The problem of how to interest the reader of the text faced authors of all times and genres. Today, almost all methods have been tested and known, it remains only to choose the method that is most suitable for a particular work.
Instructions
Step 1
Shock the reader. "Shock" in this context does not have to be literal (see the work of Chuck Palahniuk). The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in his work "The Anti-Christian" shocked from the first chapters: he called all Christians people "weak", "miserable" and "despising everything human." Despite the fact that the reader stood in a sharply opposite position, he remained intrigued and read further, before explaining the author's point of view. The science fiction writer S. Lukyanenko regularly uses a similar technique: his novels begin with an action that seems completely insane and obscure. But already in the second chapter, the author begins to explain the "rules of the game" and the events that just happened.
Step 2
Conduct a dialogue with the reader. This implies that you are not just giving your point of view as an ultimatum, but asking rhetorical questions, allowing you to think something out on your own and, most importantly, trying to understand the thoughts of your reader. So, Francis Fukuyama in his philosophical works regularly uses the wording "You might think …". Those. he deliberately foresees possible objections to his address and responds to them in a timely manner, which creates the effect of a dialogue.
Step 3
Be clear. This is especially important for authors of textbooks and scientific papers. The reader is only interested in the material when he clearly understands it, so try to avoid complex expressions or regularly remind their meaning. That is why reading classical German philosophy causes such horror among students: as a rule, such texts are very incomprehensible, contain many narrow terms and require careful and thoughtful reading. Of course, the thoughts expressed there are very interesting - but they are simply not available.
Step 4
Emphasize relevance. For example, having written an essay on the cost of oil in the world, you can leave it interesting only to a narrow circle of people, however, if you draw direct parallels with reality and everyday life, you will instantly become important to readers. In the above example, it might look like: “My topic is important because oil is the main export commodity in Russia, and its cost directly affects our standard of living."
