The Rule of Thoughts and Feelings!
In a story, the reader needs someone to be with. If the story is a short story, the someone is the main character. If it’s a personal essay, the someone is you - the writer!
Knowing your—or your main character’s—thoughts and feelings is crucial if a reader is going to be able to participate in your story. It helps make a story engaging - interesting to read. And personal reflections in stories are often the source of the best lessons!
From now on, try to include thoughts and feelings as you write and revise later on to double check that you are including them and capturing your or your main character’s responses to unfolding events.
Some Ways to Include Thoughts and Feelings
In a story, the reader needs someone to be with. If the story is a short story, the someone is the main character. If it’s a personal essay, the someone is you - the writer!
Knowing your—or your main character’s—thoughts and feelings is crucial if a reader is going to be able to participate in your story. It helps make a story engaging - interesting to read. And personal reflections in stories are often the source of the best lessons!
From now on, try to include thoughts and feelings as you write and revise later on to double check that you are including them and capturing your or your main character’s responses to unfolding events.
Some Ways to Include Thoughts and Feelings
- He/She/I thought about ________________________ .
- ________________________ , he/she/I thought .
- He/She/I wondered if ________________________ .
- He/She/I hated it when ________________________ .
- He/She/I loved it when ________________________ .
- He/She/I noticed ________________________ .
- He/She/I realized ________________________ .
- He/She/I couldn’t understand ________________________ .
- He/She/I couldn’t believe ________________________ .
- He/She/I was surprised by ________________________ .
- He/She/I considered whether ________________________ .
- He/She/I was upset when ________________________ .
- He/She/I didn’t see why ________________________ .
- He/She/I imagined ________________________ .
- He/She/I wished ________________________ .
- He/She/I wanted ________________________ .
- He/She/I didn’t want ________________________ .
- He/She/I despised ________________________ .
- He/She/I remembered ________________________ .
- He/She/I began to feel________________________ .
- He/She/I worried about ________________________ .
- He/She/I didn’t care about ________________________ .
- He/She/I decided ________________________ .
- He/She/I hoped ________________________ .
- He/She/I was afraid of ________________________ .
- He/She/I was reassured by ________________________ .
- He/She/I was ________________________ (angry, embarrassed, delighted, sorry, excited, etc.) because ________________________ .
- Who/What/When/Where/Why ________________________ ?