Purposeful Prose Advice Column: Handling Emotions in Writing

Dear Purposeful Prose, 

When I’m writing a scene, I’ve noticed that the emotional impact sometimes comes across as either disingenuous or somehow stilted. I try to make sure that every moment between characters feels earned, I try to show emotions through action rather than spell it out. I feel as though I’m not doing enough to make my story feel real. 

Without knowing it, I feel as though you’ve spelled out two different problems. First, you want a story that feels genuine and real. That’s understandable. Authors want to create a story that is resonant with their demographic. There is an intended impact in mind. Second, you want your characters and scenes to evoke specific emotions and to have those emotions fit naturally into the space that you’ve left for it. 

Gerard Murnane’s Last Letter to a Reader leaves an emotional impact that is difficult to fully name. This collection forced me to think critically of my position as a reader and how I exist both alongside and opposite the texts I consume. If you’ve read this work, you’ll understand what I’m doing when quoting him, but I believe that this is a fitting excerpt:

“Your body is the least part of you. Your body is a sign of you, perhaps: a sign marking the place where the true part of you begins. The true part of you is far too far-reaching and much too many-layered for you or me, reader, to read about or to write about.”

Inasmuch as there is no book that can, to completion, capture the human experience in its multitudes, I do not believe that you should be expected to try. Emotions are deeply complex, ever-changing things that can manifest in ways that are unpredictable, and when you bring those emotions into existence for your characters, you are making those predictions. You are attempting to put emotions into your characters’ or your scenes’ box, move them around, and mold them. 

You cannot control the emotions of other people. You can only control or ever fully understand yourself or your own. Murnane has said that you, as an individual, are more than just your physical representation (your body), and that you carry a deep truth. That is a truth that only you will ever be able to understand. Your characters will begin as your characters. Then, they will be passed to another person and gain layers until they grow into something that you can neither control or understand. Until that happens, you must begin with your story’s universal or near-universal truths. 

What is it about your characters or about your story that you can expect your readers to understand? Does your audience understand what it feels like to deal with grief and to experience a longing for something or someone who is absent? Does your audience feel shame for being who they are and want to live as someone else? Does your audience feel guilty for a past they’ve never shared? Even if your audience might not share those feelings with you, a benefit to literature is the empathy that it can develop within us for people who think and feel differently. 

Once you’ve centered on a truth that you want to express in your story, consider how different characters associate themselves with that truth. Maybe your character has a very specific life philosophy that they do not deviate from. Maybe their arc is centered around a conflict presented by that truth. 

Remember that regardless of the way you present the emotions of your characters and the emotions of the scene, your expression will not always match the sentiments of your readers. 

Bram Stoker’s Dracula, as an example, most assuredly does not paint the picture in my mind that Stoker intended for two key reasons. First, it was published in 1897. Second, I read it as literature of transformation rather than as a Gothic horror (though I respect its placement as a classic marketed under Gothic horror). My point is that what I was looking for in my reading of this novel was not what Bram Stoker was likely thinking of when/if he considered his readership. At the same time, your readers might be looking for something in your novel that you might not expect. 

Additionally, not everyone takes in expressions of emotion in the same way. Some people prefer that characters or narrators state what is felt outright so that there isn’t any ambiguity. They’ll want a clear signpost for how they should feel. Perhaps a scene set with weather that fits the mood or a clear verbal picture of a character’s facial expression. Some people prefer a strictly “show” approach wherein characters show emotion through actions. Sensory details and body language can help with this. This is another way of saying that you will not please everyone regardless of the approach you take. 

Consider this as well. Your characters, in theory, have bodies. They take up space in the world that you have made for them, but those bodies are signposts. In addition to the external life that they will live and the experiences they will have, they will also live an internal life. Emotional stimulation can exist in each. 

Begin with your universal or near-universal truth, and use that to help you think through the story’s framework and how your characters connect to it. This will help you to build a story that feels genuine. The emotional impact can, then, be carried out with balance. Make sure that each character’s action feels understandable considering their mindset or their life philosophy as readers understand it. They might behave in a way that contradicts the precedent they’ve set in order to advance the story, but ensure that if this happens, the action is made significant in some way. 

This will take trial and error, but don’t forget that if all else fails, try again, but from a different perspective!

If you have a writing or editing-focused question, I would be more than happy to dedicate a post to you. Contact us with any questions you might have or to schedule a free consultation with yours truly!

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