ot your tissue box ready?!A wise word of advice in consideration of some books, like 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows'. On more than one passage I couldn't read properly, because of the tears in my eyes were blurring the lines. There are other books, where something was so funny that I couldn't help but laughing. Sometimes you could hear me shout a terrified 'Don't!' or a disgusted 'Yuck!'. Or some other super sweet nasty kitsch made me gag. If something like that happens with a reader, the author has done his/her job well!
If you now expect some tips for "Expressive Writing" I have to disappoint you. I have something different in mind ... as soon as I'd managed to sort out that chaos in my head!
Quite some time later:
Do you know that phenomenon, when you have an interesting thought, or at least you think it's interesting and then you can't find a way to express yourself? Suddenly your thought seems to be not so interesting anymore!Some more time later:
Okay, today is obviously not my Hercule Poirot day to deliver a watertight chain of arguments! Instead I just give you the thought snippets swirling around in my head:- Like written in the intro, in the best case there's an emotional connection between the book and the reader.
- The other side of the medal: There's also an emotional connection between the book and the writer. Maybe even some interaction and emotional exchange.
- How was J.K. Rowling's day before she began to write such emotional scenes? Did she feel good or anxious because of the coming? How did she feel while writing: Emotionally involved or more like a distant observer? How did the scenes influence her feelings afterwards?
- Key question: When a writer has to be a director (like I've claimed just a few days ago), he/she also needs to be an actor? A good actor, who gets into character to convey the emotional intensity so believable, that it can be felt through the pages? Or is it enough just to be a good observer? Could you write happy scenes on a personal bad day, and vice versa?
There's a lot of food for thought here! I totally agree that there must be an emotional connection between the reader and the story.
As writers I think we do need to invest ourselves emotionally in our work, and the biggest investment is in the characters. If we don't care about what happens to our story people, why should a reader care?
Hi Carol,
thanks for your lovely words! :-)
It's quite hard to imagine, that there's an author out there (a good author), who doesn't care for his/her characters!