Evoking Emotion and Conflict in Fiction and Nonfiction

When you think of emotion with regards to your writing, what comes to mind? Is it your own emotion when you’re writing, the emotional quality of the work itself, or is it the emotion you hope readers feel as they read?

In this episode of “Writer’s Digest Presents,” content editor Michael Woodson leads a roundtable with editor-in-chief Amy Jones, managing editor Moriah Richard, and senior editor Robert Lee Brewer about emotion and conflict in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry—plus stick around for book recommendations at the end of the episode!

From the Episode

“When I pick out a new book, I choose it based on how I want to feel, and that is largely impacted by what I have just finished reading. So, I will either want something that is in the same vein and it’s going to make me feel similarly—so I’ll pick something that I think is going to be similar—or if I’ve read so many heavy books in a row, I’ll say, ‘Alright, it is time to clear my brain. I need something that is for sheer enjoyment or is going to make me feel happy or that will make me laugh.’ So inherently, what I choose next is based on how the characters in the previous book made me feel.”—Amy Jones

“Reading is such a personal and individualized experience that as writers we shouldn’t even consider how we want our readers to feel while they’re reading. I am someone who reads a lot of horror for comfort, but I’m assuming that when these authors are sitting down, they’re not like, ‘I would like Moriah Richard to feel very comforted while reading this book.’”—Moriah Richard

“As a poet, I feel like I’m more of an emotional poet. I try to evoke emotion more than ideas usually. There are times where I’ll just write ideas because I have to get them out of my head, but I think the ones that are more effective and get published are the more emotional ones. I might come into a poem with a certain emotion I’m trying to evoke, but to finish that poem, I have to really get it on a certain metaphor, really focusing in on those concrete images.”—Robert Lee Brewer

“Satire is almost the exception to this conversation, in that satire can be any genre at any point. I think the overall (emotional) expectation with satire is the same—to poke fun or make fun, or to make a statement about sometime. It’s sort of the veil over genre, whatever the genre is.”—Michael Woodson

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