For so many of us, it was the way books made us feel when we were kids that made us want to write them when we grew up.

The plots of those early, formative books…well, the fact is, we probably don’t remember a whole lot about them at this point.

Regardless, we remember those feelings of wonder, of connection–moments when we laughed at a character’s triumph or commiserated with their grief–moments when we felt for the protagonist through tense moments, and joyful ones.

Which seems very much in keeping with what the great Maya Angelou once said: “At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”

Okay, but…how do you do that, exactly? Like, as an author?

Meaning, how do you actually get emotions on the page in a way your reader can feel?

Which is to say: How do you get your reader to share in the emotional experience of your protagonist?

In my latest post for Jane Friedman, I share two key tactics for doing just that. You can read the full post here. 

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