The point of any story is to engage the audience or reader. It’s why the hook is so important; it’s the part of the story that grabs the readers’ attention and makes them want to know what happens next. But the ultimate goal is to make your readers’ care about what they are reading or watching.
It doesn’t matter whether you are trying to sell a service, recount an anecdote, or tell a fictional story, emotion is the key to success. It’s what motivates, persuades, moves people to act—buy that service, laugh at your joke, or keep turning pages.
The reason why emotion works can be found in neuroscience. Our brains are designed to react to and absorb story (a great subject that will be the focus of an upcoming series on Figments & Fables). We are wired to react.
Reaction is the heart of story. Something happens to the protagonist and the story hinges on how that character reacts. When she gets dumped, does she cry, consume an entirely unhealthy amount of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, or get revenge? Does her loss make her feel sad, hopeless, angry, vengeful? Readers will stay glued to the story to find out and to see what that emotion makes her do next.
If she just acts without showing her inner state, the action will fall flat. It depends on the emotion to give it life.
Story structure is important. Whether you use Freytag’s system, Save the Cat, or the basic Three-Act or Five-Act structure, doesn’t matter as much as creating a story that proceeds logically and resonates with your audience/reader. That means finding a way to engage your readers’ emotions while maintaining a logical progression of actions. Letting emotions guide the way, helps the process.
Stories must make sense. They can’t ramble or be structured like a dream that has no form or logic. Readers and audiences look for meaning. It is up to the storyteller to provide that meaning, and the way we do that is through emotion. The story has to matter, not only to the reader, but to the protagonist too (yet another upcoming blog topic).
One way to boost the meaning in your story is to identify the emotional arc of your story. What is the underlying emotional rhythm? What does your protagonist feel and when does she feel it? What action does that emotion prompt? How does that make your protagonist feel? And, more importantly, how does your emotional rhythm rise and ebb?
Pay attention to how the emotion flows, builds, and resolves in your story. This is the heart of your story—the part that will tug at your readers’ heartstrings and make them remember the experience. It is also what makes people change and grow. Act and respond. This is why story is an essential element in all forms of writing, not just fiction.
In the next blog we will look at how to track the emotional rhythm of your story and improve it for maximum engagement.