Category: Writing Tips

Emotion = Investment!

7/9/2022

Great writers always clue us into what the characters are thinking and feeling, because that’s where the story lives. But, that's easier said than done. How do you learn to get your reader to feel and put your book on the "All The Feels" list on Goodreads?

Well, my first suggestion is to read more books! Find some books known for giving you the feels, and read them. Dissect them. Watch how the author does it. I will list a couple I recommend below in an affiliate link!

Next, ask yourself these questions:

Is the reader aware of the protagonist’s specific expectations? Can the reader tell whether those expectations are being met or not? Writers often forget this, and forget to get into the right specifics.
Does each scene affect your protagonist emotionally in the moment? The reader must know what emotion the protagonist is feeling, especially when it’s the opposite of what the protagonist is saying they are feeling.
Does the protagonist react to everything that happens? Physically, thinking, or feeling? How does what happens affect your protagonist? To keep your readers invested, your protagonist must react to everything that happens to them or around them. Remember to keep everything that happens pertinent to the story!
Can the reader see the causal link between what happened and why your protagonist reacted the way they did? This links back to Number 1. If the reader understands Number 1, then they will likely understand this.
Does everything reflect the protagonist’s point of view? Remember: First Person especially is never neutral. Everything in the story relates to HIM or HER.

Help the reader feel what the protagonist feels. Let the reader into their feelings at every turn. Give them what they need to be invested in the story. Don't bog them down with cool world crafting and spell mechanics and backstory. Just let them get in your character's head and heart, so they can celebrate, or cringe, or cry with your character.

Book recommendations (with Amazon Affiliate Links)

Just click the book image, and it will take you straight to Amazon! If you purchase something, it will give me a tiny little commission that will probably be used to buy kids vitamins, dog treats, or more books.

Mockingjay is the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy, and you really won't understand all of the emotions in it without the other two books. The other two books build up to this book, so it is RAW EMOTION. Yet, the author's writing style never changes between the books. You, as the reader, have just taken a wild journey with the character, and know what she loves, expects, and hopes for. So, before you know it, your emotions are wrapped up in her success and failure as well.

If you like classics, my mom recommends Charles Dickens for drawing in reader emotion. Specifically, she recommended The Old Curiosity Shop.
Published in 1841, The Old Curiosity Shop was an instant bestseller that, even while it was criticized for its sentimentality, captured the hearts of the nation with its portrayal of little Nell Trent, who is thrown into a terrifying world when her beloved grandfather is unable to pay his debts to the loathsome Quilp.

The Book of Form and Emptiness finds a mother and son grappling with the profound loss of the father of the family. While the mother’s anguish expresses itself in a hoarding problem, her son hears inanimate objects talking to him, and these voices eventually overwhelm in a cacophony that drowns out his own. Did I mention the book itself is also a character?

Are you wanting to learn more about writing?

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Comments

Story Is Internal

5/24/2022

Comments

Story is internal, not external.
If the reader is not feeling what the protagonist feels, the reader won’t keep reading.
Everything that happens in a story NEEDS to affect the protagonist. If it doesn’t affect the protagonist, it doesn’t trigger emotion, and so remains neutral to your reader.
The reader’s understanding is important as we share the protagonist’s thoughts when their expectations are being met or not being met. If your reader doesn't understand, they have no emotional investment.

Perspective

First-person thoughts and expectations must be woven into everything. The protagonist draws conclusions about everything they mention, down to the smallest detail. Everything they mention inherently pertains to the story they are telling and to the point they're making. They never, NEVER mention something “just because”, or objectively describe things.
Second-person narration a rarely used technique in which the action is driven by a character ascribed to the reader, one known as "you". The reader is immersed into the narrative as a character involved in the story. The narrator describes what "you" do and lets you into your own thoughts and background. Again, nothing is ever mentioned without purpose, or objectively described. Everything brought to "your" attention is important and causes some reaction from "you".
Third-person, the narrator shares reactions, avoids dialogue tags, and doesn’t need to use quotation marks and italics to convey the thoughts and conclusions of the protagonist. The trick is to seamlessly slip out of the neutral narrator’s voice and into the character's very subjective point of view . If done well, it’s invisible.

Recommended Book

Here is an Amazon Affiliate Link, my friend. This book is filled with finished short stories (no cliff hangers) from different perspectives and points of view. They all do a great job of keeping the readers hooked by keeping them emotionally invested in the character's success or failure. There's suspense and romance, action and humor, and loads of character growth in a tiny package. I highly recommend you click the image and check it out and dissect the stories.

Comments

Emotion = Investment!

Book recommendations (with Amazon Affiliate Links)

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Story Is Internal

Recommended Book

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Kathryn White

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