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Building emotional resonance in our stories.

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(@rusticbohemian)
Posts: 38
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It's not hard to come up with a protagonist who gets caught up in events that cause them harm or hurt them emotionally.

But I'm looking to get better at making the readers feel what the character feels.

Can anyone give me some suggestions, or suggest some articles/books, that cover the topic of creating emotional resonance for a reader?

 
Posted : May 11, 2021 2:00 pm
Disgruntled Peony
(@disgruntledpeony)
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The Emotion Thesaurus is a good reference for ways to describe a character's feelings. If I think of more later, I'll pop back in with more titles.

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Posted : May 12, 2021 8:48 am
CeciBlack reacted
SwiftPotato
(@swiftpotato)
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I highly recommend Donald Mass's The Emotional Craft of Fiction - excellent book for heightening emotion in your stories. 

Apparently Odyssey Workshop is also doing a free discussion on emotion in fiction tonight here: https://www.odysseyworkshop.org/resources/salon/

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Posted : May 12, 2021 9:02 am
DoctorJest
(@doctorjest)
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One thing I learned early, though I don't need it as much, is simply this--magnify.

In early writing, in particular, I tended to dilute some of the emotions or events, feeling that they were somehow too big, and therefore unrealistic. And what I would end up with was a kind of watered-down, timid version of what the story should be, and a character whose feelings were too muted to really resonate with the reader. The antithesis to this was to go through, and simply amp up the whole thing. That could easily go too far, of course, but I found it a very useful exercise--and by today, having done it more with early stories, I find I no longer need to do it very often, as I've shaken that bad habit away.

I'm not sure that this is necessarily a piece of advice that would apply to many, but it's something that helped me out a fair bit, once upon a time.

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Posted : May 13, 2021 10:41 pm
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czing
(@czing)
Posts: 287
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I'll second the Donald Maas book recommendation. I found parts of it amazingly helpful. Other parts I don't remember as well (probably time to read through it again to see if I can pick up some new stuff).

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Posted : May 15, 2021 12:55 pm
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David Hankins
(@lost_bard)
Posts: 445
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@doctorjest That's a good suggestion! I too struggle with just outlining the action and events without expressing the emotions of the protagonist. As an exercise, I think I'll go back through and try doing some over the top emoting on a section to see how it sounds. I'm curious to see how it sounds and whether I'll need to reduce it back down or if my level of 'over-the-top' is actually where it's supposed to be.

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Posted : May 20, 2021 12:49 pm
Wulf Moon reacted
(@wulfmoon)
Posts: 3135
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Posted by: @lost_bard

@doctorjest That's a good suggestion! I too struggle with just outlining the action and events without expressing the emotions of the protagonist. As an exercise, I think I'll go back through and try doing some over the top emoting on a section to see how it sounds. I'm curious to see how it sounds and whether I'll need to reduce it back down or if my level of 'over-the-top' is actually where it's supposed to be.

Powerful emotions are essential for evocative writing. But the danger for aspiring writers is to become melodramatic. Over the top is as much in error as no emotional crafting. Professional writing is developing an intuitive sense of balance in your work ... in all things.

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Posted : May 20, 2021 1:08 pm
David Hankins
(@lost_bard)
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Posted by: @wulfmoon

Powerful emotions are essential for evocative writing. But the danger for aspiring writers is to become melodramatic. Over the top is as much in error as no emotional crafting. Professional writing is developing an intuitive sense of balance in your work ... in all things.

I couldn’t agree more and the only way to find that balance is to keep writing.
I’ve been reading kids books out loud for years now and I can definitely tell when the melodramatic emotions gets to be to much. Sure, it goes over well with the 8yo set, but as an adult I’m just rolling my eyes at the author. 

Death and the Taxman, my WotF V39 winning story is now a novel available for pre-order! (Click Here >). The Taxman is Coming on Tax Day (Apr 15th) 2024!

Subscribe to The Lost Bard's Letter at www.davidhankins.com and receive an exclusive story!

New Releases:
"Milo Piper's Breakout Single that Ended the Rat War" in LTUE's Troubadours and Space Princesses anthology.
"Felix and the Flamingo" in Escape Pod.
"The Ghosts of Hart's Gambit" in Renaissance Press's There's No Place anthology.
"The Devil's Foot Locker" in Amazing Stories

 
Posted : May 20, 2021 1:22 pm
Wulf Moon reacted
Cray Dimensional
(@craydimensional)
Posts: 641
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@lost_bard I love ❤️ reading to kids, but my kids have outgrown now. Your right once kids get beyond eight the melodrama wear’s thin.

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Posted : May 20, 2021 4:24 pm
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