Last semester, my film professor gave a piece of advice about writing that stuck with me. Like most good advice about writing, it’s straightforward and obvious and I’ve probably heard it a dozen times before, but for some reason this time it just clicked. He said, “All art must evoke an emotional reaction in the audience.” He paused. “I’ll say again, all art must evoke an emotional reaction in the audience. You can write a story with clever ideas and nice language and believable characters and a solid plot, but if it doesn’t make the audience feel anything, you’ve got nothing.”
And this semester, my nonfiction writing prof expressed the same idea in a slightly different way, “People react to what they feel, not what they think.”
And here it is again. For my novel writing class I’m reading All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren. Willie Stark is an aspiring politician who gives speeches full of high principle and abstract ideas. The audience tunes out. Here’s an exchange he has with Jack, his assistant, who’s the narrator:
“What we need is a balanced tax program. Right now the ratio between income tax and total income for the state gives an index that — ”
“Yeah,” I said, “I heard the speech. But they don’t give a damn about that. Hell, make ’em cry, make ’em laugh, make ’em think you’re their weak erring pal, or make ’em think you’re God-Almighty. Or make ’em mad. Even mad at you. Just stir ’em up, it doesn’t matter how or why, and they’ll love you and come back for more. Pinch ’em in the soft place. They aren’t alive, most of ’em haven’t been alive in twenty years. Hell, their wives have lost their teeth and their shape, and likker won’t set on their stomachs, and they don’t believe in God, so it’s up to you to give ’em something to stir ’em up and make ’em feel alive again. Just for half an hour. That’s what they come for.”
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