How to Evoke Empathy

Create Emotional Conflict & Write Characters That Resonate

By: Dr James P. Manning

Narrated by: Brad Grochowski

Move beyond good writing and reach the human heart. This concise guide shows how to create fiction that’s felt as well as understood.

Written by Consultant Clinical Psychologist Dr James P. Manning, it reveals how the language of emotions helps writers build believable inner lives, authentic conflict, and empathy that keeps readers engaged. Learn why the body reacts when reading and how to craft scenes that leave a lasting mark.

You’ll discover:

• Empathy in action: Why readers must understand characters more than like them.
• Eliciting emotion: Use breath, posture, and pauses as cues.
• Inner conflict: How emotions clash and resolve.
• Character formulation: A clinician’s method linking wounds, beliefs, and behaviour so choices feel inevitable.
• Authenticity over accuracy: Use restraint, subtext, and silence to invite meaning.
• Emotional pacing: Shape intensity and quiet moments so readers lean in.
• Scene-deepening: Techniques to heighten resonance fast.

Clear guidance, free of jargon, translates psychology into storytelling your readers won’t forget.

This guide will help if:

• Beta readers say your characters feel distant or scenes lack emotion.
• You’ve mastered structure and prose but need more depth and interiority.
• You write character-driven fiction and want psychological authenticity.

You’ll achieve:

• Characters who make intuitive as well as logical sense.
• Scenes alive with tension and emotional truth.
• Writing that keeps readers turning pages.

Most books explain what emotions are; this one shows you how to build them using adapted psychological principles.

©2025 Dr James P. Manning (P)2025 Dr James P. Manning