I recently completed a Masters in Creative Writing but in this short course, @OUFreeLearning, - 'What happens to you when you read?' I came across something new.
In chapter 6, 'Exploring the story world.' 'Transportation' is discussed. How the reader is transported into the world of the story.
I then realised that I have experienced transportation, mostly when watching films, and sometimes when reading novels. The most recent was when watching the film 'Belfast' by Kenneth Branagh. The viewer is taken onto the moving bus, into the besieged supermarket and scuttles with Buddy, along the bombed street, as the action happens.
I think transportation is achieved partly due to the setting; the detail of the setting and the sensory impressions and experiences by the viewer or reader. It is also the number of opportunities for the audience or reader to empathise with the character, to stand in the shoes of the character at that moment.
My aim is to work on these two aspects of my writing and bring the reader with me and the characters into another world.