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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36617
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36617
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The first step to arouse any kind of emotion in your reader is to make the character relatable. If your readers can't relate to your character it doesn't matter what you do to the character, your readers won't feel a thing. If your villain just entered the stage and is angry at someone without any clear indication about why they are angry and what consequences there are when they are angry your readers will just assume "that's how he is", instead of feeling the anger themselves.

After that you have to make sure to write a situation that would naturally make anyone in that situation angry and show how your character reacts and why he reacts that way. It's one thing to write that "he was angry because of the slow traffic", but it's a whole different story when writing that "the slow drivers in front of him meant that he wouldn't be able to make it home in time to drive his daughter to her game - again".

Go through all the implications of the situation. To learn about which parts are important you should try to remember situations where you felt angry yourself. What was the situation? And why did it make you angry? Was is just the slow traffic, or was it something you missed? Was it your boss not acknowledging your work, or was it the fact that a smaller bonus meant less money for vacation, which in turn leads to a less happy family life?

Was it your colleague dumping those software bugs on you on a friday afternoon or the fact that you would miss your usual meeting with your friends because of the additional work? Was it your colleague dumping those software bugs on you on a friday afternoon or the fact that the two of you have talked about this issue "time and again" and you thought you've finally found a solution where that wouldn't happen again? Or was it both? Were you angry because the slow drivers made you spend so much time driving that you will have less free time, then the coffee was too hot, the vending machine swallowed your money, you have loads of work at home and _now_ your colleague dropped some work on you, despite the two of you having an arrangement and this incident means you will also miss your dear free time activity that helps you cope with all the stress you have to endure at work throughout the week, your favourite show that you were looking forward to all day long?

And you should think about how you would cope with the situation and how your character copes with it. Does your character just stay silent and accept that the world sometimes is unfair? Or does he mumble to himself how he hates that "this always happens to me, every time..." and how this affects his life? Was this the first incident and therefore a new experience or is this something that's been going on for some time, affecting his life in an unhealthy way? What are ways to vent the anger? Scream at someone who wasn't at fault? Go running until completely exhausted? Watching TV to simply switch of the thoughts about the incidents?

"Anger" has many components that are not easily visible and like with every emotion the reader needs to be aware of the problem and its consequences to be able to _feel_ with the character.

Original score: 7