Inspiration Going somewhere new seems to do the trick for me every time. If there are people there who are outside of my normal circle, they also set my mind racing. But I need to be an observer. If I am in the thick of things, for example if I was being introduced to lots of people, I wouldn't have time to dream and get inspired. Inspiration comes often at 3 am in the morning when I am lying in bed with no place to go apart from thinking about my projects. Keeping a notebook of random thoughts is also a really good place to go for inspiration. Very often, when I read a note I made some time ago, the idea changes for the better and can produce a completely different story to the one I originally envisaged.
My own experiences, or things I want to happen. What also inspires me to write is people I see on the streets, just about anything, really. But mainly my own experiences.
I always feel like when I write I'm not very good at describing emotion. I feel like I could do it if I were to go on and on about it for a very long time, but then I think everyone would just be bored with my descriptions of it. Does anyone have any good pointers for writing emotion better? (Especially sad ones, I feel those are the ones I have the hardest time portraying realistically.)
Maybe try to mix in actions that show strong emotions along with light description. Your readers will pickup on the sentiment and it saves page real estate for more story.
I detest using an example of my own writing--since I'm not offering it for critique and I can't for the life of me say if it's any good--but writing emotion is more about SHOWING how the characters react to things, than about going on at length TELLING how they're feeling. For illustration here's a scene from my current WIP. Makwaquae is the wife of one of the bad guys, Mishosha, and throughout the story he's been depicted as a power-hungry jerk who'll even sell out his adopted grandson to get his way. I wanted to show, however, that despite all this, the connection between Makwaquae and himself is very close, so of course her death would have a huge impact on him. Since this is from the POV of the main character, Charmian, I can't directly say what Mishosha is feeling; I can only describe what Charmian sees him do. Charmian found her attention focused on the wabanos. Mishosha dropped down beside his wife and lifted her head and upper body so gently that the gesture struck her as quite strange, coming from him, but the tears in his eyes were genuine, as far as she could tell. He bared his own teeth but the expression seemed more panicked than anything; cradling Makwaquae against him, he first put his hand to her wound, as if hoping to heal it somehow, then tilted her head upward, trying to see into her eyes. Charmian saw her blink, small gasping noises escaping her, but her eyes were wide and glassy and a line of blood was trickling from her mouth. She swallowed convulsively and her hand loosely grasped Mishosha's when he took it. "Makwaquae...?" Mishosha murmured, his voice cracking. His own fingers were bloody by now but neither of them seemed to notice it. Makwaquae blinked and took a breath, and the faint glow still surrounding her wavered a little. "Mi--Misho..." Her voice trailed off and the glow around her faded away as she let out a breath, her eyes still staring skyward. Her hand slipped loose of Mishosha's and fell to the ground with a small thud. "Makwaquae--?" Mishosha said a little louder, his fingers digging into her shoulder; then his own shoulders jerked a little, and a second later he burrowed his head against her breast, small noises escaping him. He shook as he rocked her back and forth a little. Again, I'm not saying this is great writing by any means, but I wanted to show how one can SHOW emotion without just sitting there TELLING the reader that somebody is feeling, say, terrible grief and loss.
One aspect to consider: It is virtually impossible to write emotionally-filled prose if the reader hasn't connected with the character. Empathy for the character's plight (yes, even if it is fiction and words on paper--or screen). The first step is to write in an engaging fashion, so that readers will have empathy or understand where the character is coming from. With short fiction, it is much harder. In that case some parallel or connection to an event or situation the reader can identify with, helps bring emotional connection to a piece. In truth, some authors are better than it than others--just as some do better with action scenes, description, etc. Just a few thoughts to add to the discussion. Terry
Thanks everyone for the comments. =) I see what you all mean, I guess I'll just have to practice more.
I feel a strong need to express my emotions in everything I do, and of course, that includes my writing. However, there are often passages in which you are to explain things important in the setting in plot. I write science-fiction, so in fact, this is particularly important. Still, I try to express my feelings as best as I can. I want to write from my experience. If I write a piece without emotion, I feel I have failed. I was wondering if you had any hints in which I could write more expressively. For example, I find that one thing which helps is to imagine that the scene on which I am writing somehow relates to myself, as a metaphor of my own feelings. I also find that it helps if I write long enough, so that I can immerse myself in my fantasy. As soon as I get the feel of my inner fantasy world, it so becomes significant even if has no relation to myself at all. However, having so many other creative passions, there are periods that I do not write at all and instead devote myself to drawing, for instance, so that it becomes more difficult to get into this world again. For this reason, I often try to imagine I am in my novels even when I'm not writing, and imagine what the world would be like if it were like my own, with all its magical technologies and impossible possibilities. Even then, however, it's often hard to keep in touch with my fantasy, because there aren't really many times when I'm not doing anything else; when I have nothing to do, for instance when I'm waiting somewhere, I usually meditate, or read, or take photographs (since I always have my camera with me in my pocket). How can I best keep contact with my fantasy when I don't have the time to write?
Always carry a notebook and pen with you. If you live in some place with sub-zero temperatures like I do, you may want to carry a pencil--pens don't work there. Anyway, jot down notes. Even vague ones will help you remember scenes that come to mind, feelings you had. Probably the best way to stay in touch with a story is to not stop writing. As for writing expressively...I like to imagine a character's physical gestures and emote through those.
Daydreaming. I don't always write my daydreams down, but I will often, throughout the course of any given day, think "What if..." and go from there. After studying quite a bit of psychology, I find that I just observe the people around me. Watch their body language, their tone of voice, their inflections of voice, their vocabulary, and their thought processes that come out in their speech patterns. It is all very interesting, because it takes me out of my own head and makes me try to empathize (or assimilate) their emotions into a cognitive understanding in my own mind. I people watch everywhere I go. I listen in on conversations going on around me. Coffee shops are a great place to people watch. I like to sit near tables with two or more people and just listen to them, while I look busy reading a book or typing on my computer. I like to watch the kids at the playground when I take my kids. See how different children react and interact with each other compared to adults. With all of this I find ways to incorporate those little nuances of human behavior into my writing. Of course I am still working at that, because there is always extremely large amounts of room for improvement in all writing. I just keep trying. Deciphering your own emotional responses, becoming more intune with how you react to things, and the thoughts that go through your mind is also very helpful. Of course we can't see our own faces, so we don't get the little micro-expressions, but we can still be aware of our body language, and how our physical reactions relate to our emotional states. I think you are trying to ask about how to express these emotions without talking about them straight out, like similes and metaphors... well how you use them is up to you. The best thing to do though is to avoid cliched versions of these two things. Try to make your metaphors and similes things that are relevant to your story. How do you put that into writing? It totally depends on what your goal is in the piece you are writing. Is it a metaphoric story for an emotional state? Is it just straight fantasy worlds with characters who are emotionally diverse? It all depends on what you want to accomplish with your writing.
Thanks for the replies. Describing a person's gestures to emote through those is a good idea, and to do that, it's true that observing people can be useful. As I'm quite lonely, I find this is exactly the sort of thing I have difficulties with, but I'll do my best trying to observe people on the streets. I daydream quite a lot, but maybe I should renew my intention of exploring my daydreams to the full, rather than letting them drift by without much notice. Strange. I thought I'd enabled e-mail notification.
I have a question about this. Do you ever draw anything about your fantasy world? Like the characters, places in the world, etc. I'm not that great of an artist but I do try to sketch out my characters so I can see them more clearly. Also if you draw the characters and places maybe you won't escape from that world but stay in it a little longer to inspire you.
This is actually a good idea. I know one writer- RA Salvatore- based at least some of his works in worlds that his friends had drawn up for him; one would assume including maps, sketches of places, etc. (now say what you will about Salvatore)
That's a very good idea. I'm also a drawer, so it would be nice if I could connect these two passions in this way. I've made one drawing about my second novel. Maybe I should do that more often. I'll remember your advice.
What do you prefer to do...and when? For instance: 1. You can say that the character "looked embarrassed". 2. You can say that the character "blushed". In either case, you're trying to get to the same emotion, but in different ways.
If there's one thing I've learned from these forums, it's "Show, don't tell." He blushed if he's embarrassed. He shuffled his feet if he's nervous or feeling awkward. His face contorted with rage if someone smacked him in the head for no reason.
More often than not, describe the behaviour instead of stating the emotion. However, there are times when there is nothing wrong with saying it.
Which ever sounds/feels more right to write at the moment, we all know you read and reread something you end up changing and changing back and changing and so on and so forth( can i possibly get another and in). And so when you write it, I say go with your first instinct. Because it'll more than likely change according to when you read it again. If you end up rereading over it without pausing to change, then you know you made the right move. Just try not to get too caught up with a particular phrase, because if it didn't 'come to you' right away but your stuck on it, then you'll probably have more luck a little down the line. In that the right words might strike you after going into further detail of the happenings around the phrase.
I have read a lot of books and stories where i feel like the emotion is better suggested. Even in my own writing i try to show how my character is feeling rather than just stating it. To quote Cogito's blog on show and tell, "showing is often much more concise when the message is complex or ambiguous." ,which i find works well for emotion as there may be some underlying message which simply telling could not portray.
I don't personally think showing and not (just) showing is saying enough. My opinion is to try to invoke the emotion in the reader, so they feel along with her. There really isn't much difference between the following. She tripped, dropped her books, and blushed. She tripped, dropped her books, and was so embarrassed. Neither help us feel how she is feeling. In fact, the second one does more for me than the first. Mary stepped through the class door. As always when she was late, all eyes focused on her. Of course, Mrs. Thomson would want a note or some excuse. All those searching eyes would remain fixed on her until she slipped the teacher the note her mother wrote for her. Her face felt hot, and she was aware of her heartbeat now as she hugged her books against her chest. Then her feet betrayed her, sending her crashing against the hard floor, where her books slid to a stop. Someone laughed, but she could barely hear him with her now muffled hearing. She heard her heart beating well, though. It pounded at her temples and behind her eyes, screwing up her vision. When she slowly stood up, trying to hide behind her hair, her knees trembled . . . blah blah It's just a quick example, but hopefully I go the point across. I think that is what most instructors mean by show and not tell.
It is situational, to be honest, and it also depends upon your style of writing. I cannot think of any immediate examples, but an idea, a concept, a -feeling- comes to mind for why just telling would be better in some situations. After all, no one likes too much description. Hmmmm. Oh, like so: I mean, what kind of situation are we talking about, here, you see? We ALWAYS hear about the 'show; don't tell,' but there is always an exception.
I wouldn't say always either. If my character smacked his leg on a bolder while he was escaping from a bunch of people, I'm going to say, "His leg aching, he continued to run ..." The closest thing I would say to showing would be "He staggered for a moment, but then he continued." I won't go out of my way to show, "He hopped on one foot and an abnormal vibration across his knee" or something like that -- in my opinion, the first example I gave would be the best... So, in conclusion, Cogito, IMO is right...
