"Gosh, this sounds so bland!"
"This is too boring to read!"
"Paced too fast!"

What is emotion in writing? How can you make a reader feel... weirdly pleasant, or overprotective over a certain character, or just how to make them feel things?!

Emotion in writing... a subject all authors aspire to master, and all readers long to feel.

In the world of writing, people judge the books based on their experience, their liking and their feelings. If you make them feel things that normally aren't felt while reading, you might easily make it into their "my top ten favourite authors who've inspired me to ___".

Writing isn't all about emotion. Emotion may be an important component, but it is not something you need to stress on. Stressing on writing, or writing under pressure, that is not what writing is!

"Writing under the pressure of publishing a chapter, or meeting a deadline for" don't trouble yourself with all that. It's okay to take breaks, it's okay to feel no creativity, that's writer's block.

Putting emotion in your story is hard, but it is not impossible. I'll help you go over the rules of writing with emotion. I know you can do it!

Rule number 1. Stop insulting your work. It is not up to you to judge your books, don't unpublish them just because they don't get views, or reads. It is okay to go under writer's block. Don't stress yourself to meet the deadline. You're not helping with the emotion of the story... because under stress, it will not be a very impactful blow on emotions. Probably going to cause 12 DMG. If you're going to cause the damage, make it critical.

Rule number 2. Be mindful about your vocabulary. Keep in mind that your choice of wording and sentence forming are passable and can intrigue readers. Maybe start your chapter with a question? Start with an interesting hook.

Rule number 3. Give the readers an overview of the life of the main character and make sure that they know at least a bit about the character. Because it's going to be almost impossible for you to throw in all the information at once, because it's probably going to sound like a lecture rather than a book they seek comfort in.

Rule number 4. Description. Description. Description. But don't overdo it! My creative writing teacher told me to follow this order of description, and my writing has been pleasant ever since (I don't publish it, though. It's in the pile of under-edited drafts, and those are still dying in the closet). Maybe it'll suit you too? Try it out before you decide to refuse! This is only for description, ok?

OSASCOMP - Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Colour, Origin, Material, Purpose.

Rule number 5. Try feeling the emotion you're writing. Close your eyes, imagine your character in a void. And then start filling in on the settings, the description, and the scenery. Feel free to include imagery! Think of the scene before and connect with your characters. Connection with your characters is a very important aspect for adding emotion to your book.

Rule number 6. Just get ready for an emotional rollercoaster. Try remembering everything that might make you feel the emotion you're writing about. Say you picked angst, think about something that might make you sad. Feeling the emotion might make the mood to write the scene.

Rule number 7. Show your readers, show them what's going on with the character. Don't overdo it. Don't push your character into a scene where they are not themselves, it will not help. Instead, take them to a scene where they feel pleasant, and then break the news. Again, let's pick angst (Sorry y'all, that's just my favourite genre!). Supposedly, the protagonist's closest friend has passed away. Start the scene by writing that they cannot process the news, because when bad news has arrived, people feel blank at first. They won't be able to comprehend the news.

Then continue writing it in the emotion as if a brick has hit you in the face, and your heart aches (Did anybody laugh...?). Hit them with reality, not too hard, though. Then write the more "I-can't-Understand-what's-going-on" scenes. Make your character feel the pain, then heartbreak. The reality that they cannot meet their friend anymore. Write as if your character sees no tomorrow, write as if they are about to snap.

Follow this order - Breaking the news -> "huh, what's going on?" moment -> realization -> breaking down.

Rule number 8. Stop being over-dramatic over a certain scene. Control your emotions. Don't write a scene of a character picking flowers as though someone has witnessed gore. It will not suit the readers.

Rule number 9. Think of a point of the story where everything starts. Once again, in angst, it'd be nice if you start with something pleasant and then something out-of-the-blue happens (but don't make it sound like it was unexpected! Hint that this is coming up ahead, so the readers feel a sense of satisfaction knowing that they've formed a theory!), make sure that this is going to come up. Or you can make it obvious and then twist the course of plot straight to action... I'm not deciding on it! Both methods are equally effective.

Rule number 10. Dialogues. I can't stress on how much punctuation and grammar matters here. Write your dialogues with good grammar, while feeling the emotion of the character. It would be amazing if authors looked at the world from a character's POV, it makes a tremendous difference.

I think I summed it up. I often follow these rules while writing, but sometimes I get lazy to where I actually go on an emotional rollercoaster and write whatever makes me feel the emotion.

But seriously, though, feel the mood while writing- things might get hard otherwise. Stop writing when you don't feel the emotion anymore, because your attempts at reviving the emotion by continuing to write might not help. Instead, turn on a song which reminds you of the emotion and calm down. Deep breaths, deep breaths.

It's hard to come up with something original, but it isn't impossible. You can do it! Trust yourself, you're amazing.

Before I end this article here, I want you to know that insulting your work is not going to motivate you. Don't read the scene until you're done with it, then edit it.

Good luck with your next book, and make sure to feel the emotion while writing.

Content Created by -Yuriify