GETTING YOUR READERS EMOTIONALLY INVESTED

Because who wants to read a book that doesn't break them just a little bit, right?

People want to be moved. They want to be challenged, scared, loved, and mourned. And they want to do it all from the comfort of their bed. That's why the emotional draw of your story is indisputably the most important element of your book.

Reading is a form of escapism, the chance to live another life that's greater than the one that exists beyond the cover of the book in your reader's hands. An author's job is to make sure that world is bigger and better than this one. More emotional, more desperate, more deserving of their attention than their immediate surroundings could ever dare to be.

So, how do you do that? How do you get your reader so sucked into your book that when they finish it, they feel as though they're coming down from some sort of high they're desperate to take another hit for? Emotional manipulation, baby.

“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” ~ Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

You aren't telling your readers a story for the sake of the story, you are sharing emotions with them. The plot just gives your reader something tangible to hold onto while you sneak those emotions into their subconscious behind the scenes. The plot gives them a reason to care about and be willing to feel them. Play with real-life baggage your readers might relate to, make it personal, get them invested in your characters. Then, when your characters break, they break too.

Your reader's empathy is going to be your best friend as an author. And the best thing is, your reader wants to give it to you. They want to be touched, to let you move them. But once you've lost it, they are slow to give it back. Learning to hold and toy with your readers' empathy without them ever really realizing that they've lost control is the key to good writing.

It is one thing to deal with your own heartbreak, it is another altogether to watch someone you care about go through it. It makes you angry, makes you feel it deeper than if it was you going through it. That is what you want for your readers. Make them care about your characters, make them feel that emotion without ever touching them. As if they are going through it themselves without ever leaving their house.

That is so important when it comes to good storytelling. But if you don't have a grasp on what you want those emotions to be or know your characters well enough to make them easy to attach to and empathize with emotionally, you won't get there. That's why I like to start with my characters before I even touch my outline.

Where characters, emotion, and plot meet

Arguably the best piece of advice I've heard on writing fiction is that your characters drive your plot. If you develop your plot first and then plug characters in, they come out bland and are difficult for readers to connect with on an emotional level. Conflict drives your story, it creates those emotions we were talking about earlier. When you take the time to nail down who your character is and what drives them, you'll find that your characters realistically wouldn't always line up with each other. They would respond to situations differently. They would act like people. Give them strong opinions, emotions, baggage, and everything else that makes real people both infuriating and endearing.

I can't tell you how many times I've started writing a scene and wondered why it felt flat, only to take a step back and realize that one of my characters would never go along with the situation the way I had initially written it. So, maybe that character makes a different decision at the last minute than they had promised. Maybe that choice is then portrayed as an unforgivable betrayal by another character. Maybe it destroys the plot they were going down and in one devastating high-stakes twist, I'm writing a completely different book than I thought I was.

That is the beauty of really well-developed characters. They take on a life of their own, and when you can feel that as you are writing, your readers will as well. Your plot should not run smoothly, your characters should not follow along with your plan willingly. That pushback and struggle is what creates a story that leaves readers turning the page for more.

At the end of the day, the emotional craft of fiction is what your readers are really showing up for. If you aren't hunched over your computer sobbing over your own manuscript, if you aren't deeply emotionally attached to your characters yourself, your readers won't be either.