How to Make A Reader Feel

On emotions

I’ve had a beautiful, poetic memoir on my nightstand for the past few weeks. There’s a lot to love about the book: The main character is introspective and observant, often rendering small details in gorgeous, newfound ways, and the prose is so literary I often find myself lingering on sentences for long minutes. But there’s one element of the book that gives me the ick. The protagonist has the habit of bursting into tears, sobbing, keening like an animal, howling at the moon. When I get to these passages, though I know I “should” feel empathetic towards her, I find myself feeling irritated instead.

I described this problem recently to Janet Skeslien Charles, a friend of mine and our inaugural writer in residence at the Nantes Writers’ Workshop. She wasn't surprised, sharing (wisely) that rendering an emotion on the page and making a reader feel that emotion are two completely different endeavors.

Making a reader feel something from your writing feels a little bit like magic; after all, what you're essentially trying to do is touch a stranger, by way of your words, in such a way that you move them to a very real emotion: fear, in the case of a spooky Halloween ghost story; joy, in the case of a comedy; pain, in the case of a drama.

It feels a little bit manipulative, if I’m honest, and yet it’s a crucial part of making your story resonate. And since it’s something I’ve been struggling with myself, of late, I went down the rabbit hole looking for resources on how, exactly, to manifest this particular, peculiar magic. Here’s what I found:

• With Halloween on the horizon, scaring readers might be your mission du jour. This guide explores a few different approaches, including embracing the uncanny valley and using dramatic irony to your advantage.

• It’s a cliché for a reason: Resisting the urge to tell your readers and showing them an emotion instead can be the best way to move them to feel the feeling for themselves, according to this guide, which quotes Donald Maass in recommending leaning into the power of suggestion “rather than pounding them with emotional hammer blows.”

• My agent recently shared that in today’s fiction marketplace, many are governed by the adage, “You cry, you buy.” Many people want to be moved to tears by fiction; if that’s your goal, this guide on how to make your readers cry may be of interest. It breaks this idea down into four steps, beginning with creating characters readers really care about and ending with a reminder that sometimes an understated scene is better than histrionics or overwrought drama.

How about you? What are your favorite ways to ensure your reader really feels what you're trying to impart?

What We’re Reading

• Janet Skeslien Charles’ The Parisian Chapter, a book from the NYT-bestselling author of The Paris Library. This heartfelt novel set in Paris follows a young woman from Montana who takes a job in the American Library in Paris, where she discovers the power of storytelling and her own dreams. It came out as an audiobook last spring and will soon be released in paperback, so pre-order your copy now!

• This meditation on embracing imperfection in life and in art – and specifically on honoring the history in and of a piece of writing – by Maggie Smith, in LitHub.

Opportunities

• If you're based in Paris, Shakespeare & Co. is hosting an Open Mic tonight, with five-minute bursts of poetry and prose. It’s free and open to all!

• The Sun’s mission is to publish first-time authors side-by-side with more experienced writers. The team here is particularly interested in submissions from marginalized voices. “Send us work that maps the human landscape, where the light catches on the faintest joy, where darkness sometimes threatens to overwhelm, and where ✗ never marks the spot because the truth is never so simple.” Submit here.