Empathy

<--- that's the empathy symbol.

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'"NO!"

I collapsed by his body, still clinging to his hand, that had been so warm just moment before. Now it was just clammy and stiff. Tears ran down my cheeks, sliding off my chin and landing on his dirty clothes. His beautiful, chocolate-coloured eyes stared blankly up at the gray sky, and just one glance at him told me he was dead, dead and never coming back.

I looked up at the soldier that had shot him, my grief and shock replaced by anger. Too bad that was the last emotion that I felt as I stared up his gun.'

Ah, the joys of empathy. The emotion that gets your heart pumping, and that makes you relieved when you think; "it's only a book, it's not happening right now, not to me." Writers make you feel this emotion with powerful words, strong descriptions, and characters that you can relate to. For example, if the main character in a story was perfect in every way, then I would actually be glad that someone dies, and when someone is like that, it's extremely hard to relate to them, so everything that happens is painfully boring. Those are some of the ways writers make you feel empathy, but there are many more.

So next time you are writing a story, think to yourself; "do I feel empathy for my character for my character?" If you do, then I'll know that you read my post!