Do you feel emotional when writing?

stephblake24 · Jul 10, 2006

I have finally finished writing my first novel, and the tears were flowing while I was writing the last 20 or so pages...I felt so relieved for my characters. They were finally figuring out their lives and things were coming together for my heroine.

(She works out a terrible relationship with her father, and finds love with a man, although I don't classify my book as a romance.)

Yes, I felt silly crying.

Does anyone experience a "heaviness" when writing their endings?

Writing Jedi · Jul 10, 2006

Yeah, I did. I felt that way a couple of times such as when a character died, when my characters got a happy ending and then just finishing the book and knowing I would not be revisiting these characters anymore.

Yeah, I'm a sap.

moth · Jul 10, 2006

Definitely! I cried at a bunch of points for my MC -- when she learned things about her family, mostly. I didn't cry at the ending though, because I was so proud of her and happy for her. I'm a sap too.

AnnMB · Jul 10, 2006

Yep. My moods swing with my characters, and whatever is happening in my book affects how I feel. It almost has to, doesn't it? How can you effectively write a sad scene if you are feeling happy, and visa versa? And since I've never been one to be quickly turn my emotions on and off at will, the feelings linger long after I've stepped away from the keyboard.

stephblake24 · Jul 10, 2006

Yes, those feelings linger and I will be walking around the grocery store trying to figure out why I feel sad. My characters have a mind of their own, and lately they are in my dreams.

Gillhoughly · Jul 10, 2006

Good writers are like good actors, reacting to the other players on the "stage" whether in a theater or in a book. You interact and react with your characters and that's a wonderful, magical, addictive thing. It's why I keep writing.

The best writers are not afraid to "get naked on the page" which is what I do when I'm recalling an emotion so I can put words to it. The truth of that emotion will be in your writing, readers are going to know that, and it will resonate with them. They will come back for more.

I get out of patience with some writers who will take a character to the brink of something revealing, then the writer backs off because he can't write out those emotions. He could, but won't--it's too self-revealing.

Then other writers just have that gift going and pour it out. Those are the ones who make me feel like they've been doing black ops work to spy on my life. Their characters feel what I have felt and that comes across.

I wept for hours over an important chapter in a book, then sent it up to my collaborator for his turn at things. It was a major moment in my career when he phoned to say he began crying as well (in a good way) over those words.

Writing has always been a form of therapy for many. In my life I used it, usually unconsciously, to work through issues. I get the most fan mail about books where it truly is my emotional blood on the page.

So accept it as part of the job--it's a good thing!

PeeDee · Jul 10, 2006

Well, of course. I mean, if it's not affecting me, how should I expect it to affect the reader? My scarier scenes freak me out, my intense scenes are written on the edge of my seat, typing as fast as I can. I will sometimes wander around a little smart-mouthed and snarky after writing someone like that in my story. I don't actually cry, but I'm not at all a happy person when I kill someone I like.

It's the joy of writing, in a way. If you're not prepared to work around the emotion, though, it can be a bit of a problem. I knew a guy who was building up, in his story, to a character death. When he got there, he chickened out, because he liked the character. The problem was, he didn't write a very logical save scene for her to get out of danger, and he didn't know what to do with her the rest of the story, so instead of having a strong ending, she just sort of puttered out.

cuteshoes · Jul 10, 2006

My first MS centers around a MC who gets very depressed. Everytime I re-read the story for revisions, I feel the same way as her.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 10, 2006

emotion

stephblake24 said:
Does anyone experience a "heaviness" when writing their endings?

What I usually feel is great relief. While I have written things that made me emotional, always when I write something from personal experience that rips the scab off an old wound, this is almost never the case. I'd go nuts if I shared all the emotions my characters feel.

When I write, I'm almost in a trance. I'm in a zone. The same zone athletes go into when they're totally involved in the game. I don't feel anything, and I really don't think anything. Everything is focused, and I'm on automatic pilot.

Tracy · Jul 10, 2006

As the others have said, I experience all the emotions my characters are experiencing, both sad and happy. I think it's essential. When you're feeling the emotions your writing is the stronger for it, and that's how the reader will feel the emotions when s/he reads your work. Feeling these emotions fully - and describing them (Gilloughly is so right when he says it's getting naked on the page) is only one of the many ways in which writers show extreme courage.

We're wonderful, really!

CaroGirl · Jul 10, 2006

I don't feel emotional when I'm writing. I'm with James, I get in a zone and just write the story I want to write, vaguely aware of the emotional depth I'm conveying.

However, it's when I reread the story that I get choked up for my characters. One story of mine still gets to me every time I read it (oh, wait, two of my stories do that to me).

MidnightMuse · Jul 10, 2006

I get pretty zoned out when I'm writing heavy emotional stuff, though thinking of a scene coming up might bring a tear to my eye. The test for me is if I can read it when it's done and feel the emotion coming out. Like others have said, if you can't make your readers feel the emotion, you've missed the mark.

I do have a little trouble cracking myself up, though. I actually have to stop for a second and laugh sometimes. I can only hope and pray the reader does, too!

Jamesaritchie · Jul 10, 2006

Tracy said:
As the others have said, I experience all the emotions my characters are experiencing, both sad and happy. I think it's essential. When you're feeling the emotions your writing is the stronger for it, and that's how the reader will feel the emotions when s/he reads your work. Feeling these emotions fully - and describing them (Gilloughly is so right when he says it's getting naked on the page) is only one of the many ways in which writers show extreme courage.

We're wonderful, really!

It's definitely not essential. I've known far too many really great writers who don't do it. It's also often impossible. It's like saying you can't write about something unless you've personally experienced it.

Emotion on the written page is really nothing more than description. It isn't something felt, it's something shown. It's action and reaction.

My own opinion is that writing is often weaker if the writers is feeling every emotion. It often gets overblown, maudlin, sentimental.

Naked on the page should mean absolute honesty on the page, not feeling everything the character feels.

If a writer feels the same emotions as his characters, well and good, but it's never essential or necessary, and probably isn't even helpful.

I know what sadness feels like, and I have a memory. I know how people react and behave when they're sad. So I sure don't have to feel it as I'm writing in order to get it across to a reader. I just have to describe it, and have the character behave in an appropriate manner. There's something almost pathological about actually feeling every emotion your characters do.

Siddow · Jul 10, 2006

Who said it, "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader"?

I can't say I feel everything, but at times I get so engrossed in the scene that I find myself making faces, or figeting, and once I actually jumped out of my seat and went around turning on all the lights and checking on my children.

But, I also felt sad at just finishing the drafts. There was an "I'm going to miss you" feeling toward the characters. Perhaps that's what you experienced.

So I kind of agree with both PeeDee and James (wha?). There are times I'm inside the character and reporting the experience, feeling the emotions of the character, and then there are times when I need to step back and use intellect to, as James said, put honesty on the page.

Gillhoughly · Jul 10, 2006

TRACY - Heh--thanks for that! And your honesty thing is IT.

I'm gonna refine the "naked on the page" bit.

It means naked as in warts, wrinkles, beer guts, cellulite, and all, which is where the honesty comes in. We may not like looking at it, but it's real.

The payoff is when someone tells you, "Hey, that's ME, how did you know?"

:LilLove:

reph · Jul 10, 2006

Sometimes I laugh when writing humor. More precisely, I laugh when I think of a funny bit, and I feel gleeful when writing it down or typing it out.

Zolah · Jul 10, 2006

Sometimes I get incredibly emotional. Once I had to kill a character whom I loved in a really brutal way, and depict the anguish of another character who loved her. It was incredibly hard to do - I was pushing against my own feelings the whole time and I just sat and cried as I was typing. I felt so ill afterwards that I thought I was getting a migraine.

On the other hand, sometimes I get into that 'zone' too, and the words flow out of my fingers almost without any conscious thought - I don't get emotional in reaction to the character's feelings because I'm not inside the characters. It's like being omnipotent. I'm too absorbed in watching it all unfold before me, in making it happen. I feel light-headed and euphoric. Afterwards I sometimes read what I've written in disbelief and then I might get teary but in a different way, because it's like I'm reading someone else's work.

maestrowork · Jul 10, 2006

Yes, I am emotionally involved with my characters and what happens to them. And I hope my readers will as well.

Elizabeth Slick · Jul 10, 2006

Absolutely. I cry almost every time I read the last page of my novel, and, in another chapter there is a part that makes me cry as well. You would think that after so many re-writes and edits, it would change, but it is always just as intense for me as when I wrote it.

http://elizabethslick.homestead.com/

RG570 · Jul 10, 2006

I try to have a sense of empathy when I write, only to make things consistent and realistic. But I don't actually feel anything. When I write, I'm crafting a product. I don't have the capacity for that kind of emotion when I'm in "the zone".

NeuroFizz · Jul 10, 2006

I guess I'll go against the flow here. I think this is one occupation (substitute another word if you don't like "occupation") where many artisans over-romanticize the craft, or at least allow themselves to do so. That's why I like Uncle Jim's to-the-point advice so much. To me, he seems to take a common sense approach to writing. I try to do likewise (whether he really does or not). What this means--I can stand in a character's shoes and spill the emotions of the moment, but what I feel at the end of a successful emotional scene is immense satisfaction. So if a character is crying his or her eyes out, and I feel it's well done, I'm thrusting my fist in the air, then I'm reaching for a bottle of beer, not a box of Kleenex.

DamaNegra · Jul 10, 2006

I do. I always cry when one of my favorite characters die.

In my last novel, one of the characters died and I was glad she did. But when another character started remembering the good stuff about that character, I just weeped. I cried and cried without caring that all the people in the school bus could see me. So yeah, I'm emotional.

lazy_sod · Jul 10, 2006

One of my many shortcomings as a writer is my lack of emotion. I'm just an apathetic person. It's not something I do on purpose or out of meanness, I just don't really get hyped up about many things. I've been told it's quite unusual for a teenage girl, but I am pretty unusual. It normally doesn't bother me, but most of the time my characters have the same problem. They seem very shallow to everyone but me. I'm trying to work on channeling my inner Drama Queen...

Tienci · Jul 10, 2006

NeuroFizz said:
...I can stand in a character's shoes and spill the emotions of the moment, but what I feel at the end of a successful emotional scene is immense satisfaction. So if a character is crying his or her eyes out, and I feel it's well done, I'm thrusting my fist in the air, then I'm reaching for a bottle of beer, not a box of Kleenex.

I'm with you NeuroFizz. I'm usually pretty detached when writing. When re-reading, if something is funny, I laugh. If something is sad, I might feel a twinge of sympathy.

But I don't feel much in general, just like you lazy_sod- you sound just like me as I was as a teenager and as I remained. In fact, I meet all the diagnostic criteria for schizoid personality disorder.
What can I say- I'm part human, mostly robot!

Branwyn · Jul 10, 2006

I'm with you all in the zone. Normally, I'm a very feeling type person--but when I'm writing, I'm creating--so it's an energizing feeling. Not positive and not negative.

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