by Courtney Pippin-Mathur

A character and the plot are fundamental parts of a story. But what about emotion?

I often tell my students to find the Universal Emotional Connection. Love, jealousy, pride, curiosity, acceptance (to name just a few), these are the emotional heart of your story and what will make a reader connect with your book.

I especially like to draw emotions. I don’t always have an idea of what to draw, but if I start with an emotion, it flows a bit more easily.

Often it will reflect how I’m feeling in the moment, something like…

Anger:

Joy:

Loneliness:

These are fun (and give me the buzz of creation), but they don’t always lead to an idea, so sometimes I add another character:

Grief:

or an interesting setting:

Or my personal favorite, two individuals in that quiet but simmering form of disagreement. (I think I just like to draw grumpy people.)

Sometimes an idea will pop into my head as soon as I draw the character, but sometimes the art will serve as my list of ideas that I can return to later for story inspiration.

And if you don’t draw, (or need some emotional inspiration) no problem!

Start with a list of emotions like this one I found on the American Psychological Association site.

Now try adding a noun (person, place or thing) to an emotion and see how that works.

For instance:

  • Comfortable cow
  • Daring rat
  • Flabbergasted chef
  • Cautious kid

Keep playing around with the words or sketches until you find something that makes you giggle or think, “I could write a story about that!”

Courtney Pippin-Mathur is the author and or illustrator of several picture books including Dinosaur Days (author), Maya was Grumpy, and Dragons Rule, Princesses Drool. She makes lots of other types of art including paper machè, clay and acrylic painting. She teaches online (and occasionally in person) at The Highlights Foundation and through personal mentorships. 

You can see more of her work at http://www.pippinmathur.com/ or on Instagram or Bluesky @pippinmathur.