How to Evoke Emotion in Readers
It might seem strange for a non-fiction writer to be discussing emotion in writing. But the truth is you do need to express emotion no matter what form your writing takes. Emotion says that there is a real human being behind the words. Emotion tells you that the writer cares about what they write about.
Passion says that you need to listen to this. Passion tells you that what you are reading is worth the effort. That it’s worth the time.
That’s also one reason why experienced writers suggest writing like you speak.
You see, if you write like you speak, you’ll naturally produce emotion in your writing. You can’t help it. When you’re caught up in the moment. When you’re in touch with your passions. You’ll naturally begin to speak with the passion you have for your subject.
And if you’re writing like you speak then that passion will appear in your writing just as it would in your speech.
It’s also one reason that people don’t like formal writing. It’s emotionless and unnatural. It doesn’t allow you to see the person behind the writing.
But what do you do if you don’t want to write like you speak. What if you want to write formally but still want to evoke emotion in your readers? Here are five hints for evoking emotion.
1. Don’t try to fake it. Look, your reader isn’t a fool. And you’re not that good a writer. If you try to fake it, all you’ll succeed at doing is ticking off your reader. Manipulation doesn’t work. Knowing why and what to use is important. Using it to manipulate will backfire.
2. Let your emotion show through. Faking it doesn’t work. But if you let your reader go along for the ride, they usually will join you. Let your emotion show through your writing. Let your emotion affect your writing. You’ll naturally do all the things that create emotion in your reader. No faking it. No manipulation. No wrongs. Just honest emotion creating honest writing.
3. Use the length of sentences to your advantage. Let your emotions appear naturally in your writing. People will hear your emotions in your sentence structure. One of the ways they hear it is in the length of sentence you use. As you become excited, your sentences become shorter and choppier. Words tumble from the page. Sentences fragment. Words are dropped. Faster and faster.
As long as you don’t try to stop them from occurring naturally. That’s why formal sentences are so hard to read. They’re unnatural. They tend to all be long and slow to read. And most of all, emotionless.
4. Use the size and type of words to your advantage. Just as your sentence structure will vary with your emotions. So will the type and size of your words. Formal writing tends towards the long, educated words. But to a writer, your words are your instrument. You need to learn to play them.
And long words, like an overlong drum riff, can become boring. When you begin to show your passion, your love, your hate, you’ll naturally begin to use shorter, faster words. And that’s cool. Just follow where your emotion leads you.
5. Use emotive descriptions. In fiction, the description you use will help to set the scene and focus the emotions. A dark, grey windswept castle under a towering, column of black, ugly clouds. Ignoring the obvious purple nature of that prose, you probably experienced some form of emotion when reading it. The same applies with non-fiction.
Describing a sentence as overbearing, overly-long description in shades of purple evokes just as strong an emotion. And it’s just as purple. Descriptions are a spice. Used with a deft hand they improve your reader’s connection with you and your emotions. Used with a heavy hand they are simply cloying.
Author: Glen Ford is an accomplished consultant, trainer and writer. He has far too many years experience as a trainer and facilitator to willingly admit.
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