DIK (Desert Island Keepers)

Last post I covered the hero and heroine and how important they are towards making a book a DIK. But that’s only part of the equation. It’s probably the most important part, but not all of it.

Another factor therefore in creating a DIK is setting. I have DIK’s in just about every genre there is – from the Historical to the Western to the Paranormal to the Sci-Fi romance. In some cases the author takes what is familiar, such as England in the 19th century and creates a believable world. In other cases it may be a tight knit pack of werewolves. Or it might be during a siege of a Norman castle. But what is most important is that when I’m reading a book, I need to feel that I’m actually inside where the writer is taking me. Whether I feel the sultry heat of a Louisiana bayou where I can actually feel the mosquitoes biting me or whether I’m on the bridge of a starship, in order for a book to qualify for me as a DIK. I don’t want to be kind of squinting, sitting up above the action, thinking I get it.

When I read Ride the Fire by Pamela Clare, one of my top DIK books, I could feel the tension as they made their way through the forest, avoiding at all costs, running into those who would harm them.
When I read After the Night by Linda Howard, it was as if I was in that alley too when Grey had Faith up against the wall *ahem* yes – time to move on. And I almost recognized that annoyed woman who interrupted Faith and Grey in the women’s washroom.
In every one of my favourite and then the cream of the crop, the DIK’s the writer has had the ability to place me directly into the setting of the book.

Another feature of all of my DIK’s is to not only feel the location but to feel the emotions. I get right into a book and whether it’s the hero or the heroine, I want to feel what they are feeling. I want to feel Gabriel’s despair as he is cutting his arms in Broken Wing or I want to feel Blair’s satisfaction when she gets a good one on Wyatt in To Die For by Linda Howard. I could almost feel that button of Eve’s that Roarke handles as his constant reminder of Eve and his need for her.

If the book is a serious emotional one, I want to feel like I’ve been through the wringer along with the hero/ heroine. If it’s a funny books, I want to have laughed or at least smiled by the end. If it’s a romantic suspense, I want to feel the tension and if it’s a paranormal, I want to believe that yes, of couse shift shapers really do exist – I just haven’t met any yet.

So what about you? Besides the hero and heroine makes a book a DIK. What else makes you want to read and reread certain books? Is the setting important to you? And does the author ever make you feel what the characters feel?