In a post on Writers Helping Writers, Becca Puglisi says that generating empathy with your characters is the key to engaging readers – and ensuring their repeat business. “When readers start to care about the main character, they’re going to be invested in what happens to him,” Puglisi says. “This means we have to get readers feeling as they read. And the best way to do that is by conveying the character’s emotion in a way that evokes emotion in the reader.”
That brings us to the classic Writing 101 advice: show, don’t tell. “When readers are simply told what the character’s feeling, they’re not involved; they’re put at a distance, just sitting back and listening to someone tell them what’s going on,” Puglisi writes. “But when the character’s emotions are shown through body language, vocal cues, thoughts, and dialogue, readers are able to infer what’s happening for themselves.”
Readers like to figure out a story as they’re reading. Clues, subtext, and questions aren’t just for mysteries! Readers like to put things together to create understanding of your characters, plot, and theme.
Showing also engages the reader. When you describe your character’s feelings and responses, you bring the reader into your story and remind them of a time when they experienced something similar. “Readers who feel a sense of doubt or fear or elation are going to be far more engaged than ones who sit back and watch other people feeling those emotions,” Puglisi says. This creates a shared experience between the writer, character, and reader. “Readers will connect with the character, even on a subconscious level, because of this thing they have in common,” Puglisi adds. “When we master the art of showing emotion, readers become active participants in the story, their emotions are engaged, and they feel a sense of kinship with the character.”
