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Search Results for: how to show emotion

Reader Empathy Begins with Compelling Character Emotion

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Do you know how many books are on the market today? Neither do I. I can’t count that high. This is awesome for readers, but it creates a problem for authors looking to create a fan base. Not only do we need customers to find our books, we need them to love them—enough to finish them and go on to … [Read more...] about Reader Empathy Begins with Compelling Character Emotion

Three Emotion Problems to Avoid in Your Story Opening

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As I’m sure you’ve heard roughly a gajillion times, your story’s first pages are very important. Editors and agents typically request just a portion of your story’s opening, and potential buyers read only a sampling when they’re looking for books to buy. So whichever publishing route you take, those … [Read more...] about Three Emotion Problems to Avoid in Your Story Opening

A Mother Lode of Resources on Emotion Amplifiers

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Angela and I have been busy bees the past few months, creating as much content as we could surrounding emotion amplifiers—a little-known storytelling element that's great for elevating a character's emotions and setting them up for overreactions, misjudgments, mistakes, and increased … [Read more...] about A Mother Lode of Resources on Emotion Amplifiers

How to Avoid Clichéd Emotional Reactions

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The single tear trickling down the cheek. A kiss that leaves one’s knees weak. The grin that stretches from ear to ear. Yawn Oh, excuse me. I almost fell asleep there. Why Readers Hate Clichéd Emotional Responses Clichés in writing are frowned upon because they’re easy; they’re … [Read more...] about How to Avoid Clichéd Emotional Reactions

Release Day: The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus Is Here (& a Giveaway!)

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Another book joins the family today: The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Stress and Volatility! Writing authentic emotional reactions can be difficult when a character is the sort to hide what they feel. Whether it's due to fear, painful past trauma, or personal … [Read more...] about Release Day: The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus Is Here (& a Giveaway!)

10 Reasons Why Emotion Amplifiers Are Good for Your Story

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As you may have heard, we recently released The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Stress and Volatility, a companion to The Emotion Thesaurus. If you aren't familiar with this term, let me explain. An emotion amplifier is a special state or condition that can make a … [Read more...] about 10 Reasons Why Emotion Amplifiers Are Good for Your Story

Three Essentials for Engaging Reader Emotion in the Setup

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As authors, we all know the importance of engaging our audience within a book’s first few pages. Grabbing the reader: captivating them in a way that makes them want to stick with the story to its end. But Michael Hauge prefers a different term for this phenomenon: No one likes to be grabbed. … [Read more...] about Three Essentials for Engaging Reader Emotion in the Setup

The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus (May 2024 Release)

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We're adding to our Thesaurus family! It's been a while since our last book as we needed to recalibrate our release schedule from fall to spring (resulting in a year gap), but now we're back in the thesaurus-making saddle. May 13th is coming fast, so it's time to dish some details about our … [Read more...] about The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus (May 2024 Release)

Want to Show Your Character’s Pain? Here’s Everything You Need to Know

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For the better part of two months, Becca and I have been exploring pain, and how to write about it in fiction. It's been enlightening for us, and we hope for you as well. So many ways to torture characters, who knew? (Well, we did. And you did. Pain is sort of our bread and butter, isn't … [Read more...] about Want to Show Your Character’s Pain? Here’s Everything You Need to Know

Writing About Emotional Trauma Without Triggering Readers

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Trigger warnings are often debated in the writing world. Some opine that readers should be warned if something potentially harmful is included in a book, and others feel the audience shouldn’t be bubble-wrapped and need to chin up if they want to read fiction. Like most things, the answer probably … [Read more...] about Writing About Emotional Trauma Without Triggering Readers