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@gabriellepollack I think I understand what you were trying to say regarding “it’s our job to manipulate the readers’ emotions carefully” but I have to say I hate that terminology. 😉 As a reader, I HATE it when I can tell that an author is trying to make me feel a certain way–I’ll put a book down before I’ll submit to the chosen emotion!

I much prefer it when the author tells me the story, tells me the way the character feels even, but lets me decide how to feel about it for myself. I think this can be an incredibly powerful approach because then the reader’s response will be different depending on the person and the time in their life.

I also agree that “showing not telling” can be an amazing tool in creating an emotional response from the reader. However, like everything else, this can be overdone and then it gets annoying. There’s only so much grinding of teeth, clenching of fists, and stiffening of spines (or insert cliche body language for whatever your character is supposed to feel) that can be read before the reader rolls their eyes.

Sometimes a simple “John Doe was angry” can be incredibly powerful when used wisely.