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Writing about emotions
- Thread starter satyesu
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This is THE classic meaning for "Show, don't tell." Don't "describe" emotions. Don't "write about" emotions. Write emotions. SHOW emotions. Get outside your characters' heads and show us poor benighted readers what the characters DO. How they interact, how they respond to situations that trigger their emotional responses.
caw
caw
There's more than one effective way to write about emotion. I would highly recommend The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass, which talks about various approaches to writing emotion. I'm going to disagree with blacbird here (rare for me
) and say that showing is only one way to communicate a character's emotion. You can also describe emotion, but it has to be done artfully, relevantly, and appropriately. And then there are ways to create emotion in the reader as well, and that may be your most powerful tool of all.It would be far too time-consuming to go into all that in detail here, so I do suggest you read the book, which is one of the best primers on writing emotion I've ever found.
I'm going to disagree with blacbird here (rare for me
You're fired (channeling my inner Donald Trump).
caw
I strugglee with this too. I frequently write something like " "I hate you!" He shouted angrily.". When I could say something like "He balled his hands into fists and turned away. "I hate you," he muttered." .
Justsaying you're not the only one who has a hard time with this.
Justsaying you're not the only one who has a hard time with this.
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This is the only way to accurately describe emotions with the utmost clarity, in a way that makes it real and relatable to the reader.
I disagree.
There is always more than one method to do something when writing. Especially when it comes to emotions.
I can't remember the books / films off-hand, but some of them use weather / the environment / objects as metaphors for a character's emotions. E.g., lightning flashed, a stark contrast to her outward demeanour. The distant roll of thunder exemplified the burning fuse; soon the deluge would come: dry, acidic rain that would complement each lightning streak that blasted the ground.
Or: the crumbling wall gave way to a skeleton of the castle's foundations. Nothing left to pick but rock and dirt; even the tiniest of scavengers had abandoned the place.
And so on.
If my MC is experiencing the emotion I describe the physical sensations and write his thoughts directly (not as’he wondered’ or ‘he thought’). If the MC is watching someone else experience an emotion I describe what the MC observes.
I think the key is writing to place the reader in the position where he experiences the desired emotion as a result of what he is reading, namely by empathising with and sharing the situation a character is going through - and not because he's being told 'about' an emotion.
Writing emotions means guiding/letting the reader feel the emotion you want them to experience. And there are multiple ways to do that. By creating an environment where the reader experiences the emotions of the PoV character. By showing us the emotional experience of the PoV character. By opposing environment and character experience to give the reader a deeper reading on the scene. (FREX: A character whose sibling died in a freak accident at a birthday party will experience what should be a fun and lighthearted occasion much differently.)
There is a place for telling as well, particularly if you have a character who experiences things differently than the "norm". It's a question of practice and experimentation with all the same storytelling tools you normally use, to get the right notes in particular scenes.
There is a place for telling as well, particularly if you have a character who experiences things differently than the "norm". It's a question of practice and experimentation with all the same storytelling tools you normally use, to get the right notes in particular scenes.
Not sure if I can adequately explain this, but I'm going to try.
There's a difference between the emotions a character experiences as a participant in the story and the emotions a reader experiences while reading the story.
The writer must find a way to effectively translate the former, but it's a fact that readers will not necessarily share, personally, the emotions of the character, even when the emotions are described or communicated skillfully. The reader can, however, find the character's emotions to be credible and relatable. The reader can sympathize with the character.
But for the reader to become so deeply involved with the story and characters that s/he experiences true emotion over the outcome--anxiety, fear, or even the sense of falling in love with one of the characters or otherwise becoming obsessed with the story or a character--requires a stronger and maybe rarer alchemy. And though that's not entirely under the writer's control because the reader brings his or her own unique emotional baggage and life experience to the story, there are certain what you might call emotional universals that writers can employ to help this process along.
That's part of what Maass's book addresses: how to create an emotional journey for the reader. Because if a book can do that, not with just one or two readers but many readers, then it's likely to become tremendously successful.
There's a difference between the emotions a character experiences as a participant in the story and the emotions a reader experiences while reading the story.
The writer must find a way to effectively translate the former, but it's a fact that readers will not necessarily share, personally, the emotions of the character, even when the emotions are described or communicated skillfully. The reader can, however, find the character's emotions to be credible and relatable. The reader can sympathize with the character.
But for the reader to become so deeply involved with the story and characters that s/he experiences true emotion over the outcome--anxiety, fear, or even the sense of falling in love with one of the characters or otherwise becoming obsessed with the story or a character--requires a stronger and maybe rarer alchemy. And though that's not entirely under the writer's control because the reader brings his or her own unique emotional baggage and life experience to the story, there are certain what you might call emotional universals that writers can employ to help this process along.
That's part of what Maass's book addresses: how to create an emotional journey for the reader. Because if a book can do that, not with just one or two readers but many readers, then it's likely to become tremendously successful.
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Yes. All we can do is use such techniques to hopefully widen the net so to speak or help the process along, as you say, but even with all that at our disposal and hopefully correctly executed, in the final analysis it's the individual emotional baggage of a reader that is the greatest unknown hurdle.
And thank goodness we are all different.
And thank goodness we are all different.
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Which is why we can all have such different reactions to the same book. But OTOH, a writer who manages to tap into something more universal, something a large and varied audience can connect with, then that writer has grasped the golden ring.
I my experience so far it's best to use a combination of things. Inner thoughts - but only to a certain extent, I tend to overuse these and cut back considerably in subsequent drafts - Showing through character interaction - how your MC reacts to what another character has done/said for example, and through character movement - your MC may mope about if they are sad, stare into the bottom of an empty glass, gaze absently into a fire etc. I'm no expert, believe me, but portraying strong emotions is one of the most important things I'm aiming for in my WIP - grief, anger, guilt, love, regret, denial - and it's not easy, but if it's any help I find just writing it down, regardless of how shitty the writing is, moving on then coming back to that emotional scene the next day and so on and so on really helps to nail it.
I'm also going to purchase the book referenced above by Donald Maass - so thank you BethS for the recommendation.
Best of luck
I'm also going to purchase the book referenced above by Donald Maass - so thank you BethS for the recommendation.
Best of luck
Yeah, and that's when you go beyond the show vs. tell concept. Here's what I'm in the process of learning (tell me if I'm doing this wrong!). And a lot of this relates to Maass's book, which is indeed outstanding.
Telling: Jane stared at the hurdle. She had to jump it cleanly in order to earn a passing grade in gym class. She was scared! (no emotional impact to the reader)
Showing: Jane's palms were sweating. Her heart raced, and she felt dizzy. (To me, still no emotional impact).
Now, introduce some tension
Bob watched Jane walk up to the starting line. She was such a nerd, and the over-sized gym clothes draping over her skinny body only helped reinforce that. Her hands were shaking she was so nervous. It would be hilarious if he stuck out his foot at just the right moment and tripped her. The guys would love it.
Jane's palms were sweating as she stared at the hurdle.
Now do you feel emotion for Jane? The tension is the key, along with defining the characters in such a way that you root for them, or against them.
The problem here is the POV shift, but that's for the advanced class
Now, introduce some tension
Bob watched Jane walk up to the starting line. She was such a nerd, and the over-sized gym clothes draping over her skinny body only helped reinforce that. Her hands were shaking she was so nervous. It would be hilarious if he stuck out his foot at just the right moment and tripped her. The guys would love it.
Jane's palms were sweating as she stared at the hurdle.
Now do you feel emotion for Jane? The tension is the key, along with defining the characters in such a way that you root for them, or against them.
The problem here is the POV shift, but that's for the advanced class
It's a good example, although the POV shift need not happen at all for this to work. If the whole scene is described from Bob's POV, after the reader has already met Jane and had a chance to learn what's at stake for her in this moment, then Jane's POV is not needed in order to produce a strong emotional reaction in the reader. In fact, it will be stronger for letting us see it rather than putting us in Jane's head at that moment.
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Honestly, this is not something you can get a comprehensive answer to in one post. Pointers, yes, but in broad terms, writing emotion is THE challenge of writing, IMO.
Anyone can string words together. Putting them in an order that wrings reactions from readers, though, is the thing and the whole of the thing.
Emotion should colour every scene. From *how* you describe, to what your character focuses on, to how they express themselves in addition to what they say. A lot can be show in the disconnect between expectation and reality.
And yeah, another vote for Maass' book.
Anyone can string words together. Putting them in an order that wrings reactions from readers, though, is the thing and the whole of the thing.
Emotion should colour every scene. From *how* you describe, to what your character focuses on, to how they express themselves in addition to what they say. A lot can be show in the disconnect between expectation and reality.
And yeah, another vote for Maass' book.
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It helps if you can feel those emotions while writing the scene. Imagine writing a heartbreaking scene while your mind's on your taxes, vs writing it after you have just finished watching Titanic. I try to get into the character's mind, and feel what they're feeling until those feelings are bursting up inside of me, just waiting to be written. That seems to transfer those emotions onto the page quite successfully, not only in the dialogue, but also in describing the rest of the scene. If I can't feel anything, then that's usually because I don't understand what emotional impact I want the scene to have.
Although sometimes when those emotions are felt the most, it's the hardest to put them on the page. One's own emotions might act as a false substitute for what's being written.
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Absolutely! In fact, I view those weepy tendencies over the keyboard as DANGER signals. They mean I'm focused on my own internal processes, not on how to make those emotions clear to a reader.
I try to put myself into the character's shoes, and physically mimic their response. For example, if I need an angry reaction I'll envision myself being told something that makes me angry, and I'll clench my fists, and grit my teeth and take ragged breaths. I analyze my physical response to whatever it is, then write it down and add based on the setting.
You know what, while they might seem like opposite approaches (writing when you feel emotional vs. when you don't), I'm not sure they actually are. I do both! I need to be in that emotional space in order for the words to flow. So I do that, and that really helps capture what I want to get across. But, those aren't the words that go into the book. Those words represent what I want the READER to feel, and so the next step is to write the words that will trigger that same response in someone else. But at least for me, I can't get that process started until I pour out my own emotions.
But yeah, just writing your emotions won't work, I don't think. I still have notes from my emotional outpourings from a year ago, and reading them now, they're completely flat, and I don't even remember what I was feeling when I wrote them. So the hard part really is figuring out how to evoke, not just transcribing.