Something I've always struggled with, with my own writing, is injecting emotion into my scenes. Part of the issue is it's naturally easier to tell the reader what's happening rather than describing emotions and physical reactions. 'Show don't tell' is the age-old adage writers are often told that afflicts their work. Easier said than done! So, how to overcome the obstacle?
Romantic fiction is a good place to start as it's a genre in itself, and one that often forms part of the storyline in others. But, whether romance is the pivotal storyline or not, it's necessary to describe the emotional journey, as well as the emotional and physical reactions of the characters to make it resonate with readers.
Here's an example -
Denise closed her eyes and Jacob kissed her.
The above sentence is short and sweet. It tells us what is happening, but nothing about the characters or how they feel towards each other.
Denise closed her pale blue eyes in anticipation as Jacob's lips gently caressed hers, tasting her sweet cherry lip gloss.
In the first short sentence, it tells us that Denise closed her eyes and Jacob kissed her. If that was the only sentence read, you might presume that Denise is a child going to sleep and that Jacob is a parent kissing her goodnight. In the second example, you can tell that Denise wants to be kissed. It's also obvious, the encounter is of a romantic nature, due to the way that Jacob kisses her. This helps to set the mood of the scene and tells us about their relationship.
'Show, don't tell' can be difficult to achieve. One thing I find helpful is to ignore it during the first draft and then pin-point scenes that need this additional work when editing. I find that way, it's easier to focus on the mood I'm trying to create and envisage how characters are feeling.
A great resource of inspiration when tackling this is the 'Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression' by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. The book details emotions such as desire, love, anger and sympathy, providing definitions of each emotion and detailing things such as physical reactions and internal sensations that people often feel when experiencing a particular emotion.
Another great way to improve this skill is to read, read and read some more. There is nothing better than learning from the books you have enjoyed. Read from a writer's perspective. If you've read a book that made you fall in love with a character, feel happy or sad, or even made you cry, read it again. It's often not just the storyline that created that reaction, but quite simply, the choice of the words used.