By ALCG Books
January 14, 2025
When was the last time you read a book or novel that lingered in your mind long after you turned the last page? Maybe particular moments of humor, joy, grief, love, or sheer struggle caused you to respond in ways that made you feel personally invested in the story?
In the world of writing and book publishing, we call this feeling of personal investment “emotional resonance.” Emotional resonance is so central to great storytelling that its absence is like a house that’s not a home. While a house may protect us from external elements and fulfill our basic need for shelter, only a home, with its familiar objects, people we care about – home as the site of memories we cherish, or perhaps memories we hope to forget – can elicit our deep and lingering emotions.
Compare the image on the left to the one on the right. Which three words would you use to describe each image? From your perspective, which set of words arouse deeper or more complex and varied emotions?
Literary agent and writer, Donald Maas, puts it this way:
“When a plot resolves, readers are satisfied, but what they remember of a novel is what they felt while reading it. Hooks may hook, twists may intrigue, tension may turn pages, and prose may dazzle, but all of those effects fade as quickly as fireworks in a night sky. Ask readers what they best remember about novels and most will say the characters, but is that accurate? It’s true that characters become real to us but that is because of what they cause us to feel. Characters aren’t actually real; only our own feelings are. Emotional.” (Goodreads)
Examples: Close-Reading for Emotional Resonance
In There There (2018), writer Tommy Orange delves into the complexities of Native American identity in urban Oakland. One of the novel's most poignant voices is Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield, whose reflections reveal the emotional weight of her childhood. Through a series of flashbacks, the novel weaves Opal's memories of her mother with her own struggles in the present, even as she seeks to protect and guide her fractured family.
In one charged moment, Opal recalls her mother’s words: "We have to fight for our place in the world—no one will give it to us." This past, steeped in the activism and sacrifice of her mother, hovers over Opal’s attempts to provide stability for her niece. It also hovers over Opal's attempts to overcome her own sense of loss and displacement.
The emotional resonance in this novel comes from the tension between Opal’s resilience and the weight of her personal (interior) and family challenges. This layering of memory and experience results in a deeply emotional portrait of survival, identity, and generational trauma that’s hard to forget or ignore.
Let’s take another novel, Angie Cruz’s Dominicana (2018) as an example. Cruz reveals the emotional turbulence of Ana, a young Dominican woman who leaves her rural village for New York City, only to find herself caught between loss and longing.
The novel opens with Ana’s departure from her family, and Cruz grounds Ana's emotional journey in the absence of her mother and the disorienting strangeness of a new country. The ache of displacement, the pull of a past she can never fully return to, and the uncertain promise of a future built on compromises, is arguably the secret sauce of emotional resonance in this novel. Ana’s realization that her dreams are now tethered to a man she barely knows deepens the emotional resonance, and pulls readers into her inner world.
Another thing about Ana’s story is that it transcends cultural specificity -- even though universality in fiction is not inherently more "prized" than cultural or experiential specificity, for example. In this case, however, Ana's quiet search for identity in an unfamiliar land is a universally recognizable story: it’s about the tension of becoming someone new while never quite letting go of who you were. This works because readers often feel rewarded when parts of their experience or identity are reflected in a book's characters.
Writing Exercise: Refine Your Emotional Arcs
Build the foundation: Start by developing a character caught in a moment of emotional tension. This could be a person on the verge of making a life-changing decision, mourning a lost connection, or reckoning with a choice they made long ago. Write a brief backstory that captures the character’s emotional state—fears, desires, regrets, and unresolved conflicts. These elements should form the core of their internal struggle.
Create the scene: Place your character in a high-stakes scene in which their emotional conflict is tested. Focus on a pivotal moment of emotional intensity. Maybe they’re receiving devastating news, encountering someone from their past, or experiencing an unexpected burst of hope. Whether the setting is a quiet family gathering, a crowded street, or an empty room where a single gesture speaks volumes – it should amplify the tension.
Track emotional shifts: As you write, carefully trace your character’s emotional progression. What causes their feelings to shift? Is it something spoken, an external event, or a sudden memory that resurfaces? Consider how these emotional shifts manifest physically. Do their hands tremble, their heart race, or their posture collapse under the weight of the moment? Pay attention to the pauses in their thoughts, the moments when they silently process, withdraw, or question. These pauses are often as emotionally significant as the action itself.
Analyze the Arc: After completing the scene, step back and reflect. Does it follow a natural progression, or has it surprised you with an unexpected shift? Consider how the emotions of this scene fit into the broader narrative. Do they reinforce your character’s journey? Finally, ask yourself: does this scene evoke a real emotional response? Do you believe readers will be pulled into the character’s internal world, to feel what they feel, even if just for a moment?
When you’re finished with this exercise, reach out through the contact form on our website and let us know how it went!
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