Writing Emotion on the Page

From heart to hand

Characters’ emotions are often hard for me, while plot is easy.

Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

Plot-driven novels aren’t bad—there are quite a few wildly successful, plot-driven thrillers, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown for one.¹

But. The books I love tend to be character-driven.² So when I didn’t have an answer when an agent asked why my MC did what she did—I knew it was time for me to to be [more] mindful about character-arcs.

Three things I did that brought the magic …

1. I created a visual to diagram my plot and character arcs—to make sure they moved in sync. The easiest way is to just draw a line on a piece of paper, write the plot points on top of the line and the character arcs (emotion) on the bottom. Like this:

   

2. I used an enhanced timeline to capture both plot and character arcs³. For each chapter (or scene), I summarize the plot details, the characters who are involved (POV character first) and the character’s emotional arc.

   1. If I can’t quickly write a short sentence about why my character is doing what they’re doing, I know I need to dig deeper.

   2. This timeline has been fabulous for figuring out where to put twists, cliff-hangers, rearranging the order of events in my WIP and generally just managing the real estate on the page⁴. Example below.

      

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3. I studied emotions. There’s no shortage of theories, so pick what resonates for you. Two resources that helped me, The Emotion Thesaurus book by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi. Also, research on what’s called an “emotional episode timeline”.⁵ A bit more on that.

   1. Your character is going to be in some sort of state before an event⁶ triggers an emotion. Are they bored, hungry, maybe tired? Their state (whatever it is) will influence what happens next when …

   2. They encounter a trigger. Remember that characters can be hard-wired by a prior experience, an affliction or other obstacle, or what they want (or need). This will influence their response when they feel …

   3. An emotion. The character will experience physiological as well as psychological changes when this happens. Like what? Adrenalin stippled the back of my hands … the threat sharpened her … the sadness was blinding … a bubble of panic rose in his throat. To avoid cliches, I jot down phrases⁷ I overhear IRL or on TV, or stuff I read, that evoke a response. When I get stuck, I review these notes to spark ideas.

Writers, if you’re inclined to share, I’d love to know what works for you. ~ J. 🤔

1. As a writer, that book made me cringe. As a reader, I couldn’t put it down.

2. Peter Swanson’s The Kind Worth Killing. SO good.

3. I’m a panster, not a plotter and this worked for me.

4. I’ve heard that Scrivener makes this easy but I don’t use it.

5. Drs. Paul and Eve Ekman, Atlas of Emotions

6. Or, a person, situation, thought, memory, one of the five sense, an image ...

7. I use Notes on my iPhone.