hijacking reader emotions
We all carry emotional baggage around with us.
Depending on the day, your baggage might be a fanny pack or steamer trunk.
Today, my luggage is a picnic basket. It's filled with delicious feel good snacks.
Last week it was a garbage bag full of rotting take out containers.
Even if the rest of the world can't see it, we live in a constantly shifting emotional landscape inside our heads.
Most of writers are afraid of putting too much emotion on the page.
I’m afraid, most of you aren’t putting enough emotion on the page.
Writers tend to be stingy with emotions.
As if they’re trying to cram a character's emotional luggage into the nearest closet, under the bed, or anywhere no one will see it.
But get this:
Readers want you to open up all that baggage.
Readers want to root around in your novel to see what you got in there.
Readers love messy, complicated, uncomfortable, emotions.
Readers crave all those emotions you’re trying to tiptoe around.
Don’t be afraid to give it to them.
But. . .
(You probably knew that was coming, didn’t you?)
You can’t make readers feel something they don’t already feel.
It would be so much easier if we could just magicalize our readers into feeling all the feels, but we can’t.
How do we hijack their own emotions instead so they feel what we want them to feel?
Writing emotions is a big, messy, uncomfortable topic.
It’s the biggest problem area I see with nearly all my clients.
If you can’t get your readers' emotions engaged, they’re not going to connect with what you’re writing, and they’re going to go do something else -- like fold laundry or mow the lawn.
So what’s the first thing you have to do?
Know what your reader is looking for.
No matter how brilliant your characters are or how flawless your craft is, you can’t make the reader feel something they don’t feel.
Emotions come from the READER.
Your task isn’t to force them to feel what they don’t feel, but to get them to feel more of what they’re already feeling or looking for.
The #1 thing you have going for you ….
Readers want to connect -- they want to FEEL.
They’re ready for what you’re offering before they’ve even read a word of your novel.
This is great news.
When a reader shops for a book, whether they know it or not, they’re shopping for an emotion.
Emotions are triggered by:
Reviews
Title
Cover art
Book jacket
Your readers also have emotional expectations based on the GENRE they’re shopping for.
Here are a few genres and emotions connected with them:
Romance: Love. Desire. Jealousy. Obsession. Intimacy. Grief. Guilt.
Action / Thriller -- Excitement. Life on the line. Big stakes. Risk. Reward.
Crime / Mystery -- Curiosity. Intrigue. Justice. Vengeance. Anger.
Horror -- Fear. Terror. Survival.
SciFi / Fantasy -- Wonder. Awe. Adventure.
As a writer, as soon as you know what genre you’re writing in, you know the foundational emotions of your story.
You know what your readers are looking for.
Huzzah!
Writing a Jack Reacher inspired thriller? Then you need to make sure you’re including situations that evoke excitement, risk, reward -- adrenaline.
(And punching. Lots of punching.)
Start messing around with those foundational adrenaline-based emotions, and your reader is going to be annoyed.
If Jack spends the book sitting by the bedside of a dying woman and reminiscing about how he should have married her back out of high school because he could have had a family and been a high school music teacher. . .
Your reader is going to put your book down, turn out the light and go to sleep.
Reacher fans want the excitement of chasing the bad guys, righting wrongs, and punching action.
Make sure you’re giving your reader the emotion they’re looking for.
Keep going!
Hello!
My name is Jocelyn.
Story warrior, book lover, day dreamer, gardener, and creative. I help serious writers roll up their sleeves, get their novel ready for publishing, and reach readers. When I’m not elbow-deep in the story trenches, I’m outside world-building in my garden and battling weeds with my three criminal mastermind cats.
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