Last night I watched Hell or High Water with my husband and son.

I liked it, but they loved it – and in our post-movie discussion, I tried to understand why it hit harder to them than it did me.

My husband said something that stuck: “I understood why he did it.”

The interesting part wasn’t that my husband thought a bank robbery crime scene was a good idea. He didn’t. But he connected deeply with the emotional driver underneath it: a desire to give your child a better life than you, and to do something for your child. Trying to earn their respect.

That got me thinking about something we can sometimes forget as authors:

Readers don’t connect to plots. They connect to emotional truths.

A reader may never solve a murder, rule a kingdom, survive an apocalypse, open a dragon sanctuary, or rob a bank… but they know what it feels like to want approval.
To protect someone.
To be overlooked.
To want freedom.
To fall short.
To fear loss.

Those emotions are universal.

When you’re looking over your plot (or brainstorming a new one), try asking:

→ What emotion is driving this character’s actions?
→ Is it something a reader has felt in their own life?
→ Am I showing enough of that emotional need that readers will understand, even if they wouldn’t make the same choices?

Often the stories that stay with us aren’t the ones with the biggest twists.

They’re the ones that give readers the experiences, emotional payoffs, and rewards that they often never achieve in life. 

Happy writing,

Alessandra

P.S. If this concept is something you want to dive deeper into, I highly recommend T. Taylor’s book “7-Figure Fiction” >> https://7figurefiction.com/product/7-figure-fiction-book/ (and if you have an Inkers Con 2026 ticket or get one, check out her blurb-writing class that applies this concept to your book description).