When you’re
writing, “do you feel my pain?” If, as the writer, you aren’t feeling the pain
that rolls around in your character’s head, how will your reader?
I just finished
two truly awesome bestsellers, and I needed tissues from the get go. Then, I
found myself laughing out loud. Not cheap laughs, but really deep down belly
laughs. It didn’t happen often as these were both heartbreaking stories, but
the author was smart enough to give us some relief from the pain with laughter.
And in one case, such a satisfying ending that it made all of the previous pain
nearly evaporate in an instant.
It isn’t enough
to have our characters’ stomachs clenching, burning, roiling in pain. In the
novels I read, there was a look that gave away one character’s pain. Just a
look! Another gave away a tad of his pain when he started to mention something to
a different character. Then stopped. And that was extremely telling.
Are we relying
too much on everyday commentaries, or are we digging into the character’s
actual personality to give the reader a peek at real pain, real joy.
I think unless
we know, truly know what our characters’ personalities are, we can’t very well
speak for them.
2 comments:
Are you allowed to share the names of these books? They sound great; and thanks for the reminder to show, not tell. Well done, as always.
Sure. They ARE both secular books, so you might a word here or there that you might not like, but I have to say, they are powerful books:
When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde and What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman. You can download samples of both on Amazon. I did for both of them and couldn't buy them fast enough.
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