Dan’s Writing Blog

Normal 0

As a creative writer, you must feel the mood you are writing about. As a creative writer, you have to feel the mood. And just how can you do that? You do it by living what you’re writing about.

Let’s suppose you want to write a scene that displays anger. Maybe the tale is about parents arguing, or kid’s leaving home, or an old ex entering the picture. Maybe it’s about a boyfriend breaking up with his girl because she was in bed with his brother. If you have an intense scene, you have to be emotionally prepared to write it. I mean get seriously furious.

Remember the guy or gal that dumped you 30 years ago? Remember the time you had a bad dream about your mate and you wouldn’t speak to him all day? How about when you got steamed at the boss, or got into a heated argument over politics, world affairs, abortion, women’s rights, etc.? As a writer, you must capture those emotions again and write them into your scenes. It should be so real that you will need to attend anger management classes to get over it.

Does your story call for a happy scene? Start thinking about something that made you very happy. Sing really crazy! Laugh until you’re sick! And when you can’t stop laughing, start writing your scene.

You can develop emotions by pretending you are the character and writing diary entries. It is imperative that you live the life you are writing about. Do whatever it takes to crawl into your character’s skin. It’s almost impossible to write a scene that you have not invested yourself in. (But you can write notes to fill the space and come back to it later when you’re more in the mood.)

Remember that your protagonist (main character, hero) and antagonist (villain) must be three-dimensional characters. They must have a childhood and future dreams; their lives must be complex with problems they must solve. They have to walk into your reader’s mind and chat with them. The reader has to identify with the characters if you are going to hold them.

I can remember the days when my daughter was 16. She often sat crosslegged on the floor and cried during drama scenes on TV. So one night I saw a chance to have some fun with her and I said to my husband, “That acress has her role down pat, doesn’t she?”Hubby picked up on what I was doing and we bantered about what part the actress would play next.

Our daughter turned around, tears dripping off her cheeks, and said, “Quit it, you guys. You’re ruining the whole show!” But what she really meant was, “I’m into the character. I’m feeling what the main character feels. This scene has me hooked.”

If your characters aren’t three-dimensional, you’ll lose your readers. Using the right thought patterns will put you in the mood. Live what you write.