Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Putting emotions in your writing


As I type this I have been pondering the above title. How do you put emotion in your writing? How do you get your character to show emotion? How do you convince your reader to identify with your character without going overboard? Where is that overboard line? How do you write something painful or sad that you don't want to experience yourself? How do you make good writing great by adding emotions?

What are your thoughts? How do you as a writer add emotion? What do you as a reader expect in a book?

My mind is churning, I hope to learn as much as I can and get back to you guys.

3 comments:

Angie said...

Emotions are my favorite part about reading and writing. I think it comes naturally for me to put it into my writing. I try to be realistic about what a character might be feeling and try to show rather than just tell what they are feeling. One problem I see a lot in submissions that I read is characters changing emotional states too quickly. That usually doesn't happen in real life. Good luck. I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out.

Mel Chesley said...

I agree with how characters are changing emotions too quickly in some works. I try to keep my angst going for awhile.
I hope that I show rather than tell. I think you can tell a lot about what state of mind the character is in with their dialogue, top onto that their actions and the reactions of other characters around them.
You have to be very good at stepping inside the characters shoes. How would you feel if such and such happened to you, how would you react? This is why every character has so much of yourself poured into them, but the trick is to hide your quirks and give the character their own.
I also watch how other people react to certain emotions. I people watch! I try not to stalk. ;)
It is a difficult task that comes easy for some and is hard for others. Good luck!

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