How to Use Echoes in Fiction Writing: Narrative techniques for depth & emotional impact

Fiction Yogi
Jun 9
6 min read

Updated: Jun 10

Text "USING ECHOES FOR DEPTH & EMOTIONAL IMPACT" over a vintage typewriter and coffee cup. Soft beige and green tones create a nostalgic mood.

In this article we'll consider:

Echoes as layers of story texture
Word & phrase echoes
External events echoing internal states
Echoes of the past & repeated behaviours

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A note before we begin: I noticed while researching for this article that many writers and editors use the term "echoes" to describe the unintentional, closely situated repetition of words and phrases that clutter a narrative and distract the reader—the type usually cleaned up during the editing stages. But here I'm referring to echoes as an intentional literary device, used strategically to deepen the layers of your story. So with that cleared up, let's begin...

A woman in a blue dress stands by serene water, her reflection creating an illusion of a shadowy figure. The mood is surreal and tranquil.

In storytelling, the richest narratives are rarely linear. They reverberate. They circle back. They echo. These echoes—in language, emotion, theme, and structure—deepen resonance, subtly reinforcing meaning and adding texture.

Think of it like a painting. A handful of colours may show us what the picture represents, but it's the layers of shading and hues and tints that give the image depth, intensity, and the capacity to elicit an emotional response in the viewer. In fiction writing, echoes are one way we can add these layers to our narrative.

Whether it’s a word that recurs like a whispered mantra, a scene that mirrors an earlier fear, or a character haunted by repeated mistakes, echoes enrich your fiction in ways readers may not consciously notice—but will definitely feel.

Let's explore three major types of echoes that we see in fiction, with practical tips for incorporating them into your work.

1. Word & phrase echoes: The subtle music of repetition

Colorful umbrellas hang against a clear blue sky, displaying vibrant purple, pink, red, orange, and green hues, creating a cheerful scene.

An echo in prose is like the chorus in a song—it highlights what's at the heart of the piece and acts as an anchoring point. Used deliberately, a repeated word or phrase can accomplish many things, such as: underscore the theme, establish patterns, reinforce symbolism, deepen emotional resonance, or emphasize a character’s psychological state.

Examples:

In Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero, the opening line, "People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles", repeated throughout the book, echoes the protagonist's anxieties and increasing emotional detachment from society.

In Cormac McCarthy's The Road, words like "gray", "cold", and "ash" recur regularly, underscoring the bleak, post-apocalyptic landscape and circumstances.

Tips for echoing words and phrases:

Choose meaningful words or images. Let the repeated element carry thematic or emotional weight (e.g., "blood", "home", "long way back", "three chances").

Place echoes at key points. The beginning, middle and ending are strong positions for laying down echoes as anchors; as are emotional high-stakes scenes or scenes of reflection.

Use subtle variation. The repetition doesn’t always have to be exact—slight shifts can reveal progression or regression (e.g., from "three chances" to "chance didn't come into it"; or, from "long way back" to "no way back").

Writing Exercise:

Pick a keyword related to your protagonist’s internal struggle (e.g., "afraid", "invisible", "empty"). Try to linguistically echo it (or its variants) in different emotional contexts throughout a scene or chapter. For example, a man who feels empty will see emptiness everywhere, from hollow conversation, to clouds that are barely there, to the vacant stare from the mirror.

2. External events echoing internal states: Mirroring the mind

Two hands reach toward each other through a dusty mirror. The setting is dimly lit, evoking a contemplative or introspective mood.

What happens in a story doesn't always need to be symbolic. But when the outer world mirrors the character’s inner world, something alchemical happens—you dramatize the internal, embedding character psychology directly into plot and setting.

Examples:

A man carries his deceased father’s broken pocket watch, constantly winding it though it no longer works—representing his refusal to move forward after his father’s death and his fixation on the past.

A mother scared of losing control faces a storm that knocks out power and communication—a literal chaos echoing her mental state.

At a wedding where the bride is unsure about the marriage, it starts to rain just as vows are being exchanged—a reflection of her growing emotional dread, especially if foreshadowed earlier.

This is sometimes called objective correlative, where external elements represent internal emotion—but echoes add an extra layer: they recall previous internal states or foreshadow emotional developments. And they're easy to incorporate into your narrative because your characters are the same as us—the things that occupy their minds have a way of colouring everything they see and do.

On a diet and craving sugar? You'll notice every bakery you pass.

In the car and need the toilet? Everything will remind you of running water.

Dislike your new haircut? You'll think everyone who looks at you is staring at your hair.

When you put yourself in your characters' shoes, echoes will naturally emerge.

Tips:

Use metaphorical mirroring. Let internal fears or desires manifest in plot twists or visuals. E.g., your protagonist, haunted by memories of his father's abuse, learns his girlfriend is pregnant.

Plant the seed early. Have the internal fear voiced before the echoing event arrives, even if just subtly. E.g., the mother with control issues making extensive lists for the babysitter, or scheduling her child's daily routine down to the minute, or dwelling on her own mother's disinterest as a parent.

Don’t overexplain. The layers of echoes will give a texture to the narrative that readers will consciously or subconsciously absorb without you needing to spell it out.

Writing Exercise:

Identify a dominant fear or desire your protagonist has. Write two scenes: one in which they articulate or think about it, and one later where an event metaphorically enacts it. Don’t reference the original fear directly—trust the echo.

3. Echoes of the past & repeated behaviours: Characters stuck in loops

Hands hold a glowing film strip against the sun, showing negatives. Blurred cityscape in background. Warm and nostalgic atmosphere.

Human beings repeat. We fall into patterns, pick at old wounds, and relive stories we told ourselves long ago. In fiction, showing a character plagued by behavioural echoes—or haunted by their past—can drive narrative arcs, deepen character development, and enrich your theme.

Examples:

In The Godfather, Michael Corleone echoes his father’s legacy despite trying to resist it—a literal and symbolic echo.

In The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, each character deals with echoes of childhood trauma that ripple into the haunted present.

These echoes can be:

Psychological (repeating a toxic relationship pattern)
Verbal (a character repeating the words of a parent or abuser)
Structural (the same event happening twice with different outcomes)

Tips:

Identify your character’s past traumas or formative, conditioned beliefs. These are fertile ground for echoes.

Create cyclical moments. Let the reader notice how a character ends up back in the same place. It will take your character recognizing their repeating behaviours to break the cycle (cue character development arc).

Use dialogue echoes. A line said by one character in the past can later be repeated by another—this time taking on new meaning.

Writing Exercise:

Write a short scene in which a character unwittingly recreates a painful moment from their past, but with a small, significant difference that reveals either growth or further entrapment.

Finally...

Echoes are not just aesthetic flourishes. They are structural glue, binding past to present, inner world to outer events, character to theme. In doing so, they build resonance—that lingering emotional vibration that gives a story texture, depth, and plausibility.

So to recap:

Word and phrase echoes give your narrative rhythm and reinforce mood or theme.
Event echoes bring the internal to life through metaphor.
Behavioural echoes create cycles, arcs, and emotional truths that haunt.

When used with intention, echoes invite your readers to read between the lines and feel something deeper than the plot. They reinforce the building blocks of your narrative and make your fully rounded story come alive with meaning.

Have you used echoes in your fiction? Drop an example in the comments below or tell us your favourite use of this technique in a novel you love.