Make ‘em laugh, Make ‘em CRY
Keep your readers on the emotional hook with advice from Patricia McBride
Patricia McBride
Ever wondered how authors make you want to keep reading late into the night, even when you’ve got work next day? A great plot and convincing characters are important, but not the whole story. Successful writers know how to pluck your emotional strings throughout the whole book. They write in such a way that you have no choice but to feel exactly what they want you to feel. And that means you keep reading. But how do they do it? How do they awaken emotions so strong that you go to work bleary-eyed next day?
To feel emotionally involved with our characters we have to care about them. We have to feel what they feel. Without that, the reader is likely to lose interest and stop reading half way through. So make your characters unforgettable, and make the reader care about them. This is true of baddies as well as goodies. We read on wanting the baddie to get their comeuppance, just as we want the goodie to be saved.
Make ‘em voyeurs
When we read a story, we become voyeurs watching the lives of the characters, so it’s important that we follow the rule of ‘show, don’t tell.’ Dialogue is a potent way to do this. See the difference between these two sentences:
James was furious that Megan was leaving him for another man.
‘You bitch.’ James spat, his taut jaw jutting forward, ‘I’ll get you for this!’
The dialogue example has much more immediacy and impact. We can see James in action. If we already care for Megan, we fear for her safety.