grabbing a towel and sneaking toward the door, she lingers a moment too long. And so we go, dropping hints, sharpening our imagery with an exposed cheek, a startled shudder-until we strike!-with a payoff for the reader (and a slashed throat for the victim). She never even had a chance to scream.

The poor dead girl is our reader-victim, and we've used her, coaxing the reader-victim to play along in our bloodletting game. If you take closer look at the last passage, not once did I mention an intruder nor a weapon. If they are there, it's only because I hinted at them, and the rest you invented yourself.

Diction In Subtext

As you can see, word choice plays a significant role. Slant your diction toward a desired effect. Notice the difference between connotation and denotation (implied meanings vs. actual definition). Use emotionally charged words in heated situations; use the dead languages in medical or science-based passages; choose highbrow vocabulary or lowbrow and slang as the occasion warrants. These are but a few of the many, many choices you have as an author. Remember, everything you write is a choice.

Subtext And Tone

Think of tone and diction as yin and yang. They work together, not as an either/or proposition like in a coin toss, but as two facets of the same idea. Your word-pictures, diction choices, and word associations are all elements of tone. Sure, tone can be dark, comedic, fantastical, satirical, realistic, and the myriad of others, but it's also the way you layer ideas, the interplay of words between one sentence and the next. How you construct sentences, one after another, adds a new level of meaning in the reader's mind, each building upon the last. Weave story elements in and out. Alternate themes from one paragraph to the next. Expand on an idea and drop it suddenly, picking it up again later. All these choices help determine the tone. And together, tone and subtext determines the way in which the reader constructs the story in his or her mind.

Use these principles to make implications without stating them. Hold back information. Give your readers those 'aha!' moments: "I knew it all along!" Control the emotional rise and fall of your content, and you will captivate your audience.