How to write an emotional scene that will make both you and your readers cry – by Michelle Sutton.
I've been working on the writing craft for over thirteen years. I've learned a lot of things about creating character emotions that readers will actually feel as they read a book. One secret is realistic dialog. Have the character say something and then provide an inner dialog that takes the reader even deeper into the character's thoughts and emotions.
You want your reader to forget they are reading a book. You want them to feel like they are the character and going through the same situation. If you tell the reader how to feel, though, you ruin the experience for them.
Very early on, I read a book called, "Stein on Writing" by Sol Stein. It was recommended by an editor friend and it forever changed the way I wrote - for the better. Stein talked about one technique for writers that I hadn't heard about before and yet it made a lot of sense. Stein advises writers to create an envelope and then let the reader fill in the details themselves. This eliminates a lot of "telling." And guess what? It really works.
Between that book and Orson Scott Card's book on creating character emotion, I started to finally grasp the concepts that revamped my writing style completely. Following the advice from these two books helped me reduce the "telling" problem that new authors often fall into when they first learn to write.
I then developed the technique of getting my reader into the character's head. The reader is inside the person's thoughts and looking at the setting just like an actor in a play rather than being outside the character's head and watching everything from a detached point of view.
That's when the fun part of writing begins. There are so many ways to evoke emotions in a reader. One secret is to vary the way you describe things.
Describing visceral feelings will create emotional responses in the reader. Scenes describing the tension in a character's muscles, the furrowing of their brow, clenching their fists, blinking back tears, and swallowing that painful tightness in the throat are ways to cause the reader to experience emotion.
Writing that a character cried will actually cause the reader not to cry according to Orson Scott Card. I try to remember that whenever I create an emotional scene. If I can feel the emotion, then hopefully my readers will, too. That's what every author wants…to create a powerful emotional experience for the reader.
Emotional responses to novels are what cause that elusive word of mouth phenomenon that spikes sales, which is the best form of marketing. Everyone wants to feel something when they read a story, or what's the point? The key is to get them to care about the characters and to experience life through the character's eyes.
Thanks for reading my post. You can find me on Amazon and see my 23+ books on my Amazon author page. I am also MichelleSutton on twitter, MichelleSuttonAuthor and AuthorMichelleSutton on Facebook, and my book review blog is edgyinspirationalauthor.blogspot.com
I have definitely been there! Great advice! I love this series!
Good post. It was helpful. Thanks a bunch!
Great advice michelle. You should turn this into a series. Followed just in case you do!
I have taught workshops before on different subjects and my best-attended one was "How to get your name lnown before you are published." It was about social media and ways to help people find you and eventually, find your books. At the time I was the most well-known author who hadn't sold a book yet and at the same time I had a fan base and platform. My tips must have worked because several of the people who took my advice ended up on The NY Times best-seller list. The difference between them and me is that I have to work full-time to pay the bills and they were able to dedicate their days to writing and promotion. Sigh. Gotta have health insurance though.
I also posted an example of a scene that uses those tips.