We’ve all heard the saying, “Walk a mile in their shoes.” It’s supposed to evoke empathy, right? But what good is slipping into someone’s shoes really going to do for you? What if you could live in their skin, feel their emotions, and see the world through their eyes?

Good news: You can!

When we read, watch, or listen to engaging stories, we are living someone else’s reality. Science shows us that our brain is actually firing as if we are them. It’s why people make the weirdest faces in movie theaters, under the spell of a good narrative. In Storytelling Animals, Jonathan Gottschall explains it as, “Your brain looks less like a spectator on the action than it does a participant…If the scene is sad, your brain looks sad too.”

Think about your favorite books and movies, how you’ve used them to escape reality, and how it’s worked so well you’ve lost yourself. It’s magical, right?

This is the effect we want to have on our readers. Of course, that’s way easier said than done. Writing prose that deeply engages readers is difficult.

Fortunately, there’s a secret formula: Reaction Progressions!

Reaction progressions are a four part formula based on the natural order of how humans respond to stimuli. Using this chain of responses as a tool will help make it easier for you to “show” your character’s responses effectively and deepen the impact of your prose.

Here’s how it works…

First, there’s a stimulus that begins the process.
1) We react instinctively, usually in our body.
2) Next, we mentally process what’s happened.
3) Then, we choose to react externally in some way.

To effectively sink your readers into your character’s reality, you need to replicate this progression on the page for your characters.

We don’t need to include all three reactions to every stimulus in your story because that would risk sensory overload and choppy rhythm. But when a character is reacting to something on the page, these reactions must happen in the correct order.

Why is this critical? It’s easier for a reader to stay in the point-of-view character’s reality if the story unfolds chronologically. If your goal is to put your readers in the skin of a character and show them the character’s reality, then we need to show the story as it unfolds to avoid readers jumping to conclusions or getting jarred out of the scene.

For Example: Reaction order

Reactions out of order: Why did Sarah have to be so unreasonable? Eva jumped when Sarah slammed the door with a growl. Instead of following, she stormed out the back.

Reactions in order: Sarah growled and slammed the door. Eva jumped. Why did Sarah have to be so unreasonable? Instead of following, she stormed out the back.

See how the first example above is jarring, but the second reads smooth? The order immediately feels confusing. We don’t understand what’s going on with Sarah, or why this character thought is happening and therefore we’re immediately playing catch up. However, putting reactions in order helps us seamlessly stay in a character’s skin and internalize the information without becoming disoriented.

Now that we can see the difference it makes chronologically, let’s break down each step of the reaction progression to really understand what each one does, and how it impacts “showing” the scene playout.

Reaction Progressions: Step by Step

First, we experience the stimulus.

This is an external trigger or internal realization. This is where your external story, or your plot, lives. A story stimulus can be something someone else does, a random event or noise, dialogue, or new information. It can also occur internally as a realization a character has, which prompts a reaction in them.

A door slams. An upsetting line of dialogue. A screech comes from the other room. A laugh from across the coffee shop.

You can “show” with the story stimulus because it puts us in the scene with your character. Instead of summarizing what happened “to” them, you can show us the scene in real time with reactions sprinkled throughout.

Stimulus told: Marie ignored Kayla in class, but she heard the other girl whispering and caught her smug looks.

Stimulus shown: Marie gripped the straps of her backpack as she approached Ms. Chen’s classroom. Kayla stood outside with her new friends, lips cocked in a knowing smirk (stimulus). Marie blushed (physical instinctive) as she shoved past them through the door (physical intentional). Whispers erupted behind her (stimulus).

In the first version, we aren’t with Marie in the scene. In the second one, we are her, seeing Kayla’s smirk and feeling the whispers up our spine.

Next, we experience a physical instinctive reaction to that stimulus.

This is a feeling or an involuntary action: Our shoulders clench. We bite our lips. Our heart races. Our faces flush. We blink rapidly. Our guts twist.

Before anything else, our bodies react instinctively. This can be emotional, or it can be an action. The key is that it must be subconscious and betray what your character truly feels before their conscious brain can intercept.

You can “show” with physical instinctive reactions by putting us in your character’s skin. Instead of telling us the emotion a character feels, show us what it actually feels like to experience that emotion. As we read, our brains will signal our bodies to echo what’s happening in your character’s body. If you hold us at too far a distance from their skin, we’ll notice.

Physical Instinctive Told: I felt embarrassed.

Physical Instinctive Shown: I cringed, heat flaring up my neck.

As readers trying to sync with this character, we don’t know how to feel in the first example, but in the second one our brain immediately responds, signaling us to feel as the character does.

Important note: Show language is critical to both Stimuli and Physical Instinctive Reactions. Externally, we need to see what a main character is seeing in another character’s body language. Don’t tell me “Bob looked horrified,” show me, “The blood drained from Bob’s face as his lips parted.”

Then, we process the stimulus and our reaction to it through our internal, private thoughts.

Our thoughts interpret what is happening, and what it means to us: Why is this happening? How does it make me feel?

Internal thoughts are critical to putting us in the skin of a character. Thoughts are how we see and interpret the world through their eyes. For an extensive deep dive into why this is important, check out our guest blog post, “How to Put Readers in Your Character’s Skin” on The Novel Smithy.

Through your character’s internal thought reactions to what’s happening around them, you can show the reader what those plot events mean to the character, and therefore signal how the reader should feel about what’s happening.

Without Internal Processing: Bobby started laughing (stimulus) and my blood boiled (physical instinctive). I rushed forward and shoved him in the chest (physical intentional).

With Internal Processing: Bobby started laughing (stimulus) and my blood boiled (physical instinctive). Isla had been sick for weeks. He knew that. Even if he hadn’t, that didn’t give him any right to make fun of her. I hadn’t thought I could hate him any more, but apparently I’d been wrong (internal processing). I rushed forward and shoved him in the chest (physical intentional).

In the first example, we have no idea why we’re shoving Bobby. You didn’t know how to feel, so your brain likely superimposed meaning (as a writer, you DON’T want this!). In the second one, we know exactly how to feel.

Finally, we take a physical intentional action.

This is a conscious reaction, through some kind of purposeful action, inaction, and/or dialogue: We storm off. We shove the other person. We kiss them. We snap back.

It’s relatively easy to show a character acting, since it’s external in the story. However, the key to showing physical intentional reactions in a way that engages readers lies in the other beats. Use Physical Instinctive Reactions and Internal Processing to ensure readers understand why your character is acting the way they are.

Physical Intention Without Other Reactions: Mateo waved at Avery across the parking lot (stimulus), but she stayed where she was (physical intentional).

Physical Intentional With Other Reactions: Mateo waved at Avery across the parking lot (stimulus). Her heart stumbled (physical instinctive). He wanted to talk now? It had been three weeks since their fight. Surely there couldn’t be anything left to say (internal processing)? It took all her resolve to stay where she was (physical intentional).

In the first example, we get Avery’s Physical Intentional reaction to the stimulus of Mateo waving, but we don’t know what it means. We’re left grasping for straws to understand what’s going on. In the second one, however, the Physical Instinctive and Internal Processing reactions reveal exactly why Avery does what she does, and how she feels doing it—so we live her discomfort alongside her.

Through these four steps, we constantly move through our world. Each time we experience a stimulus, our bodies go through the exact same process—in this order—to make sense of it, and ultimately lead us to our subconscious and conscious reactions.

Our characters should process story stimulus the exact same way.

When our characters experience a story stimulus, we need to show their reaction to it through these four reaction progression steps.

Showing their reactions, feelings, and eventual decisions with these four steps immediately sinks the reader into our character’s perspective and allows them to feel as our character does. By showing reaction progressions on the page, we make our reader react the exact same way as our characters.

But to effectively use reaction progressions, you shouldn’t use all three reactions with every stimulus, so how do you choose which to include? Well, download our FREE Show Don’t Tell Formula guide for additional tips and next steps!

Whenever we read prose where something feels off, or missing, or isn’t connecting us to the character, it usually relates to missing out on one of these things.

Take a second to review an excerpt of your writing.

👉🏻 Is the stimulus clear, to you and to your character?

👉🏻 Do they have a physical instinctive reaction to it? What involuntary thing is their body doing?

👉🏻 Are their thoughts clear on the page as they process the stimulus?

👉🏻 Do they make an intentional, conscious response in reaction to the stimulus?

If you’re missing one, try to add it in and see how much more clear that excerpt becomes! When writers start incorporating reaction progressions in their prose, we ALWAYS see a huge level up. You’ll make it clear to your reader what a character feels, why they feel that way, and what they’re going to do about it—which is the true goal of ‘Show, don’t tell.’