Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-35711173-20180624062817/@comment-26444017-20180628093910

Whenever you can, I reccomend adding details about emotion, as well as sensory information. How did the narrator feel when his father left them? Devastated? Worried? How about when his mother destroyed their religious belongings? Was he angry, disapointed, depressed, etc.? What did the narrator hear or smell leading up to the discovery of his mother? How did the grass feel as he searched for the rosary beads?

Answering these types of questions will make the reader connect more with the narrator. It's not always easy to make those details fit cleanly, and that's fine. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. No big deal. But it should always be attempted whenever possible. It lets the reader feel what the narrator is feeling, and that connection is what your'e aiming for. That way, when the narrator finds something horrific, the reader is the one left horrified.