So – I just gotta tell you about Darla.

I do a lot of travelling and not long ago, I was sitting in the O’Hare Airport when a woman walked into the gate area. She was in her early twenties, and carried a backpack, which she held with a whitened fist. She sat down and began to fidget in her seat, checking her watch, looking at the gate, pawing through her bag. She pulled out a book, and clutched it to her chest a moment before opening it, and pulling out a highlighter.

The books said, in large black ominous letters – How to get over your fear of flying.

Periodically, she wiped her hands on her jeans, and blew out a long breath, as if she’d been holding it.

About five minutes before we began to board, she called home. I know because she spoke into her cell phone loud enough to be heard all the way over in Detroit. “Dad, I’m getting on the flight now. I’ll see you soon. Yeah, I’m so nervous, I can barely breathe, but I’ll be okay.” I could almost hear the pleading voice behind her words saying, “I hope I hope!”

I said a little prayer for her and got on the plane. I had a window seat.

Of course. She had the aisle seat.

She unpacked her backpack, shoving the Fear of Flying book and the highlighter into her seat pocket, for easy access, and then shoved her backpack under the seat. She buckled her seatbelt, pulling it down tight. She gripped the arm rests and did what I considered pre-labor breathing. A sweat dribbled down her brow.

She was starting to freak me out.

Then she looked over at me, opened one eyes and said, “I’m a little nervous.”

You think?

The short part of the story is that I ended up holding her hand during the take off of the flight. But watching her I realized that she was a classic example of the four layers of character emotions.

Here’s the thing ~ A reader doesn’t want to be told what to think and feel. They want to discover the story along with the characters — embrace the lessons, experience the pain, rejoice with the victories. The best stories are the ones that invite the reader into the emotional life of the characters, the ones where the readers are invested into a story they can’t put down. But how does an author write emotions that draw the reader in and allows them to experience the story?

For the next couple days we’re going to talk about writing emotions – if you happen to be taking this class from me in September at the ACFW conference, you’ll get the full blown deluxe level class. This is just the tip of the iceberg – but it’s enough to get us going with a discussion.

And, if you’re going to ACFW – don’t forget to sign up for the My Book Therapy Pizza Party!! See you tomorrow!