THERE WILL BE TIMES
THAT YOU WANT TO CRY
FOR YOUR CHARACTERS.
CRY.
THERE WILL BE TIMES THAT
YOU ARE ANGRY AT THEM.
HIT SOMETHING.
THERE WILL BE TIMES THAT
YOU WANT TO LAUGH AT, WITH,
OR FOR THEM.
LAUGH.
LET THE EMOTIONS OF YOUR STORY
REALLY, TRULY AFFECT YOU, BECAUSE
THOSE TEARS,
THAT ANGER,
THAT LAUGHTER
WILL ABSOLUTELY SHOW ON THE PAGE.
IF IT DIDN'T MOVE YOU,
IT'S NEVER GOING TO MOVE
ANYONE ELSE.
THE FIRST PERSON
WHO SHOULD BE EMOTIONALLY
OVERWHELMED BY YOUR BOOK
IS YOU.
(Lise Quintana)
My husband and I have been together long enough now that when he sees me sitting at my desk, laptop open, tears streaming down my face, he no longer panics and thinks something horrible has happened.
He knows I'm just writing.
Real emotions do make for better writing. Good thing your husband knows what's going on now! :)
ReplyDeleteHe learned quickly. :)
DeleteWhen my daughter sees me crying at the computer, she knows I had 'one of those' points in my book. She always asks if I just killed someone.
ReplyDeleteI bet that kind of thing happens a lot with the family and friends of writers. :)
DeleteWise man!
ReplyDeleteAnd so true. If it doesn't move us, it won't move the reader.
If we don't feel it, the reader won't feel it.
DeleteGood point. If I'm bored by or not feeling the characters I can only imagine how bored readers would be.
ReplyDeleteI hate the thought of bored readers!
DeleteWonderful quote! If you can't feel anything for your characters, then your readers probably won't be able to, either.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a wonderful quote, too. :)
DeleteThat is a wonderful quote, and so very true. I did write a scene that made me cry for my characters. And then I felt bad for having put them in that position. Not bad enough to, you know, change their story, but still...I felt bad.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad when I do that to characters, too. But that's kind of our job.... :)
DeleteFabulous words - I definitely cry or laugh, or get hungry or sleepy right along with my characters. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of like how you shouldn't go to the grocery store when you're hungry - we shouldn't let our characters be chowing down at a buffet when we're hungry either. :)
DeleteI have cried for my chatacters. And laughed with them. And hoped and dreamed with them. They give me their emotions, and I give them mine.
ReplyDeleteI love that, Chrys - we give them our emotions, they give us theirs.
DeleteExcellent quote! So true. When I read my work and get goosebumps (the happy kind), I know I've done my job :)
ReplyDeleteThat really is one of the best moments!
DeleteI have to laugh at the image of your poor husband discovering you at the laptop that way. Powerful words. I love when I have a powerful reaction to my writing.
ReplyDeleteYes, now he knows better - he just hands me the tissues and leaves me to it. :)
DeleteTrue, although I was once bored to death while I slogged through one section of a novel. I was terrified that my boredom meant that the book would bore others.
ReplyDeleteAs it turned out, I was bored because I knew what I needed to write--the mystery was gone for me. It is still some of the very best writing I've ever produced.
Great point! I find that happens more for me with scary/tense scenes rather than emotional ones, like heartbreak, sorrow etc. I think the scary scene is dull, but readers freak out. They didn't know what was going to happen next, but I'd been through those sections over and over and over.... :)
DeleteWhenever my husband sees me staring off in space he asks me what planet I'm on. I suppose that would sound weird to everyone else but a writer. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're on Planet Writing. :)
DeleteThat must have been a wonderful writing session. At the moment I'm crying because I haven't written anything:) Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteDon't rush it! The stories, the characters, etc will arrive when they're ready. :)
DeleteNice, and very true. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from Elements of Writing
:)
DeleteI love that your husband knows that. :) That's cool. I had a sense of overwhelming sorrow while writing a scene at a writer's conference this weekend and held back tears, which made a few other attendees look at me oddly . . . but how could I help it? I actually wrote a scene that made me want to cry. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, I know I got the words right.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely sounds like you got the words right. Well done! :)
DeleteI've never cried with my characters, but I know when I finish a book, I am bereft, lonely, and missing them.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I know that feeling well!
DeleteThis is fantastic!!! And so true. LOVE it!!!! . . . I'm also feeling a bit emotional right now o_O
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it, S. K.! :)
DeleteI love this. It really is true! I had a time when I knew I had to kill off a character. It took me two weeks to sit down and do it because I knew how much it was going to hurt me. I finally did it...and cried.
ReplyDeleteThat is the worst feeling. And it's kind of the best, too, in a weird, writerly way. :)
DeleteThat's awesome. I totally hear you though. My editor made me do some pretty mean things to my characters in my last book and it pretty much ripped my heart out. So if I'm writing the next one without a heart, now you know why. ;)
ReplyDeleteNah, your writerly heart is back...just in time to get ripped out again. :)
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