Make Them Care {Writing Emotion}

I wanted to write a post about writing. Figured I could just try my hand at it and see how it goes.

I watch those movies and read those books where the people are so sad. Where they scream and cry, and you can actually feel their pain. The gut wrenching cry, the sobbing, the screaming, the can't-breath-because-my-tears-are-choking-me... Every. single. human. has experienced this, whether in a literal form, or in an entertainment form such as books or movies. As writers we feel like it is our responsibility to make the reader care. To make them feel. And guess what? It is our responsibility. You have to make them care. Make them feel. Make them want to keep reading. Because even the most sociopathic person has feelings. And we have to portray that feeling in our writing, but also into the person reading the writing. Even though The Fault In Our Stars is a book and movie I wouldn't watch/read twice because of the content, John Green did an amazing job at placing real emotion into his characters, and therefore that real emotion transferred to the readers. He showed the reality of the gut-wrenching pain as Hazel lost the love of her life. And we as the audience in either watching the movie or reading the book felt that pain, too. That is the kind of emotion we need to portray in our writing. The kind that makes the reader feel right along with the fictional characters.

As I mentioned above, even the most sociopathic-non-caring-human-being cares. Look at BBC Sherlock Holmes. He cares. Even when he doesn't want people to know he cares, he still does. And in that caring, we feel right along with the characters in Sherlock. This is a movie, and not a book, but the principles applied here work the same. Because every single human has some kind of form of emotion. And whether we're reading a book or watching the movie, we need to be able to feel right along with the characters. And when we are writing, we need to be able to make sure our readers can feel right along with them.

This emotion will show differently in different humans. There is some (like said Sherlock Holmes) who won't show the emotion publicly, but instead we see it on occasion as he glances at John. As he apologizes. We see it when he is being himself. Then there are those (like John Watson) that show their emotions more openly. He openly tells Sherlock when something is unacceptable. He openly shows his dissatisfaction. He openly shows his grieving and anger. And I know, I know, this example is so cliche, but it's effective. Both are different. Both work together so perfectly. The best of unlikely friends. And we see in the last episode of season 2 of BBC Sherlock that John shows a heart wrenching emotion. And he was alone. No one to share this overwhelming pain with, because he lost the one person that meant everything to him. He lost the one person that held him together. And in us as the viewers we felt right along with John Watson, even though he wasn't real. Why? Because we all have emotion. We all express this emotion. And we all need to be able to make sure this emotion is displayed properly.

We need to see just how real these emotions are. Just how much of our emotional response filters onto other people. If you're around someone that is sad all the time, you will feel sad. If you are around someone that is hyped up all the time, you will feel hyped up. It's the same way when you watch or read about characters that are either sad or happy. Their emotions transfer onto you. That's the kind of emotion we try to inflict on our readers. We need to feel just as much pain as the characters. The kind of pain Hazel feels when Gus dies*. The kind of pain John Watson feels when Sherlock dies*. The kind of pain Tris feels when she finds out her brother betrayed her*. But also, there needs to be a hype in there. An emotional high of happiness. Like when you are reading a book and can't help but laugh, or smile. Spill the emotions out onto other people. Make the readers laugh. Make them cry. Make everything seem hopeless, but then don't forget to make everything seem perfect.

Show, don't tell. 
As I went through the One Year Adventure Novel course, Mr. Schwabauer says several times to show, not tell. In the above mentioned novels, the authors do a great job at showing the emotion instead of telling it. Instead of just saying "And I cried" they show how they cried. They explain the sobs, the unable to breath, the heart-wrenching pain. That's what you need to do. Make it real. Show the character standing at his best friend's grave, a single tear rolling down his face, his eyes lightly closed, his hands shaking.... Show him saying his last goodbye. Likewise, show your character laughing so hard that tears are running down her face. Show her rolling on the bed, curled up and can't breath because she is laughing so hard. Show her giggling and tucking her hair behind her ear as her boyfriend or husband says something sweet. You will get a more effective result from your readers if you do this. :)

*The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
*BBC Sherlock TV show
*Divergent by Veronica Roth

//writing tip

~Sarah