Somehow sitting down to plot a story always feel like an intellectual exercise. It’s a logical timeline of things that happen and the resultant consequences. But the trick to telling a good story does not come from the head—it comes from the heart.
Storytelling works best from a platform of feeling. People want to dive into stories because they care about the characters and want to know what happens because they are emotionally vested in the characters. Most readers are not impressed by intellectual exercises.
This means you need to get out of your head and into your body before you start planning your story so you can create characters that are sympathetic to your readers. Even if you are writing an action-based story heavy on plot, you still need characters people will root for—a heroine and a villain.
Now I am not saying you might not have a scene in mind that popped into your head and inspired the story. That happens to me all the time. It might be the launching point for your plot, which will require logic. Story always needs logic, but it needs emotion too.
Take a deep look at your story idea. How does the theme of it make you feel? How do your characters feel in each scene? Why does the outcome of the story matter to them? How do they feel in each scene and about each other? If you focus on the emotion in each scene, you will have a better chance of reaching your audience and evoking feeling in them too. This is the sign of a good story.
I remember taking drama class in high school and doing a scene where I made the teacher cry. It was a heady feeling. I remember going home and gloating that I had made him feel what I wanted him to feel through acting. It was a powerful feeling.
Actors have to dive into emotion and make people feel all the time. It’s their job. Your job as a writer is to create those scenarios, settings and lines that allow them to do it. It’s your job to evoke feelings in your readers.
It’s the same with POV—the deeper you sit into your characters, the easier it is to feel and empathize with them. If you hold them at a distance, it is harder to share their experiences and easy to switch into your head. This kills the heart of a story. Sure plot twists and mysteries and every story needs logic and intellectual aspects, but without the emotion, they become more like a puzzle than a story.
Play with your POV throughout your story. Try writing in deep POV or at least to lean into the emotion in your settings, scenes and dialogue. Figure out the best way to tap into the emotions of a scene without sacrificing story logic.
The best way to do this is to feel it as you write. If your character is angry, go ahead and feel the rage. Bring to mind times when you felt the same way. Channel those feelings into the work. This is what actors call “method acting” and it works. If you tap into similar experiences, you will be able to write about the emotion and scene easier. It doesn’t need to be an exact replica of what happened to you—but the emotion needs to be similar enough that you can relate to what your character is going through. Or you need to find someone who can tell you how it felt in a way that allows you to feel it too.
Feeling as you write will affect your character’s action and dialogue in a visceral way. If you don’t feel it, don’t expect your audience to feel it either. This holds true whether you are writing for the screen or the page.
Get to know your characters. You can’t hold them at arm’s length and do them justice. Even the villains. Maybe especially the villains. You need to understand them and their motivations. Know why they act and react as they do. Know why they feel the way they do. Know why they cross the room or the country. Pick up the phone or toss it at the wall.
Live the story with your characters. Fall in love, tremble from fear, get nervous from paranoia—experience what your character does in an emotional way and it will draw your readers into the story. It’s the best way to create characters who matter.
Don’t be afraid to get sloppy with emotion. It’s okay. Writing is a solitary endeavor. No one needs to know how much you spend on tissues.