Fiction - The Emotional Craft Of

Use an object, situation, or chain of events to serve as the formula for a particular emotion (e.g., a cracked windshield representing a broken relationship). 2. Physicality and the Interior Monologue Humans experience emotion in the body first.

Create a discrepancy between what a character says and what they do. A character saying "I’m fine" while crushing a soda can in their hand tells a much more powerful story than a confession of anger. 4. Setting as Emotional Weather

In fiction, emotion isn't something a character has ; it’s something the reader feels . The Emotional Craft of Fiction

Using the weather (rain for sadness) is a classic trope, but Emotional Contrast is often more effective. A character receiving devastating news on a bright, beautiful spring day emphasizes their isolation from the rest of the world.

Emotion only lands if the reader understands what is at risk. Use an object, situation, or chain of events

If you say a character is "sad," you’ve given the reader a label. If you describe the character’s inability to wash the single coffee mug left in the sink, you’ve given them the feeling.

Show the character’s "soft underbelly." A hardened detective is more sympathetic when we see them tenderly caring for a dying houseplant. Create a discrepancy between what a character says

The environment should reflect or contrast the character's internal state.