This chapter is quite fitting for me seeing as I've just been writing quite a few emotional chapters. If you've read my 'How To Make An Original Character' book, you'll know that the last chapter was about emotions and how they can make your book sound believable.

Emotional scenes in books can either be done right or wrong, and if done right can make your book ten times more amazing than it already is. That's because emotional scenes will really connect with your reader because emotions are something that all humans share.

An emotional scene can only be done wrong if the author skips over the actual 'emotion' part. If you don't go into some detail about your character's emotions and reactions to a situation, the scene won't be as believable. A person has to react to their surroundings and situation.

One way to be sure that you're writing an emotional scene well is to use your own experiences with emotion (how it feels to cry lots, what you do when you're filled with joy etc) and project those emotions onto your characters. People will be able to relate to your characters if they have real, human emotions and will therefore form an emotional connection with your character.

Here is an example of a piece of bad emotional writing:

She was dead. I cried. I was sad. Then I went home and slept.

Here is that same scenario but with some more emotion and description (which I haven't really talked about in this chapter but just know that it's important)

She was dead. Pale, lifeless and unmoving on the bare floor in front of me. I hadn't saved her. Tears spilled from my eyes and fell to the dirty floor beneath me; my knees gave way and I collapsed to the ground where I wept and wept.

To say I was sad would have been an understatement. Sorrow filled every cell of my body, despair ran through my bloodstream and grief hung over me. I could barely bring myself to leave her side, but when I did I knew that the only place I could stand to be was in my bed. Where I could dream and pretend that it was all some horrible nightmare.

Which one conveys more emotion? If you think I'm exaggerating with the first example, I'm not. I have actually read books that sounded like that.

Of course don't go overboard with emotional scenes otherwise they won't hold value in your book because the reader will get too used to them.