How to Create Emotionally Charged Stories

I finished reading Me Before You recently - also known as the new movie everyone is talking about (see the trailer here if you haven't, I won't judge you if you shed a tear). The funny thing is that the Barnes & Noble saleslady warned me to get my tissues ready as she rang me up. But masochist that I am, I decided I should still read it.

I honestly have so many mixed feelings about that book. I wouldn't even know where to start if you asked me for a review. But I will say this for the sake of this post: that book is a serious page turner. I read it all in one night in the span of five hours because I couldn't bring myself to put it down. Granted, I have very little self control when it comes to books, but still. It was very difficult to focus on anything other than this book as I was reading it. And a big reason for that is that it was a very emotionally charged story.

But when you think about it, isn't that the reason we fall in love with some stories? Emotionally intense stories have a way of sucking us right into their world. Me Before You is a great example of that, and as a writer I think that's something to take note of. Adding emotional intensity to a story is a great way to create a bond between readers and characters. The good news is that there's a number of ways to do this (and it doesn't always have to be about love). These are some of my favorite ways that I've noticed authors create emotional intensity.

A Sense of Longing

We've all longed for something we couldn't have, whether it be a person, dream or even a place. Some of the most iconic and emotional stories are built exactly on that premise. There's the classic unrequited love stories, of course. Like Jay Gatsby's relentless longing for Daisy in the Great Gatsby, or Heathcliff's obsession over Catherine in Wuthering Heights. But there's a lot of other things your characters can long for. It can be anything from freedom to a childhood dream. What matters is that you make that longing so intense and real to that character, that it becomes the motivating force behind all their choices.

Injustice or Suffering

Another way to create an emotional bond between readers and your story is to evoke their sense of compassion and justice. Numerous stories have done this in order to get readers to fall in love with their main characters. There's the classic Cinderella of course - how could anyone not root for the hardworking, kind Cinderella who was so unfairly treated by her stepmother? Another famous work that uses this tactic is Jane Eyre, especially in the beginning of the novel. Seeing Jane suffer in her childhood makes you start rooting for her even then. If you do use this tactic however, I think you have to truly commit to it, because a character who faces injustice will be wounded in a way - and that's something to keep in mind as the story goes on.

Danger

Danger is a classic way to create an emotionally charged story. It's essentially what most thrillers rely on (think James Bond or Sherlock Holmes). Sine we've all got that fight or flight system wired into us, readers automatically get their hearts racing when a character faces a life-threatening situation (assuming that it's well written, of course). Make use of that by adding a little danger to your stories every now and then. You can even use this as a trick, starting a scene with the illusion of danger to suck your reader in, and then turn it into something else (don't overuse this though, or your readers will get annoyed!).

How do you create emotional intensity in your stories? Also, if you've read Me Before You, are you planning to watch it in theaters? I'm curious because I kind of want to but I also really don't... (crying in public is embarrassing, ya know?).

#writing #2016