Writerly Ways
May. 15th, 2011 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessI couldn’t quite wake up this morning so I did what I usually do on days where I don’t actually have to get up and get going. I stayed in bed, thinking about my stories. I read reviews from my friends here on LJ. I read them in my groups on Goodreads and I’ll look at them at my various book buying sources. One thing I see often is the complaint of ‘I couldn’t get emotionally involved’ or ‘the characters were emotionally flat.’ That is something that I would like to avoid.
In some ways, I do think I can evoke emotions pretty well. I look at my fanfiction and at the various original characters I create for them. Ignoring the people who won’t even read a story if it has an OC (not every OC is a Mary Sue/Gary Stu in spite of what some people think), I look at my reviewers and more often than not I have managed to make them like (or hate) my OC’s. That tells me I’m doing something right. I’m emotionally involving my reader.
The scenes that played over in my head this morning were emotionally charged. I should only hope to be able to write them with the same emotional fervor as I imagine them. (Also the book says it’s actually two books at which point I started rolling my eyes at the characters). In just thinking about the scenes, my eyes welled up. I want that same reaction in my readers.
The question becomes how best to capture that. Can I make my readers cry when appropriate? In my sex scenes can I get them to at least think it’s hot if not outright arousing? Can I make them angry at the villains (or at the heroes’ not-so-smart choices)? Can I do any of this without it feeling like a cheat or that I’ve contrived things to purposely cant the emotions one way or the other.
It’s hard enough to put emotions into words. It’s harder still to describe how to write emotionally impacting scenes. I’m not really sure how I go about it. I think part of the trick is to have characters people will care about it (most often if I put a book down it’s because I either didn’t care about the characters or the writing style annoyed me). Give those characters something to care about themselves. If they care, hopefully the reader will too.
Taking some of the more recent stories I’ve been working on I have a whole range of emotions I want and need to work with. For example:
Until the Ice Breaks - Makai has to deal with the feelings of loneliness and inadequacy. Being a teenager, he feels them acutely and hopefully is something that will resonate with the readers.
Splinters of Silver and Cold Iron - Killian is dealing with the shame of abuse and the feelings of guilt of not doing more to stop his attackers.
Beneath the Torn Sky - Placid has to deal with the loss of a leg and the deep impact it had on him as he realizes he has used it as an excuse to isolate himself from those he loved.
The unnamed story I was thinking about this morning has a protagonist who knows in spite of all he’s been doing to right the wrongs of his teenaged years, in the end he will probably be charged as a war criminal and put to death. (This is one I’m thinking of doing for nano this year). Hopefully by that time the readers will have liked him well enough that this will have a big impact.
How do you all deal with imbuing your work with emotion?
Still trucking away at the hapless space pirate story. I’m no longer worrying about it being too long. If it is, I’ll just market it to the ebook novella publishers.
Yearly word count -
28301 / 125000 words. 23% done!
In some ways, I do think I can evoke emotions pretty well. I look at my fanfiction and at the various original characters I create for them. Ignoring the people who won’t even read a story if it has an OC (not every OC is a Mary Sue/Gary Stu in spite of what some people think), I look at my reviewers and more often than not I have managed to make them like (or hate) my OC’s. That tells me I’m doing something right. I’m emotionally involving my reader.
The scenes that played over in my head this morning were emotionally charged. I should only hope to be able to write them with the same emotional fervor as I imagine them. (Also the book says it’s actually two books at which point I started rolling my eyes at the characters). In just thinking about the scenes, my eyes welled up. I want that same reaction in my readers.
The question becomes how best to capture that. Can I make my readers cry when appropriate? In my sex scenes can I get them to at least think it’s hot if not outright arousing? Can I make them angry at the villains (or at the heroes’ not-so-smart choices)? Can I do any of this without it feeling like a cheat or that I’ve contrived things to purposely cant the emotions one way or the other.
It’s hard enough to put emotions into words. It’s harder still to describe how to write emotionally impacting scenes. I’m not really sure how I go about it. I think part of the trick is to have characters people will care about it (most often if I put a book down it’s because I either didn’t care about the characters or the writing style annoyed me). Give those characters something to care about themselves. If they care, hopefully the reader will too.
Taking some of the more recent stories I’ve been working on I have a whole range of emotions I want and need to work with. For example:
Until the Ice Breaks - Makai has to deal with the feelings of loneliness and inadequacy. Being a teenager, he feels them acutely and hopefully is something that will resonate with the readers.
Splinters of Silver and Cold Iron - Killian is dealing with the shame of abuse and the feelings of guilt of not doing more to stop his attackers.
Beneath the Torn Sky - Placid has to deal with the loss of a leg and the deep impact it had on him as he realizes he has used it as an excuse to isolate himself from those he loved.
The unnamed story I was thinking about this morning has a protagonist who knows in spite of all he’s been doing to right the wrongs of his teenaged years, in the end he will probably be charged as a war criminal and put to death. (This is one I’m thinking of doing for nano this year). Hopefully by that time the readers will have liked him well enough that this will have a big impact.
How do you all deal with imbuing your work with emotion?
Still trucking away at the hapless space pirate story. I’m no longer worrying about it being too long. If it is, I’ll just market it to the ebook novella publishers.
Yearly word count -
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