Did you feel that?(Darrell Case) As a writer, one of my greatest achievements is to have the readers not just grasped the story but feel it. The goal is to write a story that is so effective they experience the situation.
To feel the fear, horror, love, pity. To put themselves in the place not just of the main character but also the offender. If law enforcement is chasing the villain or if the story is told from the view of the murderer, the reader must experience the terror and desperation of being caught. If I write the scene with the death of a child without tears in my eyes, my reader will have little emotion.
If the protagonist feels fright, the writer has the responsibility to make the reader feel that fear. Or terror or sorrow. For them to become so lost in the story, they become a part of it. That they lose track of time. The emotion must be there.
To be in the room when the victim is being murdered. Experiencing the fear of the bank teller during a robbery. To be in the car with the law enforcement officer as they come up on the scene of a tragedy. To sense what he or she feels.
The reader finds solace in the comfort of their own bed, with the soft glow of the light providing a sense of security. However, even in this sanctuary, a sudden creak sends shivers down their spine, fearfully imagining the killer from the novel lurking in their home. If I, as a writer, can evoke emotion in the reader’s mind, then I have performed my art well.
A writer of fiction is not a reporter who just gives you the facts, but an artist who paints with words and puts you in the very middle of the action. I must be the one who walks beside you through the pages of the story and asks, did you feel that?

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