Five Ways to Hit your Readers in the Heart

Note: This post is a two-parter, the second half: Five Ways to Hit Your Reader in the Head, can be found at my blog. This is the first part of the article and will focus on affecting readers emotionally with your posts.

Writers make a thousand little decisions regarding each piece we write. Whether it is a song, an op-ed piece or a blog post, there are endless paths we could take to state our case or share a story. Many of these choices are made without conscious though, often to the detriment of the piece.

One decision that is often made without much - or any - thought is whether to aim the piece at a reader’s head or at his/her heart. There are some excellent stories that are able to do both, but the tone of the article plays a huge part in the effectiveness of the piece. Since blog posts are often quite short, it is especially helpful to choose your aim prior to writing.

1. Transport the Reader
   
   The more you describe people and surroundings, the easier it is for your readers to see themselves as part of the story. This is how empathy begins. Whether it is a dark and stormy night or a blustery day, describing all aspects of the setting in great detail is a terrific way to begin pulling your reader’s heartstrings.
2. Keep it Real
   
   Some stories are unbelievable, but true. When you are telling your story, try not to embellish or overdo it. Use quotes from those involved to bring it down to earth, regardless of how unreal the story might seem. When you are interviewing for a heart story, you need to spend a good amount of time with the subjects so that they will open up to you and so that you know them well enough to get your readers to sympathize with them.
3. Narrow Your Lens
   
   An article aimed at the heart is often very small in scope. Even if the event is far-raeching, the best way to pull emotions out is to focus down to individuals personally involved. For example, if I was going to write a “head” story about Hurricane Katrina, I would show houses and share facts and figures as my main focus. For a “heart” story, I would choose individual people or families to speak with.
4. Relax your Prose
   
   With a heart story, you have more freedom in writing style. This is true because (1) if you keep your language too proper and stiff-sounding, it will be very difficult to soften your readers and (2) it is easier to use more poetic language when you are writing about people and places rather than facts and figures.
5. Lighten Up
   
   Unless you are telling a complete heartbreaker, injecting a certain amount of levity into your prose is recommended. I don’t mean you should take a break in the middle of your story to tell a knock-knock joke, but if one of your subjects makes a joke related to the situation, you can consider including it.
   
   Whether or not humor is appropriate depends entirely on the story you are telling, so be careful not to offend anyone by trying to make something funny that is certainly not. If you are not good at being funny on paper, then please ignore this section. There is nothing that will ruin a story faster than poorly executed humor.

In any type of writing - and especially blogging - there are no hard and fast rules. While I try to use this space to help you all expand as writers, I am by no means trying to box in anyone. If you have any suggestions for more ways to speak to a reader’s heart, I would love to hear them.