Literary illusions - not just a magical term anymore.

Being a TV and movie buff, I am always seeing how there are so many literary illusions that writers include. Every TV show or movie that I watch has its own unique writing style that inspires me to think about new ways in which to write. It’s quite easy to see connections to how other writers craft their work, draw you in, and find ways to interest you that you believe you could never possibly think of on your own.

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It is immensely interesting to note the use of visual and literary illusions not only on and off the set, but also within your writing.

I know, I know. You’re wondering how in the world illusions could possibly come up in your writing and benefit the creative writing style you have tried to create within your writing. I bet the first thing you thought of when I said illusion was a term used in magic – like what David Copperfield does in his acts.

There’s more to illusions than that, though. Illusions trick you – even the literary illusions. They draw you in and make you believe that they are real. You can see them, and you believe you can even feel, touch, or taste them. Many movies and TV shows use illusions such as the oasis in the desert to illustrate just what an illusion is. In your mind’s eye, you see it. It relies on the concept of possibility, and the adaptability of your mind to function in such a way that you believe what you’re seeing, hearing, or for our purposes, reading.

You may be thinking to yourself that it’s impossible to write with illusions. You’ve only ever seen illusions happen. I’m going to give you the tools to write with literary illusions.

First off, here’s an example of how TV shows and movies use illusions which help with the persuasive writing styles they are trying to convey. They are trying to persuade you to believe their storyline. They must use illusions to help them do this. We’ve all heard the phrase “the camera adds ten pounds”. It’s also true that the camera adds depth and width to a set.

In person, the set of Central Perk, the coffee house on Friends, is much smaller than the cameramen would have you believe. Their camera angles add substance and enlarge the area that your mind’s eye sees. The same goes with the set of the hit game show Jeopardy. On TV, the cameramen would have you believe that the audience is at least twice the size as it truly is.

These examples illustrate just how important the concept of illusion is to good writing. If the Friends cast was picking up their coffee everyday from a shop no larger than your bedroom, the hustle and bustle of people on a busy New York street coming in and out of the coffee shop ordering skim lattes and scones wouldn’t be nearly as believable.

The same goes for the set of Jeopardy. If the audience looked like it only had about 50 people in it, it wouldn’t look like the show has nearly the amount of fans as it truly does. They add depth to make you perceive things in such a light that you are engaged, satisfied, interested, and curious about just what will happen in the rest of this scene or the next one. If the cameramen do their job, the illusion is captured, and you, as the captivated audience, don’t even realize what is at work before you.

So, now your question probably is just how to do this in your own writing. I’m here to tell you that just because TV and movie writers have the visual medium to help craft their illusions, you as writers are just as capable even through your words. Thus, the benefits of creative writing become evident.

Start off by creating your scene. Let’s start off with this beginning of a story that I am in the process of writing:

The stampede burst out of every crevice. The adults tried to protect the young, but the force of the rush was nothing to be reckoned with. They were animals, running into one another at alarmingly fast speeds, and the fresh air that mingled with the bright sun only encouraged the onslaught to continue. Pushing and shoving, they rammed against one another and finally burst out into the open.

What does this scene convey to you, as readers? Maybe you’re picturing lions and tigers charging headfirst through the forest. Or maybe you’re picturing the scene from The Lion King where Scar pushes Simba in front of a stampede, and Mufasa races to his son’s rescue. I give words that serve as writing clues. The stampede, animals, adults trying to protect the young, the force of the rush, the onslaught. All of these words provide hints that are supposed to serve as cues to help people figure out just where the scene is going.

Remember though, we’re talking about illusions here. So, where is my literary illusion headed? Chances are that this scene has nothing whatsoever to do with real wild animals. Rather, this opening paragraph leads into the next few sentences that read as follows:

Another year had come to an end, and there couldn’t be a time that the eighth graders had been happier. The summer had finally arrived, and with it the promise of a fresh start – high school was only two and a half months away.

If you didn’t know that these lines followed the first ones, you may have been under the impression that I was trying to give you – the literary illusion that I was trying to create of a mad burst of animal prowess, stampeding through the jungle. I created for you the illusion of one thing, and then brought you back to reality by telling you the truth of the matter – that this is the beginning to a young adult novel about adolescence and the trials and tribulations that go along with it.

Now do you see how literary illusions add to the benefits of creative writing? They allow you to pick and choose what you say and how you say it so that you can engage your readers through your persuasive writing and allow them to perceive your story in the way you would like them to see it.

Literary illusions are important. You always want your readers to picture your book as if they’re watching a movie. You want them to be able to see the characters, hear their voices, feel their happiness, and sympathize or empathize with their pain. The way to do that is simple. Think about your favorite books, TV shows, or movies. What do the writers of these do to grab your attention?

In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, she creates the literary illusion of a fantasy world where wizardry is cool, and young children can win out over the evil of dark powers. The question of whether Snape was good or evil throughout the books is one that I will not reveal here, in case you haven’t had the pleasure of reading these tales, but the concept of whether he was good or bad throughout the stories was an illusion in itself. Rowling created instances in which Snape would seemingly be doing something threatening and with ill will toward Harry, and then she would turn around in the next chapter and have Dumbledore singing his praises and telling Harry that Professor Snape was a trusted friend and teacher, and there was no chance he worked for the darkest wizard.

So, which was it? Rowling’s ability to make us see Snape in both good and bad ways made his character as poignant a one as could be found throughout her stories. He was a character that people loved to hate, or maybe just plain hated, but if it wasn’t for Rowling’s writing, the glorious illusion that she spun out through those seven books wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining to read. She made us question ourselves as well as the character.

That is the mark of truly good and persuasive writing. We, as writers, must make our readers have questions. However, we must make sure to answer them. Open-ended questions might be fun to keep your readers on the edges of their seats, but if you don’t answer them, you will have a broken link that didn’t connect the parts of your story that needed connecting. Curiosity must be satisfied. Create the illusions, but help your readers along as you do it. Make them see what you want them to see, hear what you want them to hear, feel what you want them to feel, and hunger for the tastes you describe. Write in such a way that allows them to do just these things, and your literary illusions will be dutifully crafted and created for your audience.

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