How to Show Emotion in Writing and Make Readers Feel It

 

How to Show Emotion in Writing and Make Readers Feel It

 

It’s really amazing, if you stop to think about it. Readers will willingly suspend disbelief and subject themselves to the gamut of emotion, making themselves vulnerable to intense feelings.

Some readers read for the suspenseful ride. Like my husband and kids, who eagerly climb into seats on real roller coasters—they’ll even wait two hours to experience a two-minute ride just to get scared out of their wits.

Some readers are perfectly fine crying, feeling miserable, or aching in commiseration as they go on a difficult journey with a fictional character they love.

Fictional, not real.

Why do so many people love to do this? I don’t know. I can only speak for myself. There is something wonderful, magical, and sublime about being made to feel deeply about something outside my normal life.

Stories that remind me of what being human is all about, what love is, what loyalty is, what hope is, what being victorious looks like, lift me up, confirm my humanity, bring deeper meaning to my own life.

Seeing that we have readers willing to experience emotion when they turn the pages of our novels—no, not willing … expecting, hoping, and longing for an emotional experience—we writers need to become masterful wielders of emotion.

Contents:

1. Writers Have to Dig Deep
2. Don’t Try to Name Emotions
3. But What If You’re Not the Emotional Type?

Writers Have to Dig Deep

That’s not an easy thing to do. It takes thousands of hours of study, practice, and honing to become a master of emotion. And often that means we have to mine our own emotions.

We have to dig deep to reflect on how we react, respond, and feel emotionally to events, people, and situations so that we can try to capture those feelings and transfer them onto the page.

That’s the advice Hemingway gave, and it’s the best advice I’ve seen on the emotional craft of fiction: “Find what gave you the emotion . . . Then write it down, making it clear so the reader will see it too and have the same feeling as you had.”

Hemingway’s advice gives us the first step to learning how to manipulate readers’ emotions. In addition to examining how you emotionally react to things you see around you or on TV, pay attention to those moments when you feel strongly while reading a novel.

Instead of thinking, “I want my reader to feel sad,” how much more masterful would it be to dig deep into the many emotional nuances we experience when any given event occurs.

Do what Hemingway instructed. When you feel something, write down what action took place that made you emote. Then dig into the emotions and learn not just why you feel this way but what exactly you are feeling. What thoughts led you to those feelings?

If you can nail the thoughts, which are words, you can put similar thoughts (words) into your narrative and character’s voice.

That’s the first step toward evoking emotion in readers in a masterful way.

Don’t Try to Name Emotions

I usually can’t put a name to the composite emotion I feel in a given situation. I can toss around a whole lot of words. But, to me, trying to name complex emotions is like trying to catch the wind with chopsticks.

Think of it this way. You might not know what to name a particular color shade, but if you have a few tubes of paint and play around with the quantities, you just might be able to re-create the color perfectly.

That’s what you need to do with words on your palette to create the same emotion.

But What If You’re Not the Emotional Type?

If you consider yourself an unemotional person, not used to examining into your feelings, this aspiration to become an emotional master is going to kick your butt.

I’ve had numerous editing clients tell me they really struggle with this. They say, “I’m just not the emotional, introspective type. I rarely get in touch with my feelings.”

Let’s face the facts: since readers read to care, to be moved, if you want to write the kind of novel that will move them, you must find those emotions within you.

Here’s one thing that might help: music.

I don’t know about you, but music is very powerful to me. It can evoke tremendous emotion in me. That’s why movies can move us in such emotional ways—they not only show (rather than tell) scenes in which characters are emoting, there is a soundtrack that overlays, designed to stir emotion.

Who can explain why certain musical scores make some people weep? Or want to cry out in joy? We can feel nostalgia, poignancy, love, peace, awe when we listen to music. It’s hard to name the emotions we feel when we listen.

Certain instruments might move us a certain way. Some are moved by opera. Or a sweet folk song.

The first time I heard Pharrell Williams’s song “Happy” on YouTube, I got so happy I started dancing around the house just like all those people in the music video. That song was so powerful that people all over the world got hooked on it.

Even Oprah had Pharrell on her show to talk about that one song. If you haven’t seen it, take a minute and watch. It shows ordinary people of all ages, races, classes, stature dancing to the song in locations around the world.

Music is powerful. Music and dancing are universal. Joy is something everyone wants to feel. Emotion is powerful, infectious.

Pharrell’s music and lyrics, along with showing people dancing and moving to his song, gets people in touch with that place inside that feels joy in life. And that’s magical.

We also bring our past to our response to music. What are your favorite songs from when you were a teen? Music sparks intense memories.

When I hear certain songs, I’m instantly transported to specific times and places in my life. Not only that, I can almost taste and feel as if I were back there, thinking and feeling the way I did when I was fifteen or twenty.

Music sparks memory. Memories spark emotion. Emotions lead to more thoughts and memories, and more emotion.

If you know you need your character to feel something and you’re not sure how to tap into that feeling, try to find some music that will take you there.

I have a playlist of hours of soundtrack music. And I often choose a particular piece to listen to when I’m writing or plotting a scene in which I need to feel something specific. I may not be able to name the emotions, but I know what feeling I’m searching for.

Music can free you up; bypass your resistance or writer’s block. If you need to write an exciting high-action scene and you put on music that is exciting and stimulating, it can get your creative juices flowing and drown out your inner editor.

Emotional mastery is one of the hardest skills for a fiction writer. While there are many techniques to help you get there, music is one tool that will help you mine your emotions.

 

Did you know ProWritingAid can help you show emotion in your writing? The Style Report will point out emotion tells, so you can turn those into more poignant descriptions.

Sign up for a free account and start editing today

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Writing Prompt: Back in the Day

 Writing Prompt: Back in the Day

 

These exercises were written by IWW members and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its members. You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that you found them at the Internet Writers Workshop. 

 

 ____________

 

Exercise: In 400 words or less, use an older character's conversation with another individual to transition us between present and some time in the past when the character was in the prime of life. You should briefly ground us in your character's current condition¸ and then smoothly transition into a scene in the past - a time of particular importance in your character's youth.

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You might have an old pirate describing his or her days of glory to a recent recruit, an aged lawyer sharing a grueling court case with a reporter, a law officer reliving the takedown of a notorious criminal, a wartime veteran recalling a battle from years before. The possibilities are endless. 

Your goals are to perform a smooth transition, and to make us care about the character.

There's no need for the entire piece to be in dialog, unless you choose that approach.

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Critique:  In your critique, you might identify anything that strikes you – in a positive or negative way - about the contrast between old and young versions of the character. Did the transition work for you? If not, what might be done to improve it? Did the dialog and tale feel natural? Most importantly, did the character and the tale hold your interest? Would you want to read more?

 Some more writing prompts for you to try.

2022-2023 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers - Judged by Morgan Talty | $3000 Prize!

The Masters Review’s Short Story Award for New Writers

Submissions Open Until January 31!

Winter is coming! The Masters Review’s Short Story Award for New Writers is a bi-annual contest that recognizes the best fiction from today’s emerging writers. Judging 2022-2023’s winter contest is Morgan Talty, author the story collection Night of the Living Rez. Winners and honorable mentions receive agency review from five agencies as well as publication. The winning story earns $3000, while the second and third place runners up receive $300 and $200, respectively. Participating agents include: Nat Sobel from Sobel Weber, Victoria Cappello from The Bent Agency, Andrea Morrison from Writers House, Sarah Fuentes from Fletcher & Company, and Heather Schroder from Compass Talent. Our mission from day one has been to support emerging writers. We want you to succeed. We want your words to be read.

Guidelines:

• Winner receives $3000, publication, and agency review
• Second and third place prizes ($300 / $200, publication, and agency review)
• Stories under 6000 words
• Previously unpublished stories only
• Simultaneous and multiple submissions allowed
• Emerging writers only; writers with book-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. (We are interested in offering a larger platform to new writers. Authors with short story collections are free to submit new, unpublished work, as are writers with books published by indie presses or self-published.)
• International English submissions allowed. No translations.
  
• Double-spaced, 12 pt easy-to-read font (i.e., Times New Roman, Garamond, etc.) please!
• $20 entry fee
• Deadline: January 31, 2023
• All stories are considered for publication
• All submissions will receive a response by the end of April
• Winners will be announced by the end of May
• Friends, family and associates of the final judge are not eligible for this award. Consider submitting to the Summer contest!
• A significant portion of the editorial letter fees go to our feedback editor, according to the rates established by the EFA

We don’t have any preferences topically or in terms of style. We’re simply looking for the best. We don’t define, nor are we interested in, stories identified by their genre. We do, however, consider ourselves a publication that focuses on literary fiction. Dazzle us, take chances, and be bold.

JUDGING

Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation where he grew up. He is the author of the critically acclaimed story collection Night of the Living Rez from Tin House Books, which won the New England Book Award, was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers, and is a finalist for the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. His writing has appeared in Granta, The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, Narrative Magazine, LitHub, and elsewhere. A winner of the 2021 Narrative Prize, Talty’s work has been supported by the Elizabeth George Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts (2022). Talty is an Assistant Professor of English in Creative Writing and Native American and contemporary Literature at the University of Maine, Orono, and he is on the faculty at the Stonecoast MFA in creative writing as well as the Institute of American Indian Arts. Talty is also a Prose Editor at The Massachusetts Review. He lives in Levant, Maine.

Writing Prompt: The Shadow Knows

 

 Writing Prompt: The Shadow Knows

 

These exercises were written by IWW members and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its members. You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that you found them at the Internet Writers Workshop.

 ____________ 

Exercise: Write a piece of no more than 400 words in which
a shadow or shadowing plays an important role. This could be
a character sketch, a flash piece, memoir, poem, or a start
on something longer.

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You may write anything that concerns 'a shadow,' but you
could start with one of the following:
* Is someone being "shadowed?" (i.e., followed)
* Does a character discover his "shadow" side, i.e., the dark side of his personality?
* Does someone live "in the shadows?" (e.g., is depressed, in
hiding, or under some constraint)
* Does someone live in the shadow of another person, e.g., son overshadowed by a  father?
* Does a character have a strong impact on others or situations, e.g., "cast a long shadow?"
* Does a 'shadowy character' figure importantly?
* Perhaps a shadow on an X-ray or a window curtain plays an important part.

Be creative and imaginative. Enjoy the exercise.

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Critique:  In your critique consider the writer's creative approach to the idea of the shadow. 

Is it fresh, unique, interesting?

What do you like about it? 

What works or doesn't?  

Could the idea be explored further? Could the author improve the piece?

How?

 Some more writing prompts for you to try.

Writing Prompt: Observing Behavior

 Writing Prompt: Observing Behavior

 

These exercises were written by IWW members and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its members. You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that you found them at the Internet Writers Workshop.

 ____________

Exercise: In 400 words or less write a sketch in which we witness a character’s (or characters’) behavior from a distance. We are too far from the action to hear any dialogue. This is a sketch, a visual exercise. It’s the sort of thing you might do if you like to draw-- a quick observation of a character at an interesting moment.

____________

Some possible approaches to the exercise follow:

‘Bob came home mad!’ What do we see? Do we see him come in the door? What does he do? What is his face like? His body? Is this silent anger or an outburst. What do we learn about Bob? Can we tell what has triggered his anger?

Or let us watch someone trying to train a dog-- a puppy, an old dog, or a scary dog. Who is in charge? How can we tell? What do the actions we observe tell us about the human and the dog?

Or let us watch a child go to a new school. We can be with her as she approaches the building, goes in, walks down the hall looking for the right room. Does she hesitate? Do we get the feeling that she is brave or scared? What do we see when she enters the classroom? How old is she? What grade is she in? Try to tell us visually.

____________

Critique: In critiquing this exercise let the author know how well you can ‘see’ the character and situation via the verbal sketch. What details bring the scene to life or give it depth? Does the observation tell a story? Do we understand what’s happening? Does the sketch make you want to know more about this character(s)? Could the piece be improved? If so, how? 

Some more writing prompts for you to try.

Read the Genre You Write | Writing Tip Of The Day

Read the Genre You Write

 

Research isn't only for nonfiction, my friend. If you want to know what readers are expecting from your genre, you need to read that genre. You need to have a good understanding of the tropes that work and the tropes that don't work. You need to know what's been done to death a thousand times and what's new and fresh. You need to love that genre and have respect for it. I don't care if you're writing books about seven-foot-tall blue aliens who are obsessed with finding their soulmates (hello there!) or if you're writing a thriller about a gritty navy seal who has to stop a military coup. 

 More Writing Tips of the Day.

16 Fiction Writing Tips by MasterClass

16 Fiction Writing Tips

 

by MasterClass

 

Great fiction writing takes dedication and hard work, but there are methods to make the process easier. Here are 16 tips for writing fiction:

1. Love your story. You might have a list of story ideas waiting to be fleshed out, but there’s likely one you’re most passionate about. Start with that story. Many authors do their best writing when they’re deeply invested in their characters and plot.
2. Withhold information from your readers. When writing fiction, only give readers the information they need to know in the moment. Ernest Hemingway’s iceberg theory in writing is to show your readers just the tip of the iceberg. The supporting details—like backstory—should remain unseen, just like the mass of an iceberg under the water’s surface. This prevents readers from getting overwhelmed with information and lets them use their imagination to fill in the blanks.
   
3. Write simple sentences. Think of Shakespeare’s line, “To be or not to be?” famous for its brevity and the way it quickly describes a character’s toiling over their own life. There is a time and place for bigger words and denser text, but you can get story points across in simple sentences and language. Try using succinct language when writing, so that every word and sentence has a clear purpose.
4. Mix up your writing. To become a better writer, try different types of writing. If you’re a novelist, take a stab at a short story. If you’re writing fiction, try writing nonfiction. Try a more casual writing style by blogging. Each piece of writing has a different point of view and different style rules that will help your overall writing skills.
5. Write every day. Great writers have a regular writing habit. That means dedicating time every day to the craft of writing. Some writers assign themselves a daily word count; Stephen King writes 2,000 words a day. You might also join a writing group; being accountable to other people is a great motivator. Don’t worry if what you jot down is technically bad writing or you struggle to get something onto a blank page. Some days will be more productive than others. The more you write the easier it gets.
6. Set milestones. The average word count for a book is 75,000 words. That can make novel writing intimidating. If you’re working on your first novel, stay motivated by setting milestones. This will help you break the book down mentally so it is easier to manage and easier to stick with.
7. Understand basic story structure. Professional writers are well-versed in the framework most stories follow, from exposition and rising action through to the climax and falling action. Create an outline to map your main plot and subplots on paper before you get started.
8. Learn strong character development techniques. There are effective ways to create a character arc in literature. Learn what character information to reveal to increase tension in your story. Your main characters should have a backstory that informs their actions, motivations, and goals. Determine what point of view (POV)—first person or third person—complements the character’s interpretation of events.
9. Use the active voice. Your goal as an author is to write a page-turner—a book that keeps readers engaged from start to finish. Use the active voice in your stories. Sentences should generally follow the basic structure of noun-verb-object. While passive voice isn’t always a bad thing, limit it in your fiction writing.
10. Take breaks when you need them. Writer's block gets the best of every writer. Step away from your desk and get some exercise. Getting your blood flowing and being in a different environment can ignite ideas. Continue writing later that day or even the next.
11. Kill your darlings. An important piece of advice for writers is to know when words, paragraphs, chapters, or even characters, are unnecessary to the story. Being a good writer means having the ability to edit out excess information. If the material you cut is still a great piece of writing, see if you can build a short story around it.
12. Read other writers. Reading great writing can help you find your own voice and hone your writing skills. Read a variety of genres. It also helps to read the same genre as your novel. If you’re writing a thriller, then read other thrillers that show how to build tension, create plot points, and how to do the big reveal at the climax of the story.
13. Write to sell. To make a living doing what they love, fiction writers need to think like editors and publishers. In other words, approach your story with a marketing sensibility as well as a creative one to sell your book.
14. Write now, edit later. Young writers and aspiring writers might be tempted to spend a lot of time editing and rewriting as they type. Resist that temptation. Practice freewriting—a creative writing technique that encourages writers to let their ideas flow uninterrupted. Set a specific time to edit.
15. Get feedback. It can be hard to critique your own writing. When you have finished a piece of writing or a first draft, give it to someone to read. Ask for honest and specific feedback. This is a good way to learn what works and what doesn’t.
16. Think about publishing. Few authors write just for themselves. Envision where you want your story to be published. If you have a short story, think about submitting it to literary magazines. If you have a novel, you can send it to literary agents and publishing houses. You might also consider self-publishing if you really want to see your book in print.