I've thought long and hard about how my characters would react in certain situations. How they would pull through a difficult time? How they would feel when happy, sad, excited, etc... Like how they would feel deep down inside of them, going beyond the surface one word adjective.
The thing is, as a writer, I have to show these things, not just tell them. How do I show? Well, I have drawn on personal experiences. I have stood in front of a mirror to figure out exactly how my characters face would look like during a scene. I have made myself feel giddy, melancholy, scared, elated. Yes, I may be considered a masochist by forcing myself to feel terrified just to write a scene. But it is worth it when I can lean back, sigh, and realize how awesome a scene turned out.
More often than not, I think of times in my life where I've felt exactly how my character is feeling. I may even write a scene as I experienced it.
For example: Whenever one of my old boyfriends (oh, how I adored him), would touch me, I felt electricity flood through my body. It was like hot, little prickles of pure joy spreading from my skin down into my nerves, muscles, bones until the feeling burrowed itself into my soul. Yes, I have used that sensation a few times in my books. Suffice it to say, the feeling was to die for. Sigh!
Or for instance, I've got some serious back and neck pain right now. I could draw from that to show one of my characters feeling bodily pain. PS: I'm really not looking for sympathy by having said that. However, my poor neck and back inspired this blog post, so yippee.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is this: Draw on your own life experiences to show how your characters feel. Perhaps, you can ask other people how they'd feel in a given situation. The options are there. It's just a matter of putting those feelings or emotions on paper (or laptop, if you're me).
How do you express how your character is feeling? Do you draw on your own life experiences? Do you ask others how they would feel? Do you close your eyes and take in the essence of the scene until the words flow through your fingertips? (Yes, I have done that countless times--pure magic, I say)
Writing. Jewels.
Haven't tried the mirror trick, but I have resorted to facial expressions just to figure out what moves and twitches.
ReplyDeleteNot that I have twitchy characters. Oh wait, I do have one...
Twitchy... Now I've got to read you books. Not that I wasn't planning on it. :D
DeleteI've tried drawing from my own life experiences when describing a character's emotions and I've found it helpful. I think the hardest part for me is writing body language! My characters sometimes tend to do the same things (shrug, smile, etc.) so I need to work on that.
ReplyDeleteBody language. I've read my books just to make sure my characters aren't doing the same thing over and over again. Or that my characters aren't doing something that another character characteristically does. Man... how many times can I use the word character. haha
DeleteOh, body language. Someone seriously needs to write a body language thesaurus. They would make bank on that from the authors buying it alone.
ReplyDeleteFor the emotions, I draw on my own experiences but also really think about how I imagine it might feel, too. Because that can be just as powerful, the imagined experience, as a real life experience.
Great thoughts, Stephanie. I second the notion of a body language book. hehe
DeleteI definitely draw on past experiences to write my characters. It's also important to really get to know your characters. I've done impromptu interviews with them, an exercise I read in a writing book. I just off the top of my head started asking them questions and writing responses, and in a very short time I was writing pages and pages as it became easier to write their reactions. At the end, I was floored as to how emotional I became over the things my characters said/reacted. It was a strange but very useful exercise for me.
ReplyDeleteThat is an amazing idea! Thanks for sharing.
DeleteOne trick I learned was to emphasize the effect that a character's appearance or emotion has on others. Have a secondary character comment on or confirm the emotion being experienced. This complements the existence of what's going on. For example, in Julia's touching scene above, maybe a girlfriend of her protagonist comments, "I can tell you're crazy about him because when he touched you I saw the hair on your arms stand up." or words to that effect.
ReplyDeleteWell said, David!
DeleteYou're spot on, Jules. I totally put myself there in the moment, and envision every little sensory that could happen... and then pick and choose what to write down... Showing makes SUCH a difference in a story... I love the feeling of being right there, experiencing everything with the character... ;)
ReplyDeleteIt is like I'm living in my characters' shoes. All of them. I tell you, I become so attached to them because of being so close to them.
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