Dear Authors... Writing Emotions [CC]

WHERE TO FIND ME:

[KenRahmoeller]

In my opinion, most writers don't overwrite because they don't trust the reader is smart enough to understand. They overwrite because they don't trust themselves to have conveyed the emotion well enough in the first place.

[CSRaeburn]

Me, watching this video and seeing my comment mentioned: Wow. Cool.
Also me: **jumping up and down and cheering to the heavens**

[lizlovescookies]

Hmm... shouting at the heavens when they're mad... sounds like someone... *cough cough* ZUKO

[donovanturner]

Facts though like for real I have read authors who made me laugh while reading a heartfelt scene

[TheQwerty]

“Be honest when you are writing emotions, look within, write from experience.“ It was at this moment that I realized that I haven’t felt/remember feeling most of these emotions 😅

[jayp.]

Merphy: I'm walking a tight line here. I'm not trying to go into intense writing advice!

Me: But that's what I want😓😩🥺

[peehurasotra]

the phone scene you were talking about made me go, "wow"

[CJthedragon]

Omg the way you described the person like breaking into tears after their friend hanging up made me start crying! 😭

[annhugo]

"It's all about getting inside your own skin, getting inside your own body. And writing from what something actually feels like."

I'm always amazed that some folks can just tell what emotions they're feeling. Like I can often figure it out with context, and I can differentiate between good and bad, but being able to translate feelings to emotions just seems so outlandish. And then there's the fact that I feel/express/respond to emotions sort of differently than a lot of people (and the characters that I want to write). I find I rely quite a bit on external sources, such as videos like these. Otherwise, I think I'd end up with exclusively autistic characters (like myself).

[wrenelmore]

The way you described how a character might react to being put on voicemail or being hung up on is so very true .... I recently got home from Basic Combat Training, and phone calls are few and far in between. If we did get one, it was a reward for doing something exceptionally well. During one such time, we only had about 5 minutes to call our families. We had just completed our last ruck march and were preparing for graduation. I was excited to tell my family that I had made it. My heart was racing as I listened to the dial, waiting for them to pick up so I could give them the good news. I was watching our drill sgts from the corner of my eye, wary of the air horn he was holding that would signal it was time to put our phones away.
My parents didn't pick up.
The crushing betrayal and despair I felt replaced the excitement from only moments before. Mom said she would always have her phone with her. Then I rationalized. Maybe they were driving and hit a no-service zone in the mountains. So I called again. I was put through to voicemail again. Time was running out and I couldn't even tell my family I would be home in a week. That kind of hopelessness crushes your chest like you can't breathe. It worms into your head, makes you think things that you wouldn't normally think.
I left a voicemail telling them I loved them and would be home soon. But I didn't cry. The males would make fun of me and the drill sgt would laugh at my weakness. That night, a buddy of mine from another platoon asked me how my phone call went. I broke down crying at last and told her my family didn't pick up. After an unbelievably hard 10 weeks of praying and suffering and writing letters and missing them, they couldn't even pick up the phone. And something like that can break more than a hundred pushups with a drill sgt yelling at you in the middle of the night because the females who were supposed to be on fireguard were asleep.
It breaks and it hurts and it seeds hopelessness.

[sciencystuff]

Dear author: chosen one


I think this would be good to do since it is overdone yet there are million new ways to do this but nobody tried that😌

[ella_melchionna]

Dear Authors: Groups of people/inhuman species.

Let me explain: I’ve found that there are a number of authors who write, say, stories centering around groups of people or creatures, they categorize said groups as “malicious” or “untrustworthy” or “wise.” Stop writing homogeneous species. For example, in the novel that I’m writing the first draft of, the story centers around an apocalypse of (for the sake of a short explanation) giant wolf monsters. They are the bad guys, but I’m not putting them into the villainous box, because they all used to be human, and even though they’re not anymore, they’re still their own people (except, you know, not people, per say). They all act differently from one another.

[IcecreamCat]

As a writer, emotion is definitely one of the hardest elements to pull off. And I think the hardest part of it is when you’re not feeling the emotion you’re trying to convey. Like trying writing a tragic scene when you your self are super happy.

Kind of hard.

So tips for any writers is to listen to music that really gets you invested in the emotion. Save super emotional scenes when you yourself are in that said emotion (great way to redirect emotions too!).

Like I had a good day but I had to write my character’s brother in the hospital after an accident. Yeah. Super hard to do. So I turned on “How do I say Good Bye” on loop and man— I got right in the mood and words were flying from my fingertips.

[fistofthestben]

One of my favorite lines from Hamilton is "The moments when you're in so deep, it feels easier to just swim down." Such a simple but powerful way to express that level of grief without even using the word.

[arishakhan]

Nobody:
Merphy: Starts telling a story about a person trying to escape from a prison

You wanna make us cry woman?

[houseplantshiphop]

One thing I also learned while studying writing is that you can also make the rest of the language function in a way that sets the tone for those emotions. For example if you’re trying to convey fear, making sure that your building that tension and creepiness in the type of language you’re using. Ocean Vuong also has some great tips on making language function for you and having cohesive metaphors that propel a story forward rather than including beautiful language just for the sake of beauty.

[Suiw]

Dear Authors: Other Character Arcs

So I know there is Dear Authors: Redemption Arcs but that got me thinking. What are some other arcs that readers don't like because they are overdone/not done well/what we need to see more of. What makes a good positive/Negative/Flat character arc? And what doesn't work? I am not a very well rounded reader but I would like to see opinions on that. Also I wanted to say thanks to Merphy for this series because like a lot of writers, it helped with my writing.

[sumitraspov]

I'm gonna guess she's gonna mention Backman.

[Rocksnow]

I fully agree with you on the "sigh". Also, I really don't know why they can't state the specific emotion.

[norsekingcole]

Takes a breakdown to get a breakthrough