Write Your Emotions
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As a creative writer, you must feel the mood you are writing about. As a creative writer, it is imperative . And what is the trick to doing that? You can do it by experiencing the mood.
Let’s suppose you want to write a scene that displays anger. Maybe the story is about abuse, a mom and dad arguing, or sibling rivalry. Maybe it’s about a mentally unbalanced girl in a fit of anger. To write a scene like that, you have to be in the right mood. I mean get seriously furious.
Remember the guy or gal that dumped you 30 years ago? Remember when you woke up mad at your mate because you had a bad dream about him/her? What about when you blew up at a boyfriend, or steamed through a political discussion on abortion.? As a writer, it’s your job to capture those emotions and write the scenes in a believable manner. It needs to be so intense that you won’t be able to get over it for a month.
Are you writing a happy scene? Then think of something happy. Sing really crazy! Laugh like a clown! And when you start laughing at yourself, start writing your joy into your scene.
Another way you can develop emotions is to imagine yourself at the character and write a blog from his/her viewpoint. It is imperative that you live the life you are writing about. Crawl into your character’s skins any way you can. You can’t write effectively what you don’t know or aren’t in the mood for. (But you can write a draft for that scene and come back to it when you’re in the mood.)
Remember that your protagonist (main character, hero) and antagonist (villain) must be three-dimensional characters. They must have problems to work through, a history, a future, and dreams that they chase. They have to be as real as you are. The reader has to identify with the characters if you are going to hold them.
That makes me think of my daughter, when she was 16. It was not uncommon for her to sit on the floor Indian style, and bawl her eyes out over a drama TV show. Then one night I gave my sweetie a wink and said, “She’s a great acress, isn’t she?” He picked up on it and we talked back and forth about the actress’ career and wondered out loud what movie they would play in next.
Our daughter turned around, tears dripping off her cheeks, and said, “Quit it, you guys. You’re ruining it for me!” But what she really meant was, “I’m into the character. I’m feeling what the main character feels. Don’t move me out of the scene.”
If your characters aren’t three-dimensional, you’ll lose your readers. Put yourself into the mood and into the groove. Experience what you are writing about.