In yesterday’s post, I listed some neurotransmitters and hormones that writers and speakers use to manipulate their audiences, making them feel and hopefully respond exactly how the writer wishes. I forgot one, though, and I would call this one the best one.
Endorphins are the best hormones in our bodies. They make us feel so divinely good. Think about when you’re exercising, especially if you do serious cardio for a prolonged period of time. You feel the agony when you start to hit your stride – your muscles are screaming and your breath is burning in your chest. Then you get about fifteen minutes in and you start feeling amazing. You feel so good, you’re smiling. That’s from the endorphins.
We feel that endorphin rush when we are in love. We also feel it when we have occasion to laugh. When a writer or speaker can make us laugh, we have positive associations with them, their message, and their medium.
My younger daughter loves to read, but she also likes it when I read to her. She loves books about animals and conservation. Recently, she found a book about a twelve-year-old girl living with a wolf pack in the taiga. The author didn’t anthropromorphize the wolves; they didn’t speak or have other human characteristics. The girl spoke to the wolves, but except for a couple of brief scenes in which she encountered other people, all the conversation went one way, At the same time she checked out that book, I got a book for us to read called Nothing But Trouble. It features two sixth-grade girls who pull off inspired hacks in their school and community. That book featured many human characters, and I like doing voices. This often led to my daughter and me laughing our butts off every time we read. I’m looking forward to reading that author again. I’m not looking forward to reading the author of the wolf series. Why? All those endorphins made reading with my daughter all the more fun, as well as made the story move that much better.
When you’re writing, be sure to create some humorous moments. Whether these moments pepper your story or you use humor to de-escalate your audience after a frightening or intense scene, the endorphin kick from humor helps the reader destress after certain scenes.*
*You can see an example of how these chemicals play out in the play Les Miserables. After Fantine’s death scene (sadness, oxytocin), the scene switches to the tavern and the humor of Master of the House. The audience needs this reprieve from the intense sadness and pain of the previous scene.
