Hey ya'll. Help me out here. I've got a character dropping a rather large emotional bomb on another. (He just found out that his deceased ex's daughter, who he thought fathered by another man, is probably his. The daughter is 18 and he never knew her bc he thought she wasn't his)How would a grown man who is also a soldier react to a big shock? It's his twin sister telling him the news, and they are alone in his office, so no audience. Medieval-era fantasy setting. I'm looking for physical and emotional reactions. I have a general idea, but I'm having trouble putting it into words/description.
It's not really how would a grown man who is a solider react - it's how YOUR character would react. We are all wired totally differently and the only one who can know how he would react is you. Some people have a standard reaction to a shock. Example: when my Dad died my sister cried and she did so for weeks. (Pretty standard wouldn't you say, quite understandable) my sister is an emotional person. She feels things immediately and deeply. Very sensitive. When my Dad died. I didn't cry not in that moment, not for weeks. Odd? I thought so at the time, I felt quite guilty that I didn't really feel anything. I felt perfectly fine. I went home, I went to bed, straight to sleep, woke up the next morning and did my routine. I was in shock and when it hit me it really hit me but it took about a week, My personality is different from my sister's. My relationship with my Dad was a closer one, I am ten years younger and needed him more, perhaps. She has dealt with a shock to her system like that before. I never had. It was like my brain just didn't know how to cope and it just stalled. When onto automatic pilot. See people react to things differently. What's your characters life like? How close is he to his emotions? Did he have a good father? Maybe no father at all or a bad one? what are his fears as a human? Some people just can't handle things that changes their life/beliefs. Does he have a character lie and does it tie in with this new information? You know him better than anyone as you created him. Maybe try thinking of him as a real, living, breathing person not just a fictional character. Best of luck.
Perhaps people can suggest movie scenes where people experienced surprise or shock. I can only think of three examples off hand, and they're maybe not great: Luke Skywalker's reaction to "No. I am you're father." Zorg's reaction in Fifth Element to the case being empty. Danny DeVito's reaction in Twins to "Five million dollars." -- okay, probably not applicable.
Being A: a grown man, and B: a grown man who is buddies with quite a few ex-forces guys, this is my take: Initial reaction? Silence. Drinking the new information in, decoding what it meant and how they should react - She looked at me wide-eyed, mouth agape, her face frozen in expectant fear, slowly sliding into concern. I looked into her eyes like they were the only thing in the room, trying to suck the truth from them. Was this her idea of joke? Did she even believe this herself? But my sister's eyes didn't flinch. They stayed locked on mine, steady and understanding. This was true. I had a daughter. So many questions flashed across my mind at once, too many for me to even know what they were. I didn't know how I felt. I didn't know how I should feel. Angry? Sad? Happy? Then, I think the physical elements would begin showing themselves. This is based purely on how I would probably react - A cold, tingling kind of numbness spread across my forehead, into my mouth, into my cheeks. I couldn't speak because the muscles in my mouth were paralysed. Even if I could speak, I wouldn't know what to say. I noticed that my knees were shaking. My stomach opened up into a sickly, empty pit. My backside found the chair, but I didn't remember sitting down. I was on auto pilot. I got my mouth to work again. 'Where,' I was suprised by the hoarseness of my own voice. 'is she now?'
Probably a "huh," followed by questions, then denial, probably guilt, then considering the daughter is legal age, asking whether or not it has any pertinence in his world and needing to know if it demands any action on his part.
AD 1400 'My brother, you recall Madeleine?' 'The bastard child of Penelope d'Stable and the Earl of Grantham before their demise, their plague-wasting death?' 'Ya, the very same, she's actually your kid.' 'She is not.' 'She is.' 'Not never, move on, talk about something else. Oh, and remove thyself from [atop] my castle office photocopier. Go lie on straw in the hall, sister.' ... AD1400 +3 Bells 'But why canst thou not perform, my Lord? Am I not desirable in the chamber or in the eyes.' 'Madeleine, my harlot, your eyes are more wonderful, more familiar...' 'So...' 'So...yes...let us continue in our love-making...'
It's very common to completely fall over when receiving very shocking news e.g. the death of a loved one.
What is your general idea? It won't be a total shock, if it was physically possible for him to have been the father. He must have at least considered it, if he knew about the girl's birth?
Well, what I should have said is that the scene is from the sister's POV. That's why I was looking for physical reactions, bc she would be watching him closely to make sure he was OK. I went with this: "....I'm here to talk about Rosalie," said Daria. “What of her?” Gavan’s voice was sullen. “I already told you everything. I pushed her away, and to prove it, she married that baker, Edrick.” He made the other man’s name sound like the worst kind of swear word. Daria stepped forward and placed her hand on her twin’s arm. “Edrick isn’t Kaelie’s father, Gavan.” “What?” His head whipped around so fast that Daria heard his neck pop. “How do you know?” “Kaelie told me. She said that Edrick was her adoptive father, and that Rosalie never told him who her real father was. She said Rosalie only said--how did she put it?-- that her father ‘wasn’t the person she thought him to be’.” Daria nodded, satisfied she’d gotten the wording right. Gavan sagged back against his desk. “Do--do you think that Kaelie--is mine?” Then they get interrupted by some pretty serious stuff that takes precedence. Essentially, Gavan always assumed that after their big blow-up, Rosalie married Edrick and got knocked up as a sort of "eff-you" to Gavan. So, while yes, he realized it was possible the child was his, he never really considered it, bc he thought she was some sort of revenge-child. (Gavan's got some issues lol) So I guess now the question is, does this sound believable? Do you think it would have any lasting impact? Gavan is the captain of his war company, and Kaelie just recently joined a different company as a recruit. There is about to be a big battle in which both companies will be fighting. Do you think Gavan will be affected by the fact that his potential daughter (potential bc it hasn't been confirmed yet) is embroiled in this war? He's a hard, bitter man who thinks that women have no place on the battlefield. Reading over this, I'm thinking that he's gonna be worrying about K. during the fight and perhaps make some mistake that ends up with him getting injured/making a bad decision/something like that. I know I've only given part of the information to you guys, but what do you think?
Sounds believable to me. Whether it have lasting impact on Gavan depends on him, which means you decide. Some men couldn't care less about the bastards they've sired. Others would view any child of theirs as a treasure, especially if they never married themselves. News like this tends to make people distracted until they've processed it thoroughly. Your mind keeps returning to it: "Is that true? If it is, should I tell her? If I do, how will she ..." and so on. Being distracted on the battlefield isn't good.
I very much doubt any adult is going to scream and contort like Luke Skywalker due to finding out about paternity. Seems like one of those quiet contemplation moments while he figures out what he should feel about it, rather than have a specific strong reaction. Finding out you have a child is always going to be a mix of feelings because of lost time, disconnection and new responsibilities.
Since you said physical reaction and not words, try to describe a person's face as if they said "what???".
