Maybe it’s unhealthy to blog about a paragraph of progress, but with all the circumstances of today, I’m surprised I even wrung out a good sentence. [Circumstances: had a list of downtown pre-writing errands, no coffee until 2:45 pm, and my laptop screen has decided to be fritz-y indefinitely – I can only kind-of/sort-of read it at horsey resolutions.]
So, here goes. (Background: Thirty Decibels is first-person, from main character Ava’s POV. This takes place just before her coming-of-age ceremony.):
This is really it. Maybe there’s something we should say now, but in my head I’m fast-forwarding to the relief of afterward. I don’t let on – it’s the kind of thing Michele might twist around and feel rotten about. So here, on a floral comforter whose pilled places are now alien under my fingers, I sit on the brink of adulthood: unprepared, stomach stuffed with dread and turning with awkward guilt. Perfect.
I added this paragraph to page two as part of a rewrite for emotion, which I began today. I hope I’m on the right track – it’s a tough one. Sometimes I feel I should go “Method” with it (I’m only half-kidding). Or maybe find a high school library to work in. My diaries are only so helpful; though the subject matter recalls what my high school boy obsessions days were like, I was surprisingly fact- and thought-based in recording them.
Writers, what are your methods for portraying emotion (or for inspiring it in your readers, if different)?
Update: My laptop screen’s back from the dead! And I meant to mention Livia Blackburne’s recent entry on this same topic. Excellent as always.
Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine
Margoblog 
Paragraph Pride. What a perfect title! A former creative writing professor of mine calls that authentic place from which perfectly pitched emotions comes, the “white hot center.” In other words, how does it FEEL, how would it feel if it were you, there, in the recesses. Outside of non-fiction narrative, it’s sort of like astral projection, taking yourself outside, er, yourself, but then becoming someone else. Does that make sense?
And all that’s the long version of what I do: I write smaller snippets or vignettes that I know will be scenes in the book and then expand them later on by putting myself in the emotional position of the character. (Or I tell myself it’s just a blog entry so I won’t freak out over the whole Book thing.) Either way, the frame is there, with the feeling, and it can be beefed up as you like or need. :)
Thank you so much, Kari!
Glad you enjoy the headline. Having come from an advertising background, they’re top of mind for me.
Yes, the white hot center is what I’m after. (Maybe I should stay out of public.)
Look forward to reading more from you, Kari. I’ve read some of your “snippets,” and I want them to be a book, too. :)
I used to be a copywriter in a past life (soulmates!), so I understand headlines from an advertising, journalist/editor and blogger perspective. (Identity crisis.) Keep writing and in touch. :)
That’s a lot of writing hats! Too funny. I love editing and proofreading, too, believe it or not.
Guess we’re just “wordies.”
One way to write emotion is to imagine yourself in the scene. Then put yourself in the character’s shoes and feel what he or she is feeling. This helps you to explore the problem and write it down.
June Sengpiehl
Absolutely, June. I can’t forget Anne Lamott’s “one-inch picture frame” from Bird by Bird – definitely applies in this case.
Thanks so much for your help!