How to Make Your Story FUN to Read

Making your story fun to read is one of the most important writing topics there is.

It might seem obvious, but it’s not, so let’s discuss three different types of “fun” and how to use them in all kinds of stories!

During the last stream, a subscriber requested that we go over “how to make your story fun to read.”

You can watch the full video here to or scroll down for notes/highlights.

How to Make Your Story FUN

Making your story fun is something that is often overlooked during the outlining/writing/editing process
Many writers assume their story will be fun simply by virtue of their plot and characters and world, but that’s simply not true
In order for a story to be fun, you have to make a conscious effort to do it, it doesn’t just happen on its own

What Do We Mean By “Fun?”

“Fun” does not just mean humor/excitement/crazy things
Instead, fun refers to many different things
- Fun can be dramatic twists/turns that happen in the plot
- Fun can be cool worldbuilding/character details
- Fun can be juicy narration/dialogue
All of these contribute to the “fun” of your story, so let’s look at some examples

3 Different Types of “Fun”

Remember! All these examples didn’t have to be written the way they were published. They were written this way because the authors specifically put them into their stories to make them fun.

#1. Fun in Story (dramatic twists/turns in the plot)
It’s important to have fun from the very start, waiting until the middle/end to have fun with your story is way too late.

Hunger Games
– Boring: Katniss is selected to participate in the Hunger Games
– Fun!: Katniss’s sister is selected for the Games and Katniss volunteers in her place

11/22/63
– Boring: Jake’s scientist friend built a time machine to the past
– Fun!: Jake’s friend is an angry, overweight smoker who owns a grimy hamburger shop where there’s a portal to the past in the basement

You
– Boring: Joe stalks a woman he’s interested in and tries to get her boyfriend to break up with her
– Fun!: Joe stalks a woman he’s interested in and MURDERS her boyfriend

#2. Fun in Details/Specifics (cool world/character details)
Going deep in exploring the repercussions of your world/characters to make them feel real

Harry Potter
– Boring: The wizarding world is like ours but with, like, wands and cats I guess?
– Fun!: Underground banks! Broomstick sports! Owl post! Living portraits! Moving staircases! The Sorting Hat! Sarcastic ghosts! Platform 9 3/4 and Hogwarts Express!

Game of Thrones
– Boring: Messages sent by horseback, one royal family, a river separating the north/white walkers
– Fun!: Message sent by ravens, many royal families with their own crests/mottos/traditions, a GIANT FREAKING ICE WALL separating the north/white walkers

Ready Player One
– Boring: A future where people live in run-down apartments and tap into a VR utopia to search in secret for an Easter Egg
– Fun!: A future where people live in MOBILE HOMES STACKED ON TOP OF EACH OTHER and tap into a VR world BASED ON 80s NOSTALGIA where there’s a FREAKING SCOREBOARD for who’s closest to finding the Easter Egg!

#3. Fun in Language (juicy narration/dialogue)
Every good book ever written has this

No matter what kind of book you’re writing, serious or scary or funny or even nonfiction, you need to have some fun in the actual words on the page

Essentially, rather than stating things in a generic/bland way, you write them in a more fun way

Boring: “She woke up and felt horrible after having drunk too much last night.”

Fun!: “She woke up feeling like all the glasses of tequila she’d had last night were having a turn drinking her now, slurping her stomach acid through crazy straws with all the force of a prepubescent sleepover at the ‘cool mom’s’ house.”

The best stories do all three types of fun: story, details, and language, so aim to do the same yourself!

Let’s take a look at some examples of fun writing from “serious” stories!

From Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
(“Fun sections” in red)

Note the fun way that things are expressed: “Never believe anything you hear at a woman’s tit.” “Are you unmaned by the dark, Gared?” “His bowels had turned to water.” “At least insofar as his wardrobe was concerned.”
Game of Thrones is a very serious fantasy story, yet the first page of the first chapter has someone talking about pooping their pants on it!

From The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
(“Fun” sections in red)

This is a story about teens with terminal illnesses, but despite that the first page is super fun to read.
The voice of the main character is incredible, and her unique way of expressing things makes you want to follow along on her journey, not just feel bad for her.

In Summary!

It’s important to make your story fun from PAGE ONE, otherwise your reader will never get to page 100 where all the good stuff happens
It’s best to think about how to make your story fun during the outlining/writing process, so that you can just come up with cool stuff and make it work.
But! It’s also perfectly fine to make things more fun in editing too: don’t let boring things slide just because it’d be too much work to fix them, because agents/readers DEFINITELY will not let them slide
If you ever find yourself saying “that would be fun, but it would go against/contradict…” then STOP and change it anyway. Remember, you are the god of your story, so change the rules/characters/plot, whatever it takes to make it fun to read!

Be sure to check out the video for more discussion, examples, and the prologue that we made extra fun for a viewer!

If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.

And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.

Hope to see you next time, friend!Featured image: Pakutaso