HOW TO: EMOTION IN WRITING

The greatest achievement in writing is to connect with a reader on an emotional level. The deeper the emotional connection, the stronger the bond between the writer and the reader. This bond creates a repeat customer- which is what most writers strive to accomplish. It is also why establishing a hook at the beginning of your piece is sought after so diligently.

So, how do you go about creating such a deep emotional connection in your writing? The answer, like in many cases, is both simple and complex.

The simple answer takes a little bit of explanation, and you will need to have a rudimentary understanding of how emotion works. Don’t feel overwhelmed, though. It’s easy to understand.

Emotions, both positive and negative, work off of a build and/or release formatting (for lack of a better term). In short, when you experience an emotion, you either hold on to that emotion (build) or let it go (release.) The quickest way you release them is by naming the emotion within one to two words. This concept is explained more in depth here. At this point, you might be wondering how this concept applies to writing. I will explain it and give a few examples.

As a new writer, I thought I captured brilliance whenever I showed my extensive emotional vocabulary by pinpointing my character's feelings and revealing it to the reader. However, in time, I found by naming my character's feelings, I provided a quick release from the emotion for my reader and consequently lessened their connection to my story.

During the revision process, I began finding the emotion words and replacing them with situational alternatives that produced the feeling I wanted to convey (through body language or other means). This practice lengthened out the emotion and didn’t provide an instant release for my reader. Hence, I got my reader to FEEL instead of glossing over the sensation of what I tried to convey. This ‘hold’ rule is much like the ‘show-don’t-tell’ rule. You want to show your reader the emotion (which helps them feel it), not tell them about it.

Here are some examples of what I mean. These are presented in a ‘telling’ writing, ‘better’ writing, and ‘best’ writing format. *Please keep in mind that I’m still a novice writer, but the emotional concepts I’m sharing are sound.

Joy-

Telling

She felt joy.

Better

She beamed with the rapture that only a naive youth could capture.

Best

Her heart raced inside, beating fiercely in her young chest. It consumed her to the point where she wanted to shout out her elation across the rooftops for the world to hear.

Embarrassment-

Telling

He was embarrassed.

Better

His cheeks flushed red as he shyly turned away.

Best

As his cheeks grew hot, he wished a mountain could fall on him to forever hide his blunder.

Anger-

Telling

He was mad.

Better

He stormed through the place, overturning tables and chairs as he went.

Best

His rage simmered just under the surface of his calm demeanor. Dozens of thoughts of how to get even swirled around in his mind.

Through these examples, you can probably see that there are levels of closeness that you can create with your reader, depending on how you present the emotion. And, here’s where it gets tricky or more complex. The ‘telling’ examples are poor writing. The ‘better’ examples work great for secondary characters and so on. The ‘best’ examples work beautifully for the first character, point of view character. However, just like the ‘show-don't-tell’ rule, there are times that telling helps with the flow and pacing of your story. For more information on when to break the ‘show-don’t-tell’ rule, check out September C. Fawkes’ blog here. You probably won’t want to drag your reader through every single emotion your characters are having, so use wisdom with when and how to show emotion. Keep it short on the things that don’t matter as much and lengthen them out on the things that do.

It’s important to note- not every character shows emotions in the same way. The reddening of cheeks can mean embarrassment in one, while it can mean anger in another. So, make sure you know your characters and their body language.

My hope with this blog post is to help you write emotion the way you want. Don’t feel overwhelmed by this concept. You can do it! You already know your characters, they are apart of you. Every single one of them comes from a collection of your experiences, thoughts, beliefs, etc. All you have to do is learn how to tap into them through practice.

-I wish you well in your writing endeavors.