Empathy in Writing

What does empathy in writing look like? The readers see and hear what the character does, as a result readers also feel what the character feels. How do you as a writer achieve this? You have to know your character’s wants, needs, fears, and motivations inside and out. Empathy is the act of feeling what others feel.

Empathy and Desire

Every well-written character wants something. Your job is to convey that to your readers in a visceral way. Make your readers ache along with your character. As obstacles thwart your character’s desires, readers will slip into the character’s skin and experience pain and loss, love and longing as if they were the character.

Fiction and Empathy

Studies have shown that reading fiction develops empathy. Why is this? Simply put, good writing places the reader in a character’s shoes. In order to achieve this, you must demonstrate empathy in writing. It’s not enough to describe your character’s feelings, you must invoke those same feelings in your reader.

An October, 2013 Scientific American article makes a distinction between genre fiction and literary fiction. “. . . the characters (in literary fiction) disrupt reader expectations, undermining prejudices and stereotypes. They support and teach us values about social behavior, such as the importance of understanding those who are different from ourselves.”

Let’s look at The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood as an example. Atwood invokes the readers’ empathy by naming the main character Offred—of Fred—property of her oppressor. Offred becomes immediately relatable to those who have ever been stripped of their identity or objectified. Whether we agree with Offred’s limited decisions or not, the reader is forced to consider her options. This demands empathy from the reader.