Writing Tips: Psychic Distance

A very powerful writing tool, and one which is very often overlooked by the beginning writer, is the concept of Psychic Distance.

What is Psychic Distance?

Simply put, Psychic Distance the distance the reader feels from the events in the story. Another way of putting it is, it is how connected the reader feels to the action being described in the story. Think of Psychic Distance as if the narration of the story is a movie camera moving in for close-up or out for a long shot. With a long shot, you see the big picture but do not feel what is happening. With the close up, you feel everything the character feels. You are in their head.

Extending the movie camera analogy one step further, consider the film, Saving Private Ryan. In the opening battle scene, the wide angle shot tells us we are on the Normandy beaches. We see the fighting, but as a viewer, we are not really part of the action. Moments later, we see a close up of the men on the beach. We see, hear and feel the fighting. We share the men’s fear and determination.

Now, consider those wide angle, long shots and close ups as applied to your writing. In the below examples, notice how as you move closer to the action, you are more emotionally connected to what is happening to the character.

Examples:

1. It was winter of the year 1853. A large man stepped out of a doorway.

2. Henry J. Warburton had never much cared for snowstorms.

3. Henry hated snowstorms.

4. God how he hated those damn snowstorms.

5. Snow. Under his collar, down inside his shoes, freezing and plugging up his miserable soul.

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Some basic considerations as you use Physic Distance in your writing.

• At beginning of story, as you give the reader a general feel of the story, the narrative normally feels better with long or distance shots. In the above examples, that would be #1 or 2.

• Near the middle of the story, as the reader is being pulled into the emotion of the story, # 2 and 3 tends to feel best.

• Scenes of high intensity, or near the climax of story, tend to read best when told in # 4 and 5.

There is a risk associated with using Psychic Distance in your writing.

• Overuse of distance 5 can heat the story too much and runs the risk of becoming mushy or employing sentimentality.

• Uncontrolled shifts in distance reads amateurish and tends to drive reader away.