8 Ways to Grab Your Reader's Heart with Emotional Scenes

Read Part I of Sasha Leigh's article on how to grab your reader's heart.

Think of Kuber-Ross’s Five Stages of Grief when you are writing an emotional scene: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. If you are aware of these, you can more accurately predict how a character will respond so that it is believable, and not just what you want them to do. Here are a few exercises to attempt when you are having trouble getting those emotions out, or just like to practice in between projects:

1. Draw from your own memories. Write down situations you have been in using brainstorming, snowflake method, or even just making little pieces of paper which you later pick from a hat. One at a time, pick a situation and write about it. You can:

•   Freewrite -Write everything you know, from start to finish of the memory, without pause or edits;
•   Jot Notes - Make a bulleted list of the emotions the situations you have been in made you feel;
•   Again, brainstorm with words about those emotions; 
and
•   Use the Stages of Grief (the five above or what some believe to be Seven Stages of Grief) as an outline and identify what you felt during each event comprising an emotional memory.

2. Watch TV. Discover which situations will provoke more emotion, what age group overreacts more than another (usually teenagers), and how they get over what they have been thrust into by the writers.

3. As a writer, this is one of your most important resources, but I put it as the third tool because the old, "Write what you know" cliché does have its place, and is important when you are attempting to write a scene powerful enough that your reader can't pull their nose out of it. Also, you can write while watching TV, so there's that. But we all have our favorite scenes in our favorite novels that we can't help but go back to, so do it again. Read it over and over until you can say with certainty what it is about the passage that has gotten you so hooked, and then try to incorporate the qualities that you admire (without copying).

4. Now that you know the level of reaction, and which situations will be more likely to provoke a more intense outcome, figure out the dialogue. Do they moan and cry? Slur? Stutter? Or is the character so traumatized, they shut down, and a group so shocked, they are silent? A really great example of this, especially for YA, is The Vampire Diaries. Though it's not my favorite show, it does have some of the most believable dialogue when compared to the reactions/dialogue of actual teens.

 

5. Set a mood and stick to it. I've read some scenes where the emotion is on full-throttle, but the effect was broken by bouts of humor in between the protagonist declaring it's the end of the world and wishing they could be at the mall instead (needless to say, I didn't finish that book). Dry humor is sometimes okay within emotional scenes, if it fits with the character's voice, but don't overdo it or you'll lose the effect.

6. Remember your audience. If you are writing for children, you're going to fluff it up i.e. "Oh, Tommy was so sad . . ." But if you are writing for MG/YA/NA, your content can become more graphic with each age category. MG might get hit in the nose from a bully, and then go tell a teacher. YA might use a few swears in the same situation, plus a return swing, while NA could turn into a full-fledged bar brawl that, because they are now "in the real world", ends with having a sleepover with the police. Now escalate to an adult novel (Rated-R for violence, nudity, mature language and/or subject matter), and you'll have to read the book between the cracks of your fingers as you cover your eyes and blush.

7. Surprise your reader (or character) and write what would be least expected to happened in a given situation. Abnormal situations with high emotion will provoke people to do things that they would not do otherwise. Use this as a tool to make your story more interesting.

 

8. As I mentioned above, most speech and action is stilted and short in an emotional scene; however, too much of this will drop your reader's interest, so mix it up every few paragraphs with a thought or two from the character. A gesture, short description, revelation, or a really good, incoherent ramble, could be used, as well, if implemented in SHORT DOSES.

As always, this list is not exhaustive for this topic. It is based on my own experiences as a writer, as well as what I have read from authors I admire. All writing takes practice, so work on it, and sooner or later you will find what works for you. However, if you are ever stuck, try one of the above. Before committing an emotional scene for publication, make yourself aware of the "triggers" people may encounter when reading about certain subjects. While much of this is over-done, there are subjects that can trigger episodes, and for your readers' sake—and your reputation—make sure to put a warning on your written works, which can easily be worked into the blurb or copyright page.

Do you know of any other ways to provoke emotions in your writing? Acting out a scene with a friend? Improvisation? Obviously, I write, so those aren't big on my list, but it would be interesting if they worked.

Cheers!

By Sasha Leigh

Sasha Leigh is a self-diagnosed dreamer. When she isn't stuck in worlds of her own making, listening to characters squabble for attention in her head, she's immersed in stories created by others. A lover of all things "weird", Sasha's world is considered complete when she has her daughter at her side, her sketchpad, notebook, and something to write with - even if it's just a piece of chalk. Working by day in the insurance industry, she spends her evenings and weekends devouring or writing new tales of magic, mythology, and all things supernatural (except dragons).

To find out more about Sasha, check out her interview.

How to Grab Your Reader's Heart with Emotional Scenes

Fleshing out characters, outlining physical descriptions and backstory that may or may not be used, picking locations, revising and editing, and choosing the perfect formats are all important aspects that are involved in creating a great story. But, after that is all complete and your hard work is placed into readers’ hands, it is up to them to decide if they want to look past its cover and add it to their reading lists.

It’s up to the author to make a reader want more. 

In order for a story to catch on, to draw the reader in, an author must find a way to write with an immersive quality. If you ask someone why they love their favorite book, do they ever say it’s because the author wrote a great follow-up? Gave them a signed copy? Was it a good idea poorly executed?

It only takes a sentence to break the flow in a story. One misused word has the ability to break the flow of a story, and sometimes, if it is blatant enough, the reader won’t return to finish. For multi-book authors especially, they not only lose possible word-of-mouth marketing and the prospect of this reader picking up other titles they’ve penned, they run the risk of negative reviews by publishing ill-rounded stories for public consumption.

So what can you do to keep a reader hooked?

By making a reader care about characters and their problems—giving the reader something they can relate to or fantasize about—an author can rest knowing that one or two slips will not cause a huge drop in readership. That’s not to say you shouldn’t put out the best book you are capable of creating, of course, but nobody is perfect. Some of the main immersive qualities that keep readers turning pages are the author's ability to produce a unique voice, a pace that fluctuates while still remaining fluid enough so as not to jar the reader out of story, and its believability. By no means is this ALL there is—you can have a great story with mediocre characters that lack depth, or great characters and no story. For now, I aim to confront the believability, or at least one aspect of this concept: emotions.

If you ever listen to someone while they are upset, sad, or afraid, you’ll notice that their voice changes in direct correlation to how they feel. People who throw five six-syllable words together for a ten-word sentence suddenly speak as though they haven't graduated into a two syllable vocabulary. Some people stutter, raise their voice, or even speak so fast that nobody can figure out what it is they are saying. It all depends on the situation and the person. But it isn't often that there will be forty-word sentences in an emotional scene, or purple prose spouting the beauty of a scene as though describing every petal of a rose.

Next week, Sasha will share 8 helpful tips that will help you grab your reader's heart.

By Sasha Leigh

Sasha Leigh is a self-diagnosed dreamer. When she isn't stuck in worlds of her own making, listening to characters squabble for attention in her head, she's immersed in stories created by others. A lover of all things "weird", Sasha's world is considered complete when she has her daughter at her side, her sketchpad, notebook, and something to write with - even if it's just a piece of chalk. Working by day in the insurance industry, she spends her evenings and weekends devouring or writing new tales of magic, mythology, and all things supernatural (except dragons).

Check out her newly-released book, Fate's Return.

Amazon/ Smashwords

Write for Whom?

For most of my life, everything I have written has been for someone else's approval. In grades K through 12 I wrote for the teachers' approval and grades. Always in the back of my mind were concerns about how to word this, or was there a better word to use than that one? If I change my punctuation, will that garner better acceptance? Is this sentence too long? Can this paragraph be shortened? Did I use enough references in my bibliography?

College set a higher standards for writing... higher stakes with which to contend; another's approval now being more critical for securing grades which could effect my future life choices. Professors strong-arming for essays that supported their views, not necessarily my own. I was writing strictly for them.

Being a manager in the military brought yet another requirement... proficiency in technical writing. Regulations being very precise in directing what to do, who could do it, when to do it, how to do it, and why it had to be done. Step by step instructions, written to the lowest level, with nothing left out. Scrutinized at all levels of up the chain of command before being accepted and put into print.

Then came my time... time to write what I wanted to. After years of writing for everyone else I found it awkward. Now writing for anyone who might read my work, but who? I had no idea. I was writing for anyone... for no one. It seemed like starting all over... writing for someone else's approval, but now with no set guidelines and unknown expectations.

Poetry was the first outlet in which I found I could express myself, in my own style, letting feelings and emotions flow. There were no formal guidelines, no expectations, no rules to follow. Writing became therapy for life experiences, so I was in total control. I was writing for myself. Thoughts flowed faster than I could sometimes keep up with. It didn't matter if it made sense to anyone else as long as it made sense to me. In sharing some of my work I found that others appreciated such honesty and openness; icing on the cake. I discovered that there will be people who will enjoy my work, just as there will be people who will not. Once I made the decision to write for myself I knew I would always have at least one fan; and an ever changing following of readers. My work is always appreciated by one, and not by all. Write to please yourself; followers will find you.

By Steve Hall

 I am a family man, close to my mother and siblings, with three children of my own, three grandchildren, a girlfriend, a college degree, several career endeavors, and retired. With all these riches, I still have what is referred to in the medical field as "brain freeze", as I continue to look for lasting fulfillment in my life.

Find out more about Steve Hall on his site.

How to Start Your Own Publishing Company (A Tale of two Authors II)

If you missed out on Lisa's post last week, here's where you can read part I of A Tale of Two Authors.

The last thing we did was start our own publishing company. Basically, you wear two hats when you are a writer, the creative hat and the business hat. Making our books our own business was a no-brainer. No, we don’t publish others' books (although one day we might), but we have created our business into our own little enterprise. We opened a separate account for our business, we got an LLC license from the state, we have copyright status through the Library of Congress, and eventually, when we make some money, we will sign up with the local and state taxing regulations. (We do file business taxes with the IRS.)

There is a lot to self-publishing besides writing a book, and making that decision can be a tough one, but it is worth every stressful moment in the end. I weighed out the two options, traditional and self-publishing, and doing it ourselves was the best for us. 

Going through the process of trying to get an agent or find a publisher who was willing to take our book on, having to deal with rejection letters, waiting for God knows how long until our books became published, then having to pay them most of our profits, did not work for me. Plus, you still have to do all the marketing for your book, because the publishers do very little, if any, and we figured if we have to do all the hard work ourselves, we might as well reap as much of the reward as possible. 

There is a cost, however, to making this decision, one that’s not cheap. I suggest you start saving now, because the cover design will run you about $300.00 to $500.00, the cost of the editor could run $1000.00 or more, and then, once published, there are a lot of other costs you didn’t think about, such as business cards, bookmarks, launch parties, giveaways, and the list goes on. That is the one benefit of traditional publishing: the major costs are covered. 

So when you sit down and think about what’s the best way for you to go, weigh it all out in your head and in your pocketbook. But I will say this: I’m glad I self-published!

Thanks for joining me on Rock the Book today! All of you keep on writing or reading, and if you get a minute, leave me a comment. I would love to hear your thoughts on self-publishing.

You can find us on our site and our books on Amazon. We would love it if you joined us on our writing journey!

by Lisa Fender

Lisa Fender and Toni Burns, co-Authors of The Lorn Prophecy Series, have lived in Greece, Kentucky, and most recently (and most loved) in Colorado. Between them, they have two husbands, four children, two grandchildren and three dogs. Although a writer from a young age, Lisa did not bring her passion to light until she decided in 2008 to stop procrastinating and start writing. 

You will find out more by reading the interview they gave us, or by visiting their brand-new website, Djenrye World.

How to Self-Publish (A Tale of Two Authors I)

Thanks, ladies, for inviting me to your wonderful site. I am also looking forward to having you on my blog. I think it’s great how you’re supporting self-published authors. Believe me, most of us are very appreciative. It’s not every day you find lovers of Indie books who turn that love into a blog.

I have to say that being an Indie author, or self-published, whatever you choose to call it, isn’t an easy task. First, it takes several years (took me 4 and a half) to write your book, then the big decision on who will design the cover, plus, not to mention, an editor, before you can even begin to set up the book for publication. Not an easy task, but once you’ve accomplished it the first time, it’s easier the next. 

My sister, Toni, and I decided to go through Createspace for our paperback distribution and had to learn how to set up the book so that all the dimensions were correct for the “mock” book on the Creatspace site. Once you’ve figured out what size book you want (usually the standard 6 by 9 in), each page has to be indented opposite the next, then the book needs to be loaded into the “mock trial” book they have on the site, and it will guide you along until you get it right. After that, load your cover, spine and back cover, and you’re published.

The next step, the electronic book, is much harder. For the first book, "Fable", we hired a girl to do this. We found her on Facebook. It took several attempts before it was correct, but we finally got it. You also have to have one for Amazon, (mobi) and epub for all others. Formatting an ebook is not an easy task. Toni decided to learn how to do it herself for our next book, "Fated", and found a site on line with a step-by-step guide to help her learn. It took her about a month to learn it all and get the book set up correctly. After that, she published on Amazon through their download.

On top of all that you have to set up your page for your Amazon readers, with things such as a blurb for the book - not just the one on back of the book - an author profile, and pricing. It is not an easy task, and it’s not for everyone, but we are glad we self-published. We can control all when it comes to decisions for our books. 

Check back next week to find out how Lisa and Toni started their own publishing company!

by Lisa Fender

Lisa Fender and Toni Burns, co-Authors of The Lorn Prophecy Series, have lived in Greece, Kentucky, and most recently (and most loved) in Colorado. Between them, they have two husbands, four children, two grandchildren and three dogs. Although a writer from a young age, Lisa did not bring her passion to light until she decided in 2008 to stop procrastinating and start writing. 

You will find out more by reading the interview they gave us, or by visiting their brand-new website, Djenrye World.

Elements to a Story

Character.

Setting.

Plot.

Conflict.

Theme.

The five main elements of every story. 

You need all of them. But what element leads the pack in importance?

A tricky question. If you asked 100 writers, each would have a different answer. I will share with you my thoughts. Agree or not, I hope to at least make you think.

I believe the most important is the least visible: theme. On first thoughts, the theme can seem like the least important. Often times, the theme is not tangible. You cannot touch it and talk to it like you can with your characters. You cannot see it, like you can see the setting of a story. It does not, on first analysis, push your story along like the plot and conflict do. But I hold that your theme is such an important aspect of writing that without a solid understanding of why you are writing, nothing else will fall into place.

Because that is ultimately the question; why are you writing your story? Just like if you were building a structure, the reason why would dictate what it would look like. A home for a family is vastly different than an office building.

So what is your message? What do you want your readers to come away with? I have heard some claim that it is not our job as authors to actually go about trying to influence our readers… but I hold that that it is simply impossible. Does your villain win or lose? Does the love interest conquer and win the love of the heroine? Is your character stagnant or do they grow throughout your story? If so, how? Each and every decision you make, tells your reader something. So, I say that you should be deliberate in what you tell your reader.

What is your theme? Know it. Surround yourself with it. What lesson will your character learn? Do you want to make your readers laugh or cry? Do you want to offer gentle hope or expose stark realities? A story can be complex and make a reader experience many things, but one theme must take precedence. Gathering answers to all these questions; truly understanding your theme, then will help you understand your characters. It will help you place your novel in the right setting. It will help you chose the right story and conflict. And most importantly, when you are stuck in the middle of your manuscript, feeling lost (because we all know that it happens!) you can ask yourself just one question: What is my theme? And in doing so, you can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You can plot out your next move.

As authors, we know that things change during the process of writing. At least for my sister and me, all aspects of the story grow and develop as we write. All aspects alter somewhat, except for our theme. Our theme is our constant and as long as we try to stay true to why we started writing our story, everything else can fall into place.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree or do you believe that another element holds more importance than theme? We would love to hear your ideas.

By May Nicole Abbey

Shawnette Nielson

Caroline Gregory

Caroline Gregory and Shawnette Nielson (known as May Nicole Abbey) are a sister writing team who, despite the incongruity of their very different characters, always seem to be on the same page when it comes to their passion for reading and writing. The difference in their personalities create a well rounded vision of what life should be; stable yet chaotic. College, construction, motherhood, wrestling, management experience, or traveling the world as a nanny, all fall under the experiences of this pair.

Find out more about them on their website, or look for their books on Amazon.