5 ways to infuse emotions into your storytelling

Stories give us the power to evoke strong emotions. The power of good storytelling is that it often compels people to take action for reasons bigger than they otherwise would have felt. An effective storyteller can weave context, details, characters and events into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Through emotions, one can also add that ‘human’ touch to their story, making it more believable and relatable. Ultimately, this can help storytellers make their narrative stand out as weaving a tale often helps in retaining information as well. The art of storytelling is an age-old, time-test method to capture your audience’s minds, and adding emotions to your story takes it a notch higher. Here are five ways in which you can infuse emotions into a story that you are narrating:

Re-read the story

One of the basic, most effective ways to critique the story to understand if one has been wholly able to capture emotion is by reading it absolutely thoroughly. Even if you have written the story, it’s imperative that you re-read it in detail, understand if it is lacking anything and make the necessary edits. We often tend to write things in a hurry, and in the process, lose out on the emotional touch that the story needs.

Understand the meaning and the subtext behind your story

Another aspect crucial to storytelling is to understand the true meaning behind the story. Once you get a clear picture of the story you’re trying to communicate, go back and map out all the moments and places which require a change of emotions. Once you comprehend the context, it becomes easier to understand what emotion needs to be modified where and can help you make the narrative crisper.

Overall voice modulation

Voice modulation is key! Your voice has the power to draw the audience in. Sometimes a hushed voice makes the listeners focus harder. Sometimes a loud voice is needed to draw more attention. Be it a story conveyed through writing or even a video format, it’s important to understand what the required action is for a particular character to best exhibit emotion. For example, one does not necessarily have to scream when a character is screaming during the story, the narrator or even the character could just look angry and speak a little louder than the narrator/character’s natural voice.