In the thread about tension the discussion veered off into whether or how much it's possible to control the emotions of the reader. This is a topic big enough to be worthy of a thread on its own I think, so here goes.
My thinking is that it's impossible to control the emotions of any given reader with any kind of accuracy. However, I believe it's possible to influence readers that are susceptible to my kind of storytelling, and to the kind of stories I'm telling.
A while back I wrote this article: Writing and the Power of Association
It's focused mainly on descriptions and imagery, but it also talks a bit about negatively or positively charged imagery.
We can't control or predict how others associate, but we also can't prevent anyone from having associations to what we write.
My thinking is that it's impossible to control the emotions of any given reader with any kind of accuracy. However, I believe it's possible to influence readers that are susceptible to my kind of storytelling, and to the kind of stories I'm telling.
A while back I wrote this article: Writing and the Power of Association
It's focused mainly on descriptions and imagery, but it also talks a bit about negatively or positively charged imagery.
We can't control or predict how others associate, but we also can't prevent anyone from having associations to what we write.