Written stories have the power of creating an emotional response in the reader beyond what is available in other forms of storytelling because they give access to the interior world of the characters. In other words, readers come to written stories because they are seeking interiority. What is interiority? Simply, it is a character’s thoughts, feeling, reactions, and inner struggles revealed on the page.
Writers have a variety of tools at their disposal to convey emotion. One way is to name the emotion using words like joy, fear, frustration, or excitement. This form of telling is so broad as to be unhelpful and the terms don’t give insight into why the character is feeling this way. Fear, for instance, can come in a variety of forms and depends on the circumstance, the setting, and the individual. A character’s past experiences, or their future goals, will affect how fear manifests in any situation. Without interiority, the writer leaves the reader guessing why this emotion has surfaced, how it might derail the character’s goals, or drudge up past trauma. Naming the emotion doesn’t do the heavy lifting required of it.
Another way to convey a character’s emotion is to use physical tells, like gestures, facial expressions, and actions. To avoid telling, writers often show the external manifestation of the character’s thoughts, but the problem here is in interpretation. What does the reader understand about the clenched fist or furrowed brow? While using exteriority allows the reader to visualize the character in the scene, don’t rely on action alone. If the character’s hand is trembling, the reader might make assumptions that are contrary to what the character is really thinking. Dig deeper and consider why her hand is trembling and convey that to the reader. Pairing physical tells with interiority lets the reader not only visualize the scene, but how the character is feeling, thinking, and reacting to the situation.
Many writers include sensory details to reflect the character’s feelings. While using sensory details makes for a more engaging scene, the character’s inner thoughts are still unclear. Sensory details can make a scene more vivid, steep the reader in setting, and make the world come alive, but without interiority there is a danger the reader will be left wondering what is happening to the character and why they should care.
