|
Post by MDPthatsme on Jun 14, 2011 23:13:13 GMT -6
You're writing or Simming and you know you're about to put in an emotional chapter or scene. How do you prepare for it? Do you get really emotional yourself to get in the character's mind-set? You got any tips or tricks to writing an emotional piece?
|
|
|
Post by dinuriel on Jun 16, 2011 2:29:21 GMT -6
I always struggle with emotional writing. For the most part I would call myself more of a thinker than a feeler and I sometimes think it shows in my fiction.
As for how I prepare for it... not really sure. I just kind of try to get in the POV character's head and go with it, I guess.
|
|
|
Post by jennifer on Jun 17, 2011 10:25:35 GMT -6
I try to put myself in the shoes of the character I'm writing about. Simple as that. I'm not too good with words or phrases but I'll generally try to write when I'm in a good mood and am somewhere quiet so I can really delve into how this character might/would be feeling. I can never seem to write when I'm not in a good mood. lol Progress is slow, even if I do try, but I never really get much done AND I'm almost never happy with what I've written too.
|
|
|
Post by MDPthatsme on Jun 18, 2011 13:19:01 GMT -6
Actually I write the most, I've noticed, when I'm completely exhausted or in a bad mood, especially when I write in the eyes of shady characters...or sarcastic ones. Like Vaiden. Chapter 12 of Alternate Universe, I believe, is one of the ones I did in his view. I was in the HORRIBLEST of moods. I think I even put in the writer notes that everything was "Blah, blah, blah, no awesome writer talents in this chapter," or something to that effect. I've also realized the longer you've had the character around, the more you're just use to getting into position like, "I'm going to be writing in Vaiden's view, everything needs to feel like a burden" and I just get locked into that position and flow with it. Have I made sense? I'm not sure about it.
|
|
|
Post by jennifer on Jun 18, 2011 23:26:20 GMT -6
MDP - Yes your making sense. I agree with you too on if the character has been around for a while. I've discovered lately that it's been quite easy to slip into the mood/position of a few of my characters. Probably explains too, why I've already pumped out three chapters since the start of June. lol My normal posting is usually once a fortnight.
|
|
|
Post by simslia on Jun 22, 2011 21:27:43 GMT -6
MDP you made sense.
My "struggle story" as I'm starting to call it, for lack of an actual title and the fact that I only write it when I'm a) in the house alone and b) in that awful headspace, is based around a character who is experiencing what I have experienced myself. Its a saga of an experience I had once. It was never meant that way, but it has turned out to be like that.
I write alone when I write this story because one of two things happen - I become an uber bitch, or I cry a lot. Its bizarre. That main character may be the death of me.
I think I've shared a little bit of it in prompts over at VSS.. I forget. Some of you may have read them. Thats the story I'm talking about.
|
|
|
Post by MDPthatsme on Jun 23, 2011 8:40:56 GMT -6
I'm glad I made sense, because my head really wasn't in the game that day... I have to write alone too, but that's really hard to do with a household of 7.
|
|
|
Post by lilymayrose on Jul 10, 2011 9:25:51 GMT -6
I'm a mother, a daughter, a grand daughter, a sister, a wife and a friend - those are the things I draw on when I want to create an emotion with words. Everything, for me, has to end with laughter. Even the loss of a loved one.
|
|
|
Post by dbloveshermac on Jul 13, 2011 12:04:10 GMT -6
I find that I tend to procrastinate when writing a scene that is extremely emotionally charged. I'm concerned that too much happy may be a turn-off to readers, while the more "tar pit" emotions can linger in me for days. In the case of the latter, I have to push through it in order to get to more enjoyable scenes. I have a related question: how do you prepare to write about an emotional situation with which you have no direct experience? For example, if you are writing about a mother whose child has died, but you've never even been a mother, do you pull from experiences such as losing a cousin or friend? Or do you talk to someone who has lost a child? Or do you read fiction that deals with the subject? Or something else?
|
|
Rad
New Member
Posts: 68
|
Post by Rad on Jul 13, 2011 17:41:59 GMT -6
I think I imagine how I'd feel in a given situation, or draw on experiences of others. For example, I've never had a child go missing, but I've had times of loss and confusion and being uncertain about the future, and I have friends who've lost children, and friends with children who've seen others' loss - so all that is there when writing Bob and Sue for example. I can't ever entirely be in their shoes, but I try to get in there as best I can.
|
|
|
Post by MDPthatsme on Jul 14, 2011 10:35:12 GMT -6
Great question db. I'm not very emotional myself...so writing in any emotion is quite a challenge, but as a person who does, for the better word, evaluate Human Beings I have learned a great deal about emotion and how it connects and doesn't. What makes someone easily pissed off...or easily depressed. My best friend is an emotional rollacoaster so I gain a lot of experience on how such emotions. As for the initial question, I'm not a mother; therefore, have never had or lost a child, but I've had serious deaths in my lifetime. Two grandparents, a first cousin, and two friends who died within a week of each other. One of those friends was really close and it was really hard...and it still is from time-to-time. So I understand what emotion needs to go into the feeling of loss, cheated, sadness, and all of the other "cannot explain" emotions that comes from hysterics. Actually the best character to write in out of my characters is Nova when wanting to grasp any emotional stance. After all, he can feel everyone's emotions so whatever is his real emotion has been long lost within himself. I'm babbling, but oh well.
|
|
|
Post by simslia on Jul 15, 2011 21:25:12 GMT -6
@db I draw from the experiences I have but if I know someone who has experienced those emotions then I will talk to them if they're willing to share --> I've found most of the time they are. Obviously you have to know them well enough. I've never dealt directly with the death of a child but I witnessed the parents of a member of my dormitory community be told that their child had committed suicide.. and that moment was enough for me to write about the death of a child/loved one.
I also find reading a lot helps me draw on emotions -- when other writers write about something either poorly or excellently its a lesson for me in how to handle it.
|
|
|
Post by dbloveshermac on Jul 20, 2011 21:10:11 GMT -6
Thanks for the responses, Rad, MDP, and Simslia.
And Simslia… yipes! That must have been a horrible thing to witness.
|
|
|
Post by simslia on Jul 22, 2011 19:02:51 GMT -6
@db: yes, definitely. I have been able to draw a lot from that experience and others I've been through. Life is too short to get caught up in the negative but that doesn't mean you can't learn from it right?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2011 13:36:20 GMT -6
I find writing anything difficult because I have no life experience so writing any real emotion about anything is hard because it's how I think it will be based on tv/books/songs etc which probably isn't real at all. But I do find I have to get into their heads, and feel it, rather than write in non-comittedly. I almost cry on he bus sometimes when I'm day dreaming if something seems particulary sad and heart breaking. Once I was coming back from London on the coach and spent most of the 6hr journey in floods of tears, quiet tears but still. The woman sitting next me didn't know what to do.
|
|