Your publisher wants you to create greater emotional depth. How do you do it?

'It would probably be more hurtful if it was a beautiful day and we were standing in sunshine with rainy hearts.’

Hi there,

Completely apropos of nothing except that it’s June, I thought I’d share with you a short video I made of our chickens—Thyme, Marjoram, Snowdrop, Daffodil and Tulip—hanging out in Willow Field and chilling beneath the daisies. It makes me happy watching their gentle days in the summer sunshine.

And now, back to it!

There’s a technique in fiction, which is rarely discussed by writers and not always noticed or commented upon by readers, but if you use it in your own writing, it can create a deeper and more emotionally meaningful connection with your readers.

Sounds too good to be true? Honestly, I love this technique! It’ll help your writing resonate with people at an emotional but often subconscious level.

It’s a way of writing fiction using the natural world to mirror what's happening inside our characters’ minds.

You might have used this approach yourself already. Certainly books you’ve read will have used it. But if you can master it, you’ll be able to infuse your writing with greater emotional connection and add subtle nuances to your writing style.

It’s called pathetic fallacy.

'Sometimes we can find that the weather itself becomes a metaphor for what we want to write about. So rather than writing head on, we can write from within weather, or use weather to inform our words. When we are splitting up with our partner, for example. It would probably be more hurtful if it was a beautiful day and we were standing in sunshine with rainy hearts.’

Carol Ann Duffy

Pathetic fallacy is a literary device in which human emotions and moods are attributed to nature, the weather or inanimate objects. A storm brewing in the distance might mirror a character’s rising tension, or a relentless downpour could underscore grief and despair. It’s a technique often used in fiction—particularly in thrillers and crime novels—to heighten atmosphere, foreshadow events or intensify emotional states.

In this article, I’m going to talk about:

• the origins and original meaning of pathetic fallacy,

• why this technique came to have such a strange name,

• how it works in fiction

• show you how to use it in your own work

• and give in-depth exercise to help you create a pathetic fallacy of your own.

Hope that sounds good!

(Also, I’m going to run an Ask Me Anything for paid members in July. Please vote for your best date and time and send me any questions in advance if you’d like to! Doodle poll link ⬇️)