By Jason Borrego,
Writing with Emotion
Today’s highly competitive book market requires authors to saturate their novels with that special something – a raw element that captures the readers’ hearts and minds.
The best writers have a keen understanding of showing emotion through a variety of styles. The idea behind using emotion in writing is pure and simple: It allows for a deep connection with the characters and brings the story to life in ways never thought possible. As emotional people, it takes emotion to reach the reader. Remember when you were reading your favorite story and you left that powerful, profound, creative, and incredible connection to the story? This is the type of writing an author must achieve to bring his or her worlds to life.
Whenever you watch a TV series or hit movie, and yearn to yell out in raw emotion or some other such exclamation. Reader’s want to be moved enough to laugh until their sides throb, or cry until they have no more tears to shed. You may wonder why this is, but the fact of the matter remains that emotional writing sells. It keeps you hooked. It grabs at the essential elements that matter so profusely to the reader. You can’t imagine life without those epiphanies and tears.
The timeless question for a new author is how to capture raw passion in writing. The best advice is to pace between showing the emotion verses telling the reader about the emotion. Interpreting facial expressions can be a big help in this area. I highly recommend reading what the bestselling authors in your genre are producing. You can also think about some emotion icons to get you considering a variety of emotions. We all know the basic ones: joy, acceptance, fear, surprise, sadness, anger, etc. However, an author must dig deeper and find other intense emotions to be used in writing addictive, intense, compelling tales: being in love, anticipation, awe, exasperation, envy, patience.
You may also want to consider incorporating sensory details into your writing. This will allow readers to feel more connected to the five senses and to become emotionally involved with your writing. You will be giving them the opportunity to see, taste, touch, hear, and smell your written words.
Grab at the heart of emotion and explore what works for you. Keeping a file of emotional writing on hand not only keeps you writing, but it keeps your mind constantly thinking, and words constantly churning as you think up the best way to write your next emotion, attitude, or other creative notion. Looking back on the entries can also be extremely helpful in remembering the nostalgia you felt at a particular moment when you saw something that reminded you of years gone by. You will remember your feelings all that much more clearly, bringing the power of emotional writing to the forefront, since your wording will be all that much more precise.