Writers in the Storm

by Stefan Emunds

This is the third article of the article series The Yin and Yang Relationship Between Psychology and Storytelling. The first article covers reader investment and reader engagement. The second article explains how to create story experiences that feel real to life. This article takes a deep look at readers' subconscious responses to stories and details how to engage them with the eight writing crafts.

Why Do Writers Need to Know Psychology?

Writers need to know psychology for four main reasons:

1. Know how readers think and feel and use that knowledge to engage them.
2. Understand the psychology of experiencing so they can create story experiences that have a real-to-life feel.
3. Design characters with plausible traits, flaws, talents, motivations, etc.
4. Know themselves — why they write, what they really want to write about, and how to get out of their own way.

The Eight Crafts of Writing

This article is written with eightcrafts.com in mind. The eight writing crafts are:

• Big Idea (aka theme)
• Genre
• Narrative
• Story Outline (aka plotting)
• Characterization
• World Building
• Scene Structure
• Prose (aka line-by-line writing)

Note: To avoid confusing readers, the author of these articles avoided the alternation of she and her and he and him. Instead, he uses the nonexclusive she and her to mean writer and reader.

The Two Neural Perception Networks

Our body has two neural perception networks:  voluntary and involuntary.

The voluntary perception network presents sense impressions to our self, which reacts consciously and voluntarily to experiences. An involuntary perception network produces visceral responses and emotions.

These two perception networks act independently and simultaneously.

The involuntary perception network is good news for writers because readers can’t help responding to stories if the writer knows how to trigger emotional responses.

The Four Parts of the Brain

Simplified, the brain has four parts or faculties:

• The self
• Intelligence
• Creativity and feelings
• The lower part of the brain that manages subconscious activities and produces emotions

Hormones and Tension

The brain continuously tracks discrepancies between motivations and reality, for example, the motivation for finding food and its availability. Discrepancies produce tension.

Tension is a major story engager. The inciting incident throws the protagonist’s life out of order. The protagonist responds by formulating the story goal. She believes that if she reaches the story goal, her life will return to normal.

Discrepancy between the story goal and the story reality produces the main story tension. The main story tension waxes and wanes as the protagonist fights adversity and moves closer to and away from the story goal. The climax resolves the main story tension.

On scene level, the POV character reacts to the scene stimulus by formulating a scene goal. The pursuit of the scene goal produces tension. Tension waxes and wanes as the POV character struggles with adversity until the climactic action resolves the scene tension.  

Hormones produce tension in three basic scenarios:

1. In case the discrepancy between want and reality is small and not life-threatening, the brain releases endorphins. Endorphins motivate the self and off it goes, excited to find food. Readers get excited when the heroine formulates her story goal and embarks on her heroic journey. Excitement is an engager.
2. In case the discrepancy between want and reality is great or life-threatening, the brain releases adrenaline, norepinephrine, and/or cortisol. Action, thriller, and horror scenes give readers adrenaline boosts.
3. When the protagonist meets the story goal, readers will experience the release of serotonin, which gives them a sense of satisfaction. That’s what the happy ending and poetic justice are good for. Satisfaction is an engager. Serotonin is not the only satisfaction hormone. In case the protagonist mates, it’s oxytocin, which gives readers a sense of satisfying affection and intimacy.

Writers are alchemists. They concoct endorphins, adrenaline, norepinephrine, cortisol, oxytocin, and serotonin in their readers’ brains.

Emotional/Visceral Responses

Our body has evolved its capability to emote over millions of years. Most emotional-visceral responses serve survival. Big and fast-approaching objects trigger fear. So does standing at the edge of a precipice. Without emotions, we would look at an approaching lion and we would be like, “Wow! Awesome! Interesting!” And we would be dead.

Emotions can be pleasant and unpleasant. Examples of unpleasant emotions are disgust, fear, and anger. Examples of pleasant (and tempting) emotions are infatuation, excitement, and satisfaction. Together, they produce the dualism of good and bad times.

The border between pleasant and unpleasant emotions is fuzzy.

Some people take pleasure in pain. Many like to flirt with fear by going parachuting or by reading a thriller. People like to experience unpleasant emotions because it makes them feel more alive. Stories allow people to enjoy unpleasant emotions in a safe environment.

Genres promise readers emotional experiences. Action stories promise adrenaline kicks. Horror stories allow readers to experience fear and disgust. Romances promise love and infatuation.

Animals react emotionally only to experiences. No experience, no emotions.  Humans can react emotionally also to memories, thoughts, and imaginations. That's why humans react emotionally to stories.

Voluntary Cognitive Responses

Of course, our self also responds consciously and intelligently to experiences. Our self analyzes experiences, assesses their importance, comes up with solutions to adversity, and anticipates the future.

By nature, people are curious. Curiosity is a major story engager and tempts readers to engage with stories intellectually.

Writers design curiosity by raising and answering story questions, as well as weaving twists and clues and red herrings into the story. Crime stories make amply use of curiosity.

Curiosity and tension are the main story engagers. Together, they move stories forward.

Voluntary Feely Responses

Feelings and emotions are two different affairs. Emotions are involuntary reactions to experiences, like fear, anger, and disgust. On the other hand, feelings come from the heart or soul, for example, love, gratitude, and happiness.

Emotions only stir if external events, memories, or ideas trigger them. Feelings need to be cultivated. Love is a muscle. And we can love people and dislike them at the same time.

When feelings conquer emotions, heroes happen. Do you want to see that in action? Watch Better Call Saul on Netflix, Season 1, Episode 2 (Mijo), timestamp 34:30.

Backstory:

Saul, an ex-con man who pursues a career as a lawyer, persuades two guys to hustle a potential client. They end up hustling the wrong woman, who turns out the mother of a Mexican gangster.

The scene:

The gangster takes the three into the desert and interrogates Saul. After explaining himself and the mix-up, Saul gets to walk. The other two face their demise because they insulted the gangster’s mother. Saul has all the reasons to walk away and save his life, but his compassion overrides his fear. He turns around and risks his fresh-won life by trying to talk the gangster out of killing the other two.

The Emotional and Cognitive Responses of Story Characters

The most important products you sell to readers are tension, curiosity, and emotions.

When you write scenes, you need to keep in mind that your story characters are exposed to the action and should respond accordingly. At least the responses of your POV characters need to be on the page. Mind that story characters may respond differently than readers.

Reader Reactions vs Real Life Reactions

When a grizzly attacks, most readers will react with fear. A seasoned hunter story character may not. Stay in character.

In real life, responses follow the following sequence: reflex → emotional & visceral reaction → instinctive response → habitual response → thought → action → dialogue → feeling.

Reflex, emotional & visceral reaction, instinctive response, and habitual response are involuntary, the rest are voluntary responses.

You can let a story character respond with one, a few, or all response types. You just need to get the sequence right.

The Eight Crafts of Writing and Reader Engagement

You have nine engagers at your disposal to pull readers into your story:

• Empathy
• Curiosity
• Tension
• Inspiration and motivation
• Sense of wonder and beauty
• Emotional thrill
• Excitement
• Satisfaction
• Feelings

Big Idea engages the reader’s intellect. The reader's response to a big idea is curiosity. Example: What if an AI enslaves humans and uses their bodies as batteries?

Narrative engages readers by pulling them into a character’s POV. Narrative can also engage readers through mystery and suspense, which engages readers with tension and curiosity.

Genre engages readers with curiosity. Readers are always looking forward to fresh stories in their favorite genre.

Genres also create curiosity through their baked-in story goals:

• Crime: How will the detective catch the culprit?
• Romance: Will the girl get the guy?
• Horror: Will the monster upend the world?

Story Outline milestones engage in unique ways. For example, crossing into adventure induces excitement, and the poetic justice scene at the end of the story induces satisfaction.

Characterization produces empathy, which is the major story engager. Characterization can also weave a sense of wonder and beauty, for example, the beautiful description of a wonderful character:

From Hard Times by Charles Dickens:

"He was a rich man, banker, merchant, manufacturer, and whatnot. A big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh. A man made out of coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him. A man who was always proclaiming, through that brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old poverty. A man who was the bully of humility."

World Building conjures a sense of wonder and beauty. Part of World Building is world conflict design. World conflict produces tension and curiosity.

Scenes are little stories within your story. You could rig your scenes with all nine engagers, but that would likely stress out your readers. You may want to reserve that for key scenes like the inciting incident, the all-is-lost moment, and the climax.

Prose produces emotional thrill through action beats and dialogue and summons feelings through internalization.

Readers enjoy a full-brain engagement.

Oversimplified, Hollywood productions bank on Big Idea and Story Outline, but they struggle with deep Characterization and putting feelings on the screen. Exceptions to the latter are movies like The Titanic.

Literary fiction excels in drama and Characterization, but at times lacks Story Outline, in particular, satisfying story climaxes. Some productions are great at putting the heart on fire but tend to lack proper Story Outline.

Long-form TV shows like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Alienist, and Umbrella Academy come with complex Story Outline, deep Characterization, and well-designed character conflict, and that's why they are so successful.

Which engagers do you use the most and which ones do you neglect? Which writing crafts are you good at and which ones do you need to improve? Do you tend to neglect voluntary or involuntary responses?

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About Stefan

Stefan Emunds is the author of The Eight Crafts of Writing. He writes inspirational non-fiction and visionary fiction stories and runs an online inspiration and enlightenment workshop. Stefan was born in Germany and enjoyed two years backpacking in Australia, New Zealand, and South-East Asia in his early twenties. Prior to becoming a writer, he has worked as a business development manager in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. At the moment, he lives with his son in the Philippines.

You can buy the book The Eight Crafts of Writing here or take the course on the Lawson Writer’s Academy here.

Top Image by Dr StClaire from Pixabay

by Colleen M. Story

When you first started writing, what did you want?

It might have been a publishing contract, a spot on a best-seller list, a way to work from home, or books that supported your coaching business.

But then as you went along, things changed. You overcame challenges, gained experience, and grew professionally. Your life outside of writing probably changed too.

If you ask yourself what you want from your writing career at this point in your life, you may have a different answer than you once did.

If you’re not sure or if you haven’t thought about it in a while, try the following exercises.

Are You Doing What You Need to Do to Get What You Want?

Ask yourself if any of these statements ring true for you.

• You’ve lost excitement for what you’re doing as a writer.
• You’re going through the same motions over and over again and getting the same (disappointing) results.
• You feel disconnected from who you are as a writer, and tied to being who you think you’re supposed to be.
• When you reach a goal, it doesn't fulfill you.
• You feel like you haven’t made any progress in your career for a while.

If any of these statements describe where you are right now, it probably means that you’ve lost touch with what you really want in your writing career.

Even if you didn’t relate, you may still need to gain clarity on what you want if you feel slightly disconnected from your career, or if it doesn’t excite you as much as it used to.

5 Exercises to Help You Determine What You Want as a Writer

1. Create Your Don’t-Want and Want Lists

Split your paper or document into two columns. On the top of one half, write “Don’t want,” and on the other, write “Want.”

Start with the “don’t want” list as that’s usually easier. Write down everything that you don’t want to do as a writer or no longer want to do.

Then on the other side, write down those things you want to do. Often this list builds off of your first one—look at what you don’t want, then use that information to write down what you do want.

Here’s an example:

Don’t Want	Want
To write another story in the same genre	To write a story in a new genre
To feel tired and exhausted	To feel energized about my writing
To work on projects I don’t enjoy	To work on projects I’m passionate about
To spend time on marketing tactics that don’t work	To market in ways that are efficient and make good use of my time
To feel like I’m failing	To feel like I’m succeeding

Keep going until you exhaust all of your “don’t wants,” then pick the top three that bother you most right now. Figure out how you can get rid of these in your writing life.

2. Record Your Most Enjoyable Moments

Think back on your writing career so far. What experiences, achievements, or goals brought you the most joy and fulfillment? Which would you most like to repeat?

Write down at least five. Here are some examples:

• When I self-published my book.
• After I conducted a workshop at a conference.
• When I helped a coaching student achieve his/her goals.
• After I produced a successful book launch.
• When my article appeared in a magazine I admired.

Now look at all those experiences and write down the things they have in common. For example, do they all involve:

• Helping other people to succeed
• Diving deeper into your creativity
• Sharing what you know with others
• Challenging yourself with something new
• Feeling like you’re becoming a better writer
• Fighting for a cause you believe in
• Other

Use your answers to steer you toward doing more of the types of projects you want to do.

3. Digging for Gold

Write down your answers to the following questions:

• What makes you happy as a writer?
• What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
• Think of other writers you admire. What three qualities stand out?
• If you had to focus on just one type of project, which would it be?

Examine your answers for words or phrases that leap out at you as important or impactful. Write those words and phrases down in a different place. Your results may look something like this:

Writing novels. Publish two novels a year. Prolific. Detailed. Stories.

Whatever your list looks like, examine it for clues about what you’d most like to focus on in the future.

4. Make a Mind Map

Draw a circle in the middle of a piece of paper. In that circle, write down what you want to experience more of in your writing life. Limit it to three things.

For example:

• Passion
• Creativity
• Freedom

Now draw lines connecting this central circle to other circles that you will create. In each of the other circles, write down ways you might get more of what you wrote in the central circle.

Some examples might include:

• Start working on projects I’ve had in mind
• Attend conferences or other events where I can network
• Take a course to learn a new skill

Keep brainstorming until your ideas run out, then leave the map resting nearby in case another idea occurs to you.

5. Take Small Steps

Your next step is to take small actions toward those goals you discovered you “may” want.

Go back and determine three actions you can take, based on your work here, that can help inch you toward your new goals. As you move forward, you’ll feel either you’re going the right way or that you need to go back and do some more thinking.

Do be sure to take at least some action. Thinking only gets you so far—you have to take action to really determine what you want next. When you figure it out for sure, don’t let anything hold you back.

NOTE: Through December 2022, all of Colleen's writing ebooks are on sale for $2.99 or less! Get your copies here. You can also find free chapters of her book and a free giveaway here.

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About Colleen

Colleen M. Story is a novelist, freelance writer, writing coach, and speaker with over 20 years in the creative writing industry. Her latest release, The Beached Ones, was released with CamCat Books on July 26, 2022. Her novel, Loreena’s Gift, was a Foreword Reviews’ INDIES Book of the Year Awards winner, among others.

Colleen has written three books to help writers succeed. Your Writing Matters was a bronze medal winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards (2022). Other award-winning titles include Writer Get Noticed! and Overwhelmed Writer Rescue. Get free chapters of these books here.

Find more at her author website (colleenmstory.com) or connect with her on Twitter (@colleen_m_story) and YouTube.

Top Image by S. Hermann / F. Richter from Pixabay

by Lori Freeland  

Whether you’ve just joined the writing world or you’ve been around awhile, you’ve probably figured out that good writing takes time and practice. Thankfully, it’s a skill like any other and can be honed. While some parts may come naturally, others will need to be learned. And that won’t happen overnight. But you can kick-start your knowledge and make it look like you know exactly what you’re doing.

Here are 5 ways to instantly up your writing game:  

1. Identify Your Audience

You can’t write for everyone. Throw out the temptation to be a bibliophile-pleaser. Unlike a stretchy pair of leggings, your final product will not and cannot be a one-size-fits-all. Know your genre and your readers’ expectations.

Writing for academics? Go ahead and throw in the big, fancy scientific words and dry, winding sentences. Penning a book for kids? Leave those words out, and research what’s appropriate for the reading level you’re trying to hit. Creating commercial fiction? Ditch a literary style in favor of something more fast-paced. Putting together a how-to guide? Make sure every step is clear and concise.  

Sidenote: Word will give you a general idea of where you fit in grade-level wise in the editor feature.

2. Strive for Clarity

The goal of most writers is to get their message out of their own heads and into someone else’s. This applies to novels, picture books, memoirs, articles, blogs, manuals . . . you get the idea. If the reader can’t understand the idea or the words, they have no take-away. If the story is too hard to follow, you’ll lose your audience.

• avoid clutter on the page

Paragraph often and make sure there’s enough “white space.” Which would you rather read?

• stay away from winding, snake-like sentences, multiple clauses, repetition, and  redundancy

Don’t do this (and yes, I’ve read similar sentences far too often):

At the beginning of the day, he first went to the meadow and took out his picnic basket and set it on the blanket, poured himself a glass of wine, cut the cheese into tiny cubes, thought about how blue the sky seemed to be despite the ongoing bad-air alert and, wishing he wasn’t alone, he closed his eyes and dreamed of his former love, and that’s how he began his day at first.

• avoid using words you wouldn’t use in an ordinary conversation

He frolicked through the meadow versus He walked through the meadow

• in fiction, paint a visual with words and “show” us the movie running in your mind

• in nonfiction, be conversational and invite your reader in

3. Use Proper Punctuation

Even though our casual, text-based culture says otherwise, capitalization, commas, and periods are still a thing, And an emoji isn’t actually considered punctuation. You can find the first post in my Comma Series here.

• lean into contractions

While this may feel like the opposite of “proper” punctuation, it’s not.

Read that sentence again this way: While this may feel like the opposite of “proper” punctuation, it is not.

I just got a lot less conversational in my tone, and most writing is not—and shouldn’t be—formal.

Why? Because we think and speak in contractions. Unless you’re writing a formal paper or academic article, ignore what you learned in school. This applies to fiction—not only with  dialogue but narrative as well—nonfiction, and even emails.

No contractions: I will not go with you. You are not very nice. I am not happy with you.

Contractions: I won’t go with you. You’re not very nice. I’m not happy with you.

Ellipses have had a makeover

• instead of:

She fell asleep…and missed everything.

• try:

She fell asleep … and missed everything

OR

She fell asleep . . . and missed everything. 

• periods and commas go inside quotation marks, even if it looks weird

• She wanted his “job.”
  • Because he wanted “out,” she let him go.

• semicolons and colons are fading out while em dashes are gaining popularity and can be used in place of a semicolon

Her career as a pastry chef was on the line—no ordinary bakeware would do.

• in place of a colon and words like “including,” “like,” and “such as.”

She chose the party events—the favors, the games, the cocktails.  

• as an interrupter

She didn’t just want dinner—although it smelled terrific—she also wanted company.

• to break up dialogue and action (make sure the em dashes go outside the quotes)

“I don’t want that dog”—she pointed to the Irish setter—“I want the Lhasa apso.”

4. Keep Up With Trends

Trends in spelling, grammar, and punctuation change in the writing world just as they do everywhere else. Want to keep up? Subscribe to a resource like The Chicago Manual of Style online. CMOS recently updated to the 17th edition, and they offer a free thirty-day trial.

Bookmark the Merriam-Webster online dictionary and pop in what you’re unsure of, especially hyphenated words. Some of them are now spelled as one word. Make sure your titles are properly capitalized based on your style (CMOS, MLA, AP, etc.).

Check out Capitalize My Title.

Here are some current trends (at least for now):

• there is no “s” in toward
• ’til is now spelled till
• there’s no longer a comma before words like “too” and “either” at the end of a sentence
  • I like cookies too.
  • I didn’t want to go either.
• some common hyphenated words have merged
  • e-mail is email
  • make-up is makeup
• “his/her” and “his or her” are changing to them or they

5. Take a Second Look

Even editors need editors. It doesn’t matter if you’re sending an email, writing copy, or polishing a manuscript, read what you’ve written. At least once. Ideally, out loud. Your ear catches what your eye misses.

Run spellcheck too. But always check to make sure the suggested changes are accurate. Automated spellcheckers can’t replace human discernment when it comes to context. *See screenshot below.

I still use the editor in Word, but I also like PerfectIt 5 as it pairs with The Chicago Manual of Style. Some other writers use Grammarly, but it can throw you off if you’re not careful.

*Word wants me to change “read” to “or reading,” but that doesn’t work in the context of this sentence. 

Don’t leave your writing to chance. Definitely don’t rely on the old adage “fake it till you make it.” Instead, decide to learn one thing well, then add another and another. I’ll bet you’ll be amazed at what comes naturally to your brain and shows up effortlessly on the page.

Let’s Talk . . .

What are some ways you appear professional in your writing? Are there tips a seasoned writer shared with you when you first started out? Talk to us in the comments. We’re all looking to become strong, solid writers, and helping each other will get us there sooner.

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About Lori

Lori Freeland believes everyone has a story to tell. An author, editor, and writing coach, she holds a BA in psychology from The University of Wisconsin and lives in the Dallas area. A regular contributor to Writers in the Storm and Crosswalk and former editor for The Christian Pulse and Armonia Publishing, she’s presented multiple workshops at conferences across the country and has experience in developmental and copy edits in various genres of fiction and nonfiction. She writes articles, novels, and everything in between. When she’s not curled up with her husband drinking too much coffee and worrying about her adult kids, she loves to mess with the lives of the imaginary people living in her head. You can visit her at lorifreeland.com and find her inspirational blog and writing tips at lafreeland.com.  

Image by Kevin Phillips from Pixabay