Writing emotional stories

Of all my stories, those that are emotionally driven get the best ratings here. Yes I'm trying out a thriller, and yes I will finish it, but emotional stories have the most impact. So what is my strategy when it comes to emotional stories? There are other theories out there and many of them might be good or even better, but this here is my own secret to making emotionally gripping stories, and I'm going to share it with anyone who reads.

First off, head on over and read this chapter of You're Wanted and enjoy: About the Hellos

Now, if you're crying, that was the idea. If you're not, well win some lose some I guess, I can't please everyone.

What did I do to keep that story sounding natural and not contrived as heck as it easily could have been? I kept a few things in mind.

How many of you have seen Inception? How did the characters realize if they were in a dream? They had their tools, but there was always one key question "how did I get here?". In a dream, you are somewhere because you want to be there, or because the plot of your dream needs you to be there, supposing your dream is telling your subconscious's version of a story. To make a story seem real, we need to be able to fill in the blanks.

In a dream, in the movie, the most important question is "how?", but a good story may have that be an easy given. How did Rainbow Dash get to the hospital? She walked there, I didn't need to spell that out. The more important question is, "why?". Why is Scootaloo dying? Well she's 88 years old. It's probably cancer or heart disease or any number of ailments all at once that is finally causing her old body to give up. It was inevitable. Why is Rainbow still alive? The elements gave her eternal life. Why is Rainbow in the hospital? The doctors gave her bad news and here she is the next day acting on it. Why did Scootaloo give her the advice she did? She didn't have much time left and she knew it because she had been told. She felt she needed to say that specifically because she actually saw a friend, Lightning Strike, react to death in a rather scary way. A very happy and exuberant person, just went quiet. Imagine yourself in Scootaloo's shoes. You'd probably want to steer Rainbow away from that path too.

Without a convincing series of explanations for a character's behavior, it just comes out of the void. If you want a good example of a story that was supposed to be at least somewhat emotionally compelling but forgot the question "why?"... just watch Magical Mystery Cure again. Why did all of Twilight's friends think they're marks were telling them to do specific things when cutie marks tend to be non-specific? Never explained. Why didn't the townsfolk realize something was wrong and try to do something themselves? Don't know. How did the characters delude themselves? Not sure. Why do you need to be an alicorn to be a princess, especially when you apparently don't to be a prince? Because wings. There's no reason for even half of the episode to occur. Identity crisis and a story asking you to finally be proud of a character you've been following for years, can be a very compelling narrative. But without simple logical reasons behind people's actions, everything falls flat.

Next thing, here's a saying to keep in mind "killing the drama, saves the drama" from well... me. Odd thing to say right? I'll put it in simpler less memorable terms real quick here. If you want people to think your scenes are extra sad, make them unimportant. Everyone dies eventually, and almost no one has the nation mourn them, just their loved ones. Notice how Luna and Celestia weren't there? This was a family matter for Rainbow and while they are the rulers of Equestria, at best they're just not so close friends of Rainbow Dash. They would only be there if Scootaloo was a very important pony, which she wasn't. She was important to those who knew and loved her, but not to many other ponies beyond that. Just like most of us. Scootaloo's death isn't spectacular in any way, which if we're honest, we know that's how most of our loved ones will go and how we will go. Letting the scene be natural lets the audience feel that this could happen to them.

To go further on this issue, Scootaloo had last words for Rainbow, but they weren't her "last words" as she wasn't going to actually die for another few days. If she had last words they were probably something like, "turn off the lights nurse, I'm tired", and that was it. That is... really sad in my opinion. That's probably about the last words every loved one I have is gonna say unless their in a war or something. It's sad because it's realistic. The cliche of "last words", the words a person says before they actually die, is sad in concept, but often rather empty when you see it. Why? Because in the back of your mind, you know that's extremely unlikely to happen for you or anyone you know. Most people hear about the death of a loved one second hand, or if they're lucky or unlucky enough to be there when it happens, the last thing they'll have said, usually won't have been anything all that noteworthy beyond it being "last words".

Next point, kill as many "lucky coincidences" as you can. "Oh look, Rainbow's new kids are super attatched to each other, just like Lightning and Dusk, coincidence?" um... no. There was a system designed in story that purposefully paired children together, so the children becoming attached to their surrogate siblings, especially after emotionally trying ordeals, like are common in foster care, really only makes sense. Any random child would be expected to have a similar connection to a surrogate sibling as Lightning had to her brother, at least in spirit. That was the idea. Other than that I can't think of anything else that really felt lucky or unlucky about what happened. Scootaloo being the longest lived of the CMC isn't really lucky or unlucky, it just happened that way. If it didn't, the story would have played out about the same way, just with another character. The only thing that's "convenient" sounding is Rainbow's immortality... which yea, I don't think in story she views it as all that convenient does she?

I suppose this all leads to my last and perhaps most important point. More than with any other story, to me, with an emotionally driven story, you have to convince me that this COULD happen. Yes, it's in a fantasy universe, but basically, don't make me do too much work to believe that what's in the story could happen to me. No, I'm not a pony, no I won't live forever and no, most likely, I won't have to watch any child I eventually have, die of old age (I'm 32, I'd have to live to be about 110 or so to pull that off, and then I probably wouldn't be far behind and I certainly wouldn't be adopting.) However, could I lose a child? Yes. could I watch someone I love die of old age? Yes. Could the doctors give us both enough notice to clear the air before it's all over? Hopefully and that is likely enough. Could my loved one be buried in a ceremony only attended by those closest to me and them who are still alive? Probably. Could a parent really find fulfillment in having another child after one passes away? Maybe.

So yea, that's my formula. Use if it if you like, or don't, but now you know. I hope this is at least useful for some people.