How To Create Emotions in Your Stories

The Power of Story – Part Three

As we saw in Part Two, Nathan was able to penetrate David’s wall of pride and self-defense by making him feel. To create emotions is one of storytelling’s greatest tools. People need to feel. It’s a major part of who we are. More than one psychologist has said sociopaths kill just so they can feel. To feel is often a major reason we watch movies, read books, listen to music, enjoy great paintings. Leo Tolstoy is quoted as saying, “Art is to create feeling.”

And one of the greatest ways to generate feeling is by creating characters your reader reacts to. Characters they love, hate, pity, are afraid of, amused by, inspired by. For that reason, I believe the most important element in the power of story is . . .

Creating unforgettable characters.

That’s where we’ll be spending the next several sessions . . . learning how to create characters that are so real they not only live and breathe as if they have lives of their own, but that have qualities which will stay in your reader’s mind long after the story is over and the book is set aside.

So stay tuned as we explore some of the tricks I’ve learned along the way in creating strong emotions through unforgettable characters. Until next time. Bill

© Copyright Bill Myers

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