MESSAGE BOARD TOPIC #14

[Comicality]

Out of all the stories that I've read online, the ones I remember most, the ones that really stick out in my mind, are the ones that somehow brought an emotion right off of the page and translated it to me in a way that I could understand. Readers relate to emotion. It's an experience, an adventure of sorts, that you're taking them through with every word that you write. However, this isn't always an easy thing to do. You would think that writing down the 'description' of a certain feeling would be enough, but that isn't always the case. So the question for this week is...

 

=How does a writer learn to 'emote' when they write? How does someone take an emotion and cause someone else to feel and relate to it through the mere use of words on a screen?=

 

It would be easy to simply write that your character was angry, or that he was jealous, or that he was scared. But is that enough? How do you MAKE the audience BELIEVE that he's angry, or jealous, or scared? When you guys are reading, what makes you experience the joy, love, pain, and rage of the people you're reading about? The written word can be a powerful thing once it taps into someone's emotions. So let us know what you think about the process of doing that!

 

The board is open!

[Myr]

You ask some pretty hard questions Comsie...

 

I think in an abstract way, you need to make the reader love your character. After you get them to do that... you cause that character pain. Once people feel that pain, they then really connect with that character through the full range of emotions he feels.

 

I think.

[Comicality]

Yeah...I think I do. I didn't mean to 'stump' anybody. Hehehe, but the last two topics have evidently not been popular with you guys since it hasn't warranted any replies. So.....any ideas, you guys?

 

I don't want to alienate anyone.

[woody]

i think the strength that an emotion is convayed comes largely from the desription of a charcters "feelings" themselves. think of how u "feel" when griped with a certain emotion, e.g. when your embarssed u feel like "crawling into a couner to hide." this is a commonly assioated "feeling" with the emotion so the reader can relate to this. also it is important to keep all the characters thoughts and actions consistant with the emotion e.g. when your character is very agry his thought process isnt goin to be very rational and his actions dont nessesrly need to be very well justified. he is also not goin to go on a big deep and meaningful speech about why he is upset (keep those for afterwards), his dialoge is likely to be agressive and probably to some form abusive. also i think it is important not to be too consentrated on just the singular emotion in all likelyhood a character is goin to be feeling several at once insted of just the one.

[Strangers]

I like reading authours who know how to exploit the weakness of there characters. James isn't just mad, he is ashamed, he is afraid, he is alone.... You can't go through a range of emotions like that in print. But you can have the character go to his piller of strength, or watch his brother play with a puppy, in envy, of a simpler time. Even if you don't spell it out it is there for all to take part of. Even if the every reader dosen't actually understand that meaning it gives depth to the character and the story. Reactions take up a large portion of our lives, so it makes sense that the reader would connect to sombodys reaction, and through there experience figgue out what caused that reaction. In a way your not brining the charecter to life your bringing the reader to the story.

 

This gives the added satisfaction of giving the reader somthing to come back to after they have finished, and read it again.

[Comicality]

Thank you all for your expert opinions on the topic. And on the many before it. I truly TRULY apreciate your input. I learn a lot from what you guys say here. And hopefully you guys do too.

 

Anyway, I'm working on coming up with another list of good questions to ask here on the board. Something that everyone can get into. So I hope to have something decent up here soon.

 

Thanks again, you guys. ::Smooches::

[fear1980]

I express emotion in my writing by putting myself into the mindset of the main character. I think about what emotional buttons would affect me the most if they were pushed, and I figure out ways to push those buttons in my writing. My characters, really, are offshoots of my own person and I try and deal with them accordingly.

 

Hopefully, the reader identifies with this and my ideas aren't too outlandish.

[gpaulbishop]

I think that in many ways that conveying any kind of impression upon a reader is due in part to how we write a story. Drake once told me that being a good storyteller was heavily dependent on the quality of the conversation that you have with yourself as you write. Simply put, a good yarn is told well first to yourself.

When I write, in many ways it is akin to having a movie unwinding it's reels in my head. As I watch I talk, as I talk I write. Ultimately if what I write causes tears, fears, laughter, hope or despair in myself then in all due probabilty it will evoke the same response from the reader.

Then too, I always keep in mind that once I deliver a story to the greater whole for their consumption, it is truly no longer mine because now it theirs and it will effect them in their own individual way. If I have done myself true in my writing, then I would see emotions as described rolling off the whole by way of their responses to me.

Now then my gifted and talented young author may not agree, but then he might. As for the rest of you gentlefolk, I give you all this pause for your consideration.

 

Bless you all

 

Paul

[woody]

hmmmn.....ive been thinkin bout this one and ive come up with a later note...

 

i think, speaking from experance, a writer cant effectivly convay an emotion unless he has experinced the emotion with close to that particular strenght. for instance i find when im reading some stories where writers are trying to convay deep seated depression with sucidal tendancies it just doesnt come off efectivly even though some of these writers are obovioulsly extremely skilled, they dont seem to convay the true power of some of these types of emotions because, if my view is correct, they dont really understand them. i find that the instances of these emotions seem to be steryotipical in nature and are genraly very off putting when being read by someone who has experinced those emotions in their full force. i also find that these desription may allow you to symptahise with the character they dont allow you to empathise with him.

 

.......just some thoughts.

[gpaulbishop]

I think that a direct response to Woody's observations is warranted insofar as I believe based on my experience as an author but more so as an appreciative reader, can lend some clarification to Woody's points. "some of these writers are obovioulsly extremely skilled, they dont seem to convay the true power of some of these types of emotions because, if my view is correct, they dont really understand them." Woody, when I am writing and my good friend Drake Hunter has also told me this, there comes a point where the characters you are writing about become living entities within us. So that by writing "their" stories effectively give them their voice(s). In so many ways you also are drawing off the experiences of your life this is true for me but also the shared experience of others whom you have met and gotten to know and respect. Be they friends, family or loved ones. Understanding an emotion is not really that great of a tangible. Really it is more of an expression of that emotion. Remember, in the final analysis, it truly is the reader that will have the final interpretation of exactly what that emotion means on an individual basis.

I think that Comzie might possibly agree with that especially as I would cite his story of the kid that endures horrific abuse by his father just to share a series of moments that give him the love that he seeks and needs. Woody, writing and crafting that is extremely difficult, and to be honest with you, not be able to understand them completely is quite human. My job, our job, is to let the reader decide for themselves.

 

Warmest Regards Paul

[gpaulbishop]

As an afterthought Woody, here's a sample of one of my stories that I am currently working on, it has not been edited yet but it will give you idea of what I meant and as always, warmest regards Paul:

 

The bright light of the sun burst through the cloudy overcast skies bathing the surrounding countryside in mellow colors of soft greens, browns, reds and tinges of yellow. The young man sat on the porch gazing out over the valley below taking in the stark beauty of the countryside in the afternoon sunshine. Glancing upwards to the mountain ridge across the valley he smiled as he witnessed the halo effect of the rainbow as it arched back over the mountains and down into the valley below. The serenity of the scenery was only marred by the trauma of the events in school earlier that day he ruefully thought to himself. Why was it so difficult to just be himself and not feel like he was a character in some really bad movie? The worst part was that the majority of his conflicts in school centered around his feelings for the one person he felt that he truly loved, the person who occupied virtually all of his waking moments in his mind.

As he sat there thinking, the emotional tides running high in him as the tears rushed forward and outward streaming down his face, dripping unnoticed onto his hands which rested in his lap clenching the battered photograph. My god I hate life, no I hate my life he thought. It is so unfair, so wrong why just can't people leave me in peace. I just want to be happy, no I want to be able to just love. As his thoughts and emotions overwhelmed him his head slumped down and his shoulders sagged and then trembled as the sobs wracked his frame.

 

[woody]

thanx paul, that actualy make alot more sense

 

ull have to tell me what that story is and where and when you are goin to post it

i will really be interested in reading the rest of it

[gpaulbishop]

Thank you for your kind words Woody. Actually I am still working on that piece and haven't titled it yet. To be perfectly honest with you I am still learning the craft and do not feel that I am nearly as talented as my gifted young friend whose abilities you well know as you and I are here together in his world, or more accurately; "in the Shack" as it were. I am currently making the transition to author from reader in part due to my friendship with Drake Hunter who has gently nudged me down the path. I'm not sure yet about posting and of course am even more so not sure where I would be able to post, but still I have found that I enjoy writing.

 

I write as a story comes to me, like Daniel's did, I commenced writing as I "heard" Daniel's voice telling me the tale and before I knew it there were 35 pages worth. I guess that eventually I will need to put it out there, but for now I know there is still much more that I need to learn which is why I so enjoy this forum and others similar to it so that I can broaden my knowlege of the craft. Comzie was actually my inspiration on a cold winter day not too long ago to seek out more of this new world and he knows how much I personally appreciate that as a Gay Man. Okay that was a very long winded thanks so I will close. As always Woody, My warmest regards Paul