Crafting Compelling Emotional Arcs in Fiction
In today’s world of tweets, texts, and sound bites, fiction writers often feel pressure to focus on elements like fantastical world-building, steamy scenes, and rapid-fire plots to keep readers engaged. While these can certainly make for exciting stories, the most enduring novels offer something more profound: emotional connection. Since the dawn of storytelling, readers have turned to books for that visceral tug to the heart—moments of raw emotion that resonate and linger long after the final page.
(5 Tips for Evoking Emotion in Writing.)
Think about your favorite book—whether it’s an all-time favorite or something you read recently. What stays with you? Maybe it’s the setting or the plot, but more often than not, it’s the way the story made you feel. Whether you laughed, cried, or raged at the characters, what truly matters is the emotional ride the author took you on. So how do we, as writers, create that emotional punch with every word?
Unfortunately, there’s no single magic formula. Instead, each element of your story must work together to take your readers on an emotional journey. In many ways, it’s like crafting a complex dessert. If you leave out one key ingredient, it might still taste fine but it won’t be an experience that can still make their mouths water in remembrance, years later.
Character Development
The foundation of emotional storytelling lies in strong characters. Nora Roberts wisely said, “Character is key. Character is plot—character is everything, and the story wraps around them.”
If you don’t find your character compelling, how can you expect the reader to? Even if our characters are otherworldly, they must possess an emotional depth that resonates with readers. Great characters make readers care, which in turn, makes the story unforgettable.
Conflict
Conflict is obviously a crucial element in storytelling. External conflict is vital to moving the plot forward and to creating obstacles for your characters to overcome and thus achieve growth and change. But the factors that will make your story most compelling are those things going on inside their respective heads that cannot be fixed by slaying a dragon or finding a missing treasure or restoring the heroine’s ancestral home.
Ask yourself if you have created a conflict between these characters that cannot be resolved without flaying them open, digging deeply into their psyche and exploring their innermost fears and insecurities.
Pacing
Pacing can make or break a story. Have you interspersed moments of raw emotion with moments of levity, sweetness, or quiet reflection? Have you built your story like a roller coaster, with small emotional bumps leading to a big, heart-wrenching climax and, ultimately, resolution?
If you’ve received feedback about pacing issues, here are some common pitfalls.
Backstory overload
Backstory is essential but should be kept brief and woven into the action or dialogue. Too much backstory slows the plot and takes the reader out of the present moment.
Excessive description or introspection
A little goes a long way. Include these elements sparingly, as too much can become dull and drag the story down.
Repetitive dialogue or action scenes
Ensure that your dialogue moves the plot forward and doesn’t merely repeat the same points. Likewise, action should be balanced with emotional beats.
Isolated characters
Avoid long stretches where a character is alone with their thoughts. While introspection has its place, too much can become monotonous.
One of the best ways to improve pacing is to study authors whose books grip you from the start and keep you reading late into the night. Pay attention to how they balance viscerally emotional scenes and gripping action scenes.
Check out RaeAnne Thayne’s The December Market here:
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Dialogue
Dialogue is one of the most powerful tools for conveying emotion and revealing character. Whether it’s terse, sharp words in a moment of anger or softer, gentler phrases in quieter times, dialogue brings scenes to life.
Writing master Dwight Swain advised aiming for “provocative lines”—new, fresh, and original ways for characters to express themselves. Great dialogue isn’t just about conveying information; it builds emotion and deepens character development.
Point of View
Choosing the right point of view for a scene can significantly impact its emotional intensity. Sometimes the most painful moments are best shown from the character who has the most at stake, but at other times, showing that character’s pain through another character’s eyes can deepen the emotional impact.
For example, revealing a heroine’s distress through the hero’s perspective allows readers to feel both the heroine’s pain and the hero’s reaction to it.
Setting
Setting is often an underutilized tool for enhancing emotion. Consider how your characters’ surroundings can reflect or contrast with the emotional stakes.
A stormy ocean might mirror inner turmoil, while a sunlit graveyard can intensify grief. Pay close attention to how your settings might evoke emotion, and use it as another way to deepen your readers’ connection to your characters.
Digging Deep
Finally, the hardest, but perhaps the most important, aspect of creating emotional depth is your willingness to dig deep—both into your characters’ psyches and your own. If you’re uncomfortable with intense emotions in real life, it can be challenging to let your characters experience them fully on the page. You are your own first reader. If you aren’t moved by your writing, your readers won’t be either.
We are storytellers. What an incredible gift that is! We create worlds out of our own imaginations and can take our readers on unforgettable journeys. By paying attention to every tool at our disposal—character, conflict, pacing, dialogue, point of view, setting, and our own emotional honesty—we can create stories that resonate with readers, even in today’s fast-paced, sound-bite-driven world.
The emotional connection you create with your readers is what will make your stories become memorable. And isn’t that why we write?
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