In a world of content where AI writing tools exist, now, more than ever, we need writers who know how to create character-driven stories.

No matter the writing use case, the bottom line is that when we sit down to write, we're human beings writing for fellow human beings.

Humans have told stories to communicate, explain, and persuade each other for thousands of years.

That's not going away anytime soon.

My question is: Do you *really* know how to do that?

If not, here's a quick, bite-sized lesson to get you set down the right path.

Telling character-driven stories that tap into powerful emotions

Stories that tap into emotions help us connect more effectively with an audience’s goals, perceptions, and frustrations.

​Researchers found the synthesis of Oxytocin (the chemical that’s part of our ability to empathize) happens when we’re told emotional, character-driven stories. Engaging the brain is a good thing – but doing so while tapping into emotion is even better.

When building your next character-driven narrative, keep this setup in mind:

Step 1: Define your audience.

Think about the exact type of person you are trying to reach, and then take the time to work up a document that outlines all of the specifics about this target persona. Include details about age, gender, geographic location, income level, job type, family size, hobbies, education, etc. Any time you write, keep this document nearby so you remember for whom you’re writing.

Step 2: Define your audience's fears, problems, frustrations, and common obstacles.

The only way to do this is to ask. It might mean surveying your website visitors and asking questions about what challenges they are facing. It means sending a questionnaire to your current and past customers to see why they were motivated to work with you. It means studying your competitors to see what pain points they speak to with a similar audience.

Step 3: Create a storyline.

When writing, create a fictional situation involving your audience dealing with those pain points you can solve. A business example: If your company offers an accounting tool that makes invoicing and finance tracking simple, your story could involve a frantic business owner who is stressed out at tax time. You could create a scenario in which the business owner is buried in a pile of receipts and missing invoices and is still trying to run day-to-day operations.

Step 4: Add in emotion.

Use emotion-rich adjectives that make the situation more relatable. Emotional response = mirror neurons firing. As copywriter Henneke Duistermaat wrote: “Emotion-rich adjectives make your readers feel something, and they will remember how you made them feel.”

Use words like ‘confusing’, ‘complicated’, and ‘inconvenient’ when discussing a pain point.

Use words like ‘easy’, ‘seamless’, and ‘intuitive’ to highlight benefits.

Step 5: Show readers the simplest way to solve the problem.

This is where you sweep in and present a simple, painless solution to the readers' problem. It's a narrative-style take on the classical copywriting formula B-A-B (Before, After, Bridge) wherein readers see themselves in the present (the before, where the problem exists), you give them a glimpse of the problem-free future (the after), and then present a bridge to help them get from point A to B.

Easy, right?

The robots aren't great at telling narrative-driven stories (yet), so human writers: THIS IS OUR MOMENT TO SHINE.

Taking this approach is a quick and easy way to improve the efficacy of your writing (by humans, for humans.)

If you're interested in more lessons like this, you can find them here.

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