WRITING TIPS
Empathy
An Element of Fiction
I guess Empathy as a fictional element is one that the reader mostly provides, but as a writer you must make characters sympathize-able (if that’s even a word) so that the reader will have not problem generating that precious (for you, the writer) empathy.
As always, John Garnder has given this odd element some thought, “We care how things turn out because the character cares — our interest comes from empathy.”
“We empathize — it’s our chief way of learning. And the more complex the pattern of ideational connections — that is, the more fully we understand the scene adding up the facts, metaphors, and rhythms — the more completely we slip, unwittingly, into it, pitying, smiling at, or despising the crate. Thus the idea that the writer’s only material is words is true only in a trivial sense.”
“He must be able to report, with convincing precision, how the world looks to a child, a young woman, an elderly murderer, or the governor of Utah.”
“That is, in great fiction, we are moved by characters and events, not by the emotion of the person telling the story.”
John Ciardi makes a practical point, “Within a single scene, … it seems to be unwise to have access to the inner reflections of more than one character. The reader…
