What is Emote This?
The Challenge Every Writer Faces
You know your character is devastated by loss. Readers finish the scene unmoved. You wrote that she was heartbroken, and somehow the feeling stayed on your side of the page. Craft books say show, don’t tell, and leave the psychology of why emotion lands unexplained.
That gap is what Emote This looks at.
My Approach
I’m Benjamin X. Wretlind. I work on the emotional side of storytelling: how emotion is perceived, understood, and handled inside a story, and how those choices shape what a reader feels.
My background runs through two decades in the U.S. Air Force, corporate training, process improvement, and leadership development. The writing side is not separate from that. I’m the author of the Transit series, and my doctoral research examines how professional novelists use emotion to make narrative choices while drafting.
What I Bring to This Work:
- MSCEIT certification in the Mayer-Salovey ability model of emotional intelligence
- PhD candidate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, researching how professional writers use emotion during drafting
- Published author with hands-on experience navigating the emotional challenges of creative work
- Several years coaching writers and reading manuscripts one-on-one
Why Emotional Intelligence Matters for Writers
Most craft advice treats emotion as a labeling problem. Name the feeling, raise the stakes, sharpen the dialogue. The ability model asks something different: how accurately is emotion perceived, how well is its change over time understood, and what happens when a character or a writer manages it badly?
Those questions apply to characters on the page and to the person drafting them. Both shape what reaches a reader.
Working Together
The Writer’s Emotional Compass is open now, and manuscript consultation is available on request. Coaching opens in 2027.
Take the WEC (free while in validation). Inquire about manuscript consultation.
Ready to Transform Your Writing?
If you’re tired of writing about emotions instead of writing emotionally, let’s talk. I’d love to learn about your current projects and explore how emotional intelligence coaching can help you create the connections you’re seeking.