I’m on the third edit of my novel, and I’m not happy with the way I’m conveying character emotions. So, I’m going back to the drawing board and reading this book, which another blogger recommended.

Writing is an ongoing process of learning and practicing, writing and revising. My weakness these days seems to be my ability to write emotion that will draw the reader in and feel empathy or some kind of connection toward my character.

My main character is a smart, stunning, hard-working, fun-loving woman, but is too quick to give her heart away. Trauma from her childhood and a guardian grandmother who basically made her feel like an orphan in her own home, left her with many issues to deal with. How do I draw out her emotions on these things so the reader feels and understands what’s going on with my character?

I need to use emotions to convey how she moves along from the sometimes teenager-like choices and reactions—to anyone who shows any kind of affection—to a grown woman who loves herself and is deserving of love.

Stay tuned for a future article about what I learn from this exercise. What have you learned about writing emotions. If you have tips to share, feel free to share them in the comments. We’d love to hear.