We Have One Job As Novelists
And I recently failed it
Story expert Michael Hauge says the storyteller has one job—to make your reader feel. Some of you might argue with that, but I agree. I read novels for the stories, not for beautiful language (though I appreciate that when it’s there) or to learn something (open to that if it happens) or to be convinced of the writer’s opinion on something (meh). I read for story, and what I want from story is emotion. I want the writer to make me feel a certain way.
I submit what is equally important is how the author feels about the book she is writing. If the author is discouraged and depressed and, dare I say it, bored, with her book, so too will be the reader. So, emotion in the author, emotion in the reader. I still cry every time I read the ending of my novel Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior, when Ava…oh never mind, I better not give it away. And I just might have personal experience with the opposite of this—the author being bored with her own work. (More on that in a sec.)
And so, the question is, how does the author make the reader feel all the feels? And how does the author keep herself feeling all the feels as she writes? (Okay that was two questions, sorry.) If I had the answer to that I’d be a millionaire. I’m not and I don’t. But I do have some ideas. But first a story from my own writing life.
I have a novel I’ve been working on for years. (Don’t worry—I’ve written lots of other stuff at the same time.) I’ve never quite managed to get this particular novel right. Or at least that it felt right to me. But a couple of months ago I reached my peace with it and with yet another round of rewriting I deemed to ready to go out into the world. It just needed one last read through to sharpen sentences and words and check for grammar and spelling. Then I’d send it to my copyeditor.
But I could not force myself to look at the manuscript. Also, I kept telling myself that I needed to email the copyeditor and have her get it on her calendar. Somehow that never got done, either. Both of these tasks were on my to-do list for weeks without completion. Now, a wiser person than me might have stopped to think that there was a message in this somewhere—a message beyond me telling myself I was a terrible procrastinator. But instead, I beat myself up about how awful I was to not get to it for months.
I’ll pause here to tell you a little about the book. It’s a romance leaning toward women’s fiction, as are all my novels, and it is dual point-of-view characters: the heroine, Bridget, and the love interest, Cade, both written in the third person. Bridget is contained, a bit on the rigid side, a believer in science, a very cool cucumber. Cade is a devil-may-care playboy, loose, carefree, certain that everything will fall into place with the help of his charm and good looks. Cade was always easy for me to write, but Bridget was a challenge and it was her viewpoint that I never felt was quite right.
Fast forward through the painful months of not working on the novel and I’m reading A Little Ray of Sunshine by Kristan Higgins. The heroine’s viewpoint is written in the first person. I loved the book and as I read I started thinking about how many books I’d enjoyed recently that had been written in first person. The idea crept slowly into my consciousness. Could I….should I…would I….change my book’s viewpoint to first person? No, nope, no way was my first reaction. Because, if you’ve ever done such a thing, you know it is a beast of a job. You can’t just do a find and replace for “she” to “I.” Nuh-uh. Doesn’t work that way. You have to go through it painstakingly and make all the changes yourself.
But the idea would not let go of me. Finally, I told myself that I would try it. I’d change the viewpoint of the first chapter from third to first and see how it felt. You can probably guess what happened. Yes. I loved it. Changing Bridget, my cool cucumber, to first person gave the reader access to her thoughts and made her more relatable. It made the reader (and the author) understand her better and be more willing to follow her through the story. First person is a much closer viewpoint—third can feel detached and distant and with Bridget, that was the case.
And best of all—I got my writing mojo back. I’m loving this rewrite. Bridget is coming alive and so am I. I’m working every time I have a spare second and I’m enjoying the hell out of it. I’m proving to myself this: emotion in the author, emotion for the reader. It’s going to be a far, far better book and it is not even taking that long. (Still on track for a fall release.)
And now my promised ideas for keeping the feels going in the book and the reader.
Start with character. Because everything starts with character in my humble opinion and on this my opinion is correct. I’ll fight you if you disagree. Character is why we read stories. Because…wait for it…it’s through character that we feel all those feels. There are fifty thousand books and sites on character out there but basically you must know what your character wants and why he can’t get it. Okay, you don’t have to know why but you do have to figure out a ton of obstacles so that he can’t reach his goal. It is also helpful to know his wound—what is the unhealed pain from the past that drives him? And how does moving through the story heal him and transform him? That’s your character arc in a nutshell. Taking your reader on that journey is going to provide the emotional arc they crave. And with luck it will satisfy you, the author, too!
Second, study story. Get a good working knowledge of structure and character. For structure I highly recommend Hauge’s work. I had the privilege of taking a day-long zoom class from him in the early days of the pandemic and it was fantastic, but I don’t think he offers that regularly. He works in the paradigm of the four-act structure but he emphasizes a character’s inner and outer journey. Because of this he also deals with character arc. This article by him is an excellent introduction to his work and it has tons of helpful tips on structure, too. His books are useful introductions to his concepts, especially Writing Screenplays That Sell and Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds.
You can’t go wrong with Hauge, but not every write jibes with every expert. You can also follow Christopher Vogler’s Writers’s Journey, Save the Cat, the traditional three-act structure and more. Find one you like and study it. You don’t have to follow it slavishly—that’s not the point. Just get a good idea in your head about story structure and then go forth and write.
(Note: one of the projects I’m working on is updating and expanding a class I’ve taught several times called Mapping the Novel, which goes into structure and character in much more depth. It also covers all the elements you need to get started writing your novel. It will a feature for paid subscribers soon.)
And honestly, a person could spend her life studying and researching and prepping. Remember, your first task above all else is to write. Get the words out. Words turn into pages and pages turn into chapters and chapters turn into books. The writing always come first because that’s where the real learning happens. All the rest is important, too, but without the writing it is irrelevant.
Because sometimes—often—the writing is what engenders more writing. Sometimes you can feel bored with your work but it may be for external reason that have nothing to do with the work itself. Maybe you’ve been stressed at work or have a new baby and haven’t been able to write. (Absence does not generally make the heart grow fonder when it comes to writing.) Sometimes you just have to gut it out, keep writing and blast on through until you get to the happy place again.
And sometimes a break from the work in order to get some distance is what you need. Just try to be more intentional about it than I was. And whatever you do, don’t beat yourself up about it! Know that it is possible to get that old magic feeling back about your writing at any time.
Moral of the story? Keep writing, peeps!
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This is helpful Charlotte.It is a great thing to have one item to focus on when we are doing something hard. I think writing is hard, at least to do well. When we are being taught something, we all get overwhelmed if there are too many things to remember. I think the next time I am writing an opinion piece I'm going to think about "make them feel"