Writing for Emotional Impact: Advanced Dramatic Techniques to Attract, Engage, and Fascinate the Reader from Beginning to End

This book has saved me so much time and driven home some concepts for good storytelling. I'm using this to help elevate my writing in novels and screenplays. It is much more helpful than the 50 million online videos about the hero's journey and plot structure. It's also given me confidence in my writing because I've deployed many of these techniques in my novel without realizing it. I highly recommend it if you are new to the writing world. I've always written intuitively, but that doesn't make for a good story. So thank you, Karl, for writing this book!

I teach writing classes online -- from month-long classes on different aspects of craft to intensive eight-week classes on novel writing. I bought this book because of its title. I have long been a proponent of the theory that the only reason we read or go to the movies is for the emotional connection that is made. This was the best $20 I ever spent. Iglesias explains emotional impact, both its importance, and the techniques you can use to create it and/or enhance it in language and examples you can understand. I have used the book as source material for varous parts of all my classes and it's been invaluable as a teaching tool. I have discovered, though, that this is really not a book for beginners. First you have to know the basic craft of writing -- whether you're writing a screenplay or a novel. It's only then that you're ready for what Iglesias is preaching. The truth is, when I was a beginner, I wouldn't have been able to use a lot of what he says because I wouldn't have known enough to understand how valuable his suggestions are. I do wish I'd discovered the book years ago -- when it would have benefited me through the writing of many of my own books -- but since I didn't, I'm glad I discovered it now, because it's been a great help with my classes. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Aimed at a specific branch of writers (those writing scripts with the intention of selling/producing movies/television shows) this book is an essential tool for any creative writer without formal training. I found this book incredibly helpful at putting words to ideas I subconsciously knew as a result of being exposed to a variety of media (film, literature, and video games).No book will guarantee success as a writer. "Writing for Emotional Impact" will provide many examples and opportunities which can effectively improve mediocre works. Expressing yourself in unique and creative ways will always be a challenge. This book will smooth out difficult transitions and help you transform fragments of inspiration into beautiful stories filled with emotional satisfaction.Chapter 10: Dialogue (how to avoid cliche dialogue) alone is worth the price of admission. Lessons on subtext in another chapter are particularly enriching, and there is even an entire chapter filled with techniques for building characters.Along with "The Writer's Journey" and "The Hero with 1000 Faces", "Writing for Emotional Impact" provides an excellent foundation from which any person can weave enchanting stories provided they have appropriate writing ability and creative inspiration.The ideas expressed within these works may seem redundant, or simple to the average film/english major, but for those without formal training, Karl Iglesias' book will provide aspiring authors and story tellers an effective cure for the frustration associated with creative writing.

This book is about how to create emotional reactions in the audience.I liked it and read it two or three times. Many of the suggestions belong to techniques used in Hollywood (by writers and directors) to stir emotional responses.Some ideas might be catalogued within the cliche section. For example, if you want the public to like your character then put a scene in which your character is nice to a puppy or to children. The fact is that many movies use this technique, I know because since I read Iglesias' book that kind of scene keeps coming up in many movies (and thanks to Iglesia now I notice that more).At the beginning of the book Iglesias warns you. Have you ever wanted to know a magic trick, and then... when told... regret you learnt the secret of the trick? Iglesias say that could happen to you reading this book, the magic of stories might fade away. That didn't happen to me.This book gives you many tips to achieve emotional responses from the audience. Your challenge would be to use that knowledge in a new and refreashing way, so that you stay away from clichés.This is not the ultimate book on stirring emotions in the audience. It is certainly a bit simplistic. But in the end, the real fact is that I just happened to like it.If you want to know about structure, plot, character... there are better books. If you want to think for a while a bit about story telling from a some what different point of view (that of audiences and their emotions) this book will deliver to some degree. Probably some would have troubles with the fact that he doesn't seem to address story telling from an artisitic stand... rather he kind of treats story telling as a series of techniques consciously used to stir specific emotions in the audience. In this sense, the book is kind of prescriptive.Here is a short version of the Table of content:1. Introduction: The emotion-delivery business2. The Reader: Your only audience.3. Concept: Unique attraction.4. Theme: Universal Meaning5. Character: Captivating empathy.6. Story: Rising tension.7. Structure: Engaging desing.8. Scenes: Mesmerizing moments.9. Description: Riveting style.10. Dialogue: Vivid Voices.11. Final Thoughts: Painting on the page.Some topics that might interest you are:Ideal emotional responses to a conceptWhat makes an idea appealing12 ways to increase your idea's appealFinding your visionThe five key questions for building a characterConnecting with charactersThree ways to connect with charactersEngaiging the reader from beginning to endEmotional elements of each actKey elements of a dramatic sceneThe emotional paletteCommon amateur mistakesGenerating a riveting reading experienceBonus professional tipsWhen on-the-nose dialogue is acceptableAlthough this is a screenwriting book, don't fear is you write other kind of fiction. This book does not address camera technicalities or that sort of things. There are other books for that purpouse. I hope I might be able to post a review of some of those books later.One last thing: Creating emotions in any reader is the most difficult task a writer can face. Everything you learn about storytelling is ultimately about the art of creating emotions in readers. This is extremely difficult to achieve and the reason why so many writers fail. To do that, your story has to be created with heart, with craft and with great command of many technical tools of dramaturgy. Besides, even if your story is flawless from the technical point of view, if the moment is not right, audiences (readers) will not respond to your story. You might write a master piece and still be unknown.If you write for the love of writing alone (with no desire for fame or wealth) then you wont mind if no one ever hears about you and your story. That's why so many writers advice you to only write for the love of it. In the end you could very well be the only one to read your story and enjoy it.The advantage of writing for the love of it is that you'll have time... time to think about storytelling... time to learn about storytelling... and time to create emotional impact with your storytelling skills. It will be an advantage over all those thousands of people who are desperately trying to "make it" as writers because they want fame and wealth... they don't enjoy the process... and they don't take the time and effort to really learn dramatic writing... Most of them quickly realize that there are betters ways of making money and leave. But not you... you'll still be working on becoming a story teller, because you enjoy it and feel the passion for it.If you are interested in this book ("Writing for emotional impact") you probably have realized what so many ignore: the level of achievement you attain as a storyteller is directly related to your ability to generate emotional reactions. And I'm sorry to tell you this: if that is your goal then many many years of study await you. This book might very well be the beginning of that journey. It certainly will not be the end... not even the middle.