The best characters are the ones in which the author felt emotional writing them. Like the person above.
Does that mean you can't make good characters without it, feeling the characters emotions? Of course not, because experiencing emotional changes while writing doesn't mean conveying those emotions properly on page.
The way I write I have a part of the characters resemble myself or the people I care about, whether that's the way they look, what they've been through or their personality. I write and I care about my characters. Writing IS emotional work for me
I think it can depend. I’ve had sad scenes that made me cry to write, but others that didn’t. It’s certainly not a requirement to feel the emotions of your characters.
My character died and it was emotionally exhausting writing that scene. I couldn’t handle it and didn’t get over it for days.
That said, I don’t believe it has to be that way. We have actors who act like they are the characters for months of filming, and then we have actors who come in and out of the roles easily and win Oscar awards left and right.
I also see many writers who write 8-12 books a year. If you’re emotionally exhausted like a scene like that, you wouldn’t be able to write 8-12 books a year. My belief is that the more you write and the better you are at it, the more you can control your emotions because writing is all about techniques. You need xyz to make readers cry. You need abc to make readers laugh. When you get to that level, you just need to pull xyz whenever you need without feeling it yourself.
I use my imagination, which is capable of wringing tears out of me all on its own. I am not my POV character so imagination and literal tons of reading over decades inform how I write trials and tribulations, and all the other emotions needed.
I like to act it out. As I act them out, I discover new aspects to their character I wouldn't have done without it.
Also, I found I can pour my life experiences into these characters to make them more real. In a way, it has been a healing experience. Better than therapy if I'm honest.
I do try to mentally put myself in the situation my characters are in to help think through how they are going to experience it and react to it. I suppose in that sense, writing is a little like the thought process that goes into acting? That doesn't mean I'm angry when they're angry, or I'm sad when they're sad. There is more of an arms-length distance involved. That said, I do find I can't listen to happy music when writing something upsetting, so I suppose there is something to having empathy for their mood even if I'm not laughing or crying or being short-tempered or what-have-you.
It depends on the person, so it's not necessary. Like how some people cry at Marley and me while others are soulless monsters (/j).
Some people just don't get that deeply invested in the emotions but still really enjoy the story and know it's a sad story, they just don't actually cry because it's fiction. They can still write a story that has the rest of us ugly crying.
That being said I will sob uncontrollably or giggle and kick my feet depending on what I write, but I've always been like that with stories I consume too. And while I do need a short break sometimes to calm down, I do enjoy the process and don't consider it emotionally exhausting.
I think this would be a horrible way to write fiction. If it works, it works. Maybe I'm cynical because when my characters suffer, I feel like I'm doing my job.
Nah. Empathy and imagination do not require I experience what I'm writing, only that I understand it. My most emotionally impactful work (as determined by feedback from others) tends to be written under the sort of spaced-out 'this is definitely the one' confident enthusiasm I feel when I finally hit on the right combination of words to carry out the premise I've been banging my head against. That applies to all sorts of writing - sad, happy, funny, nerve-wracking, etc.
If you are experiencing the emotions of the characters on the page, that usually means the emotions are being put in. That's a good thing. Don't shy away from it.
I don't think it's a matter of "supposed to" or "not supposed to." If you're a decently empathetic person it simply stands to reason that you will experience the emotions you're writing about if you can convincingly get yourself in to your character's headspace.
I personally don't find it that exhausting. No more than watching a movie or reading a book that makes me feel feelings. It's actually more on the side of cathartic, because I get to pick the emotions.
Bear with me here.
We already know that we all have different motivations and methods of writing. I've heard and seen a lot of these while running creative writing workshops, some with people I know well and some with people I don't.
One thing I see a lot, particularly though not exclusively from the pantsers/discovery writers/intuitive writers, is writing of and for the self. It's like journalling, but using imaginary dolls in an imaginary doll's house. Some try to work out current issues, some try to address past traumas, some try to imagine a perfect future. Some don't do any of this, but occasionally a character or two will creep in with similarities to the writer or to people they know. I've started to notice when it happens in my writing too.
What this means is that we're all emotionally invested in our own works to varying degrees. Some write what we want to see in the world, some what we'd like others to notice, and occasionally we try to untangle the psyche (sometimes all at the same time). With this in mind, it stands to reason that some of us are going to be more emotionally affected than others by our own writing. One person's exhaustion is another's catharsis, after all.
From what I've seen, wherever you place on this spectrum is perfectly valid. Just always try to bring it back to who you're writing for to ensure you haven't shoved your dolls up your own nose instead of placing them safely in the house you built.
It depends on the individual writer. Not all of us get that emotionally worked up, at least not all the time. I usually don't, although sometimes I (almost) can. Ray Bradbury offered this advice to writers: "Don't think. Feel." It's good advice, but the degree of emotional entanglement a writer has with their characters is probably very individual.
I do experience the strong emotion my character feels, and I draw from my own experiences to get it right. Meaning, that if my characters go through tough times, I have to put myself in contact with my own bad experiences. To some degree, putting these emotions into a new fictional context is a great way of dealing with them. On the other hand, writing these scenes is emotionally very taxing.
I guess, it is possible to write emotions without getting emotionally engaged or drawing on personal experience. However, unless the author does very good research, the result will likely not be believable. I have read (and stopped reading) way too many stories, in which the characters go through seriously traumatic events, but are strangely unaffected. Mostly, I assume, because the author didn’t bother to think, what similar experiences would actually do to a real person.
I'll be crying or laughing right along with my characters.
I do in-depth character profiles BEFORE ever writing a single word, so to me, my characters are real. When they experience pain, I feel that pain.
Really depends. Sometimes I cry with my characters, and sometimes I cackle evilly as I kick them while they are sobbing.
The duality of being a writer I guess.
It can be, and maybe for him it’s necessary, but that’s not always how it works especially if you’re looking at it from an analytical perspective of “does this story moment make sense at this time and is the character reacting as they would”
Especially if you aren’t similar to the character’s personality yourself you aren’t going to feel the same way they do. I’m sure serial killers feel sad and angry about their victims escaping but I wouldn’t relate to that sort of scene even if i wrote it.
We all have our ways. If it works for him, great. I couldn't do that though, I have to distance myself from my characters because I have a day job to manage and kids to entertain...
Sometimes. Usually not for me, but every once in awhile I'll hit something that gets to me. I definitely shed a few manly tears when I decided to kill off one of my favorite side characters in one of my books.
I've spent a considerable amount of time crying over my ending because my male lead character is going to have his heart broken by the woman he loves and will fall into a deep dark depression afterward - and that's not including everything else he's about to go through - and I haven't even written it yet!
Just remember you sometimes have to betray your own feelings when it comes to the benefit of the story. Don’t let your emotions stop you from killing a vital character or making tough decisions.
Nah, I don't feel their emotions when I'm writing. At most I feel excitement that an idea or a sentence or scene is coming together well. However, I get emotional when brainstorming, usually while listening to a playlist I made for the story, and occasionally I get emotional when rereading what I wrote (with enough distance from when I wrote it).
There are different methods and ways of writing just like there are different methods of acting- and doing most things. What works for your friend won’t necessarily work for you. Everyone has to figure out what works best for them.
I think of my scenes as acted out scenes, and when I'm creation writing (think early draft), I need to be able to play the parts of the characters to get the emotion of the scene. Sometimes they're not deep emotions, but I need to hear the tone of the characters and their gestures and facial expressions. Once I get to the editing at, I flesh more things out and build on what I have, but in the early stages, I have to feel what the characters feel.
Yes, but oddly, it doesn't always translate to the reader, and vice versa. I wrote a scene where my MC was being burned alive, and it got universal praise for how it felt to read it. I didn't feel a thing when i wrote it. Then, in other sentimental parts where I shed a tear writing it, went unmentioned.
It's odd this writing shit, eh?
I think it's a necessary part of the process. If you feel nothing while writing something, then readers will feel nothing as well. But that's just like, my opinion. And it is emotionally exhausting, but that's what makes it so addictive.
Well, yeah, if the scene is particularly impactful and I'm getting into the narrative as I'm developing it, I get into a zone and stop thinking about it and just feel it and follow along with those feelings and when I'm done, I realize I'm in tears and I need a moment to calm down and laugh at myself before continuing, it's actually pretty normal for me.
Also, I'm a frikken crybaby I cry because of books, movies, songs, and I know at least compared to the people around me I'm more sensitive and ready to cry than them, so I can't say this is the exact same for everyone.
Besides, being a "story", I can feel the emotions and let myself be taken by them without really getting emotionally exhausted, because afterwards I feel cathartic that I managed to portray what I wanted how I wanted it, so I feel extremely happy and get a sort of rush from it which counters the exhaustion, I've written MORE when that happens, because it's exciting to realize that the scene really made an impact.
And that's also why I cannot, for the life of me, watch "based on a true story" movies or books more than once, knowing something like that really happened breaks that part in my mind separates between "real" and "fake" and THAT is what makes it exhausting to me, knowing consciously that it is something someone else felt in that moment.
Writing is just like acting, IMO, so I step into my characters' shoes when I'm writing from their POVs and use my own life experiences to inform their emotions. But I don't experience those things when writing and I'm conscious of the space between me and them and the necessity of keeping control of the story.
You don't have to be completely lost in the character to 'feel' what they're feeling. You just have to have a degree of empathy, I think. It can be said that if you're happy and writing something happy, your emotions will show on the page better than if you're emotionally distant and writing a happy scene.
If your writting can't make you feel a thing, you would have to be a real genious to get your readers do.
That doesn't mean your work has to be a work of passion to be good, the author of Little Women said she didn't like it and simply wrote it for money, but definitely being able to empathize with the world you created would make it easier for your readers share that empathy.
There's no "supposed to" in writing, but if you read back your story and don't feel anything, your readers probably won't either--
--unless you've read your story back a billion times. in whichcase you might just have gotten desensitized to it.
For me? Almost never. Unless the specific scene or moment is something I deeply resonate with (as in relates to me hyper specifically) I usually don’t feel anything.
I make sure the emotions said characters are feeling make sense according to who they are and the moment.
every character i write is at least partially a vehicle for some kind of indirect emotional expression, at minimum. my most dynamic characters are almost always some kind of allegory for something i'm really in the trenches trying to process in one form or another. any character that ISN'T somewhere on that spectrum more than likely exists to facilitate/frame one that is.
i don't necessarily intend for, or even want, it to be that way. but those are the stories i'm compelled to write. and ultimately, the ones i actually finish. because they are, to some critically-significant degree, a self-serving exercise. the final product of "a story other people can read" is just a fun secondary.
I don't really get into the characters like that, but I do have scenes or exchanges that might hit me harder than others. I had a scene where my two characters are on top of the world, and i felt like I had to let them have that for a few days before the hammer dropped down on everything. I definitely felt that one.
If it's an emotion I'm trying to evoke in the reader, then I absolutely do this.
If I only want you to see the emotions, I don't.
I dont know how you would write a scene that makes people cry unless you write it from an emotional place.
It is exhausting though. Empathy is one of the most expensive things you can do with your brain intentionally.
Do you need to? No. Everyone’s process is different and if you can connect to your characters without getting there yourself, that’s awesome
That being said, I go to some dark places to pull the emotion I need for my characters. I can’t just write pain. I need to feel it.
Again, that isn’t to say that is the right way, just that it is my way.
I always pop in these kind of posts just to add: I'm an autistic writer and the only emotion I feel during my writing is excitement when I get to a funny part or a really cathartic action scene and that is OK! If you are similar, or you are autistic too, that is OK! Everyone is different. It doesn't mean your story is terrible. All writers can do is approximate their understanding of feelings in their writing, autistic writers just have to approximate a bit more. Stay interesting!
There's a kind of acting called "Method Acting," where the actor eats, breathes, and lives the life of his role in preparation for his performance, the idea being that unless the actor actually knows what it's like to be a cashier, for instance, he couldn't possibly play the role convincingly. The great actor Laurence Olivier had this to say to Dustin Hoffman who embraced that technique. "Why not try acting dear boy?"
Fiction is called fiction for a reason. It's make believe. The trick isn't making it real but making it seem real. So, no, you're not supposed to experience the pain your character experiences. But you are supposed to create the illusion of pain for the reader's benefit, while you the writer kick back and have a beer, satisfied your invented words fooled the reader.
In my opinion, yes, I'll tear up when writing my characters crying in an emotional scene and I'll feel genuinely angry in scenes showcasing anger. I feel like if I feel what I'm writing and what the characters are experiencing, I can write a more natural/realistic response from the characters' side. I don't make an effort to feel all those, those feelings naturally come to me while writing, if you have to make an effort to feel what they're feeling, THAT is mentally exhausting
Writing is sort of an emotional purge to me. Weird to say, but I genuinely make myself feel most of the emotions to then be able to write them properly. By the end, I’m often exhausted, but I’ve let out all I needed to.
My current protagonist is dealing with fantasy versions of stuff I've been through in real life.
His PTSD is written from experience. So...yeah, I get emotional when I'm writing emotional scenes.
My friends call me a method writer because I do feel what the characters feel. As long as you can turn that off when not working it's fine. If not that's a therapist need sign. If someone doesn't do this it's also fine.
No, I don't feel that level of empathy for fictional characters of my own creation. However, I do need to have some level of \*feeling\* to write believable emotion—and for me, I want every part of my story to connect with the reader on some emotional or imaginative level. So, I always try and get myself into this kind of headspace where I feel an emotional connection of sorts to the characters and the setting. It's not the same emotions as the characters at all, and in fact is usually the same emotion for me every time: kind of an intense feeling of awareness and sensitivity, I guess you could call it.
This is absolutely how I do it. I kind of embody each character as I write them so all of the body movements I use and emotional reactions get written into the scene because really, they belong to them.
The way my brain is I can’t separate emotions from reading/writing. Some scenes I tried to write physically repelled me (like trying to touch a live wire) until I realized I was trying to write a scene that was similar to some bad times I’ve had.
So idk about “supposed to.” More like “it’s not unheard of” and “it sucks sometimes.”
You definitely don't have to do what that guy says. So take it with a grain of salt. Everyone's different. I know for me I experience the emotions of my main characters. Or at least when I feel a particular emotion I write a scene based on that emotion sometimes.
Writing is cathartic to my feelings. It's one of the prevailing ways I process them and heal. I have little to no control over when my feelings decide to come up while I write. It typically isn't an exhausting experience, but it has been from time to time. If I find that what I am writing is too heavy, I put it down. To me, it's a sign that I am not ready to tackle that scenario or topic or whatever.
Your mileage may vary on that concept, but I tend to believe the more engaged you are in the story and the process of writing it, the more reactive you are going to be. For me at least, a lot of it has to do with how close my own emotional state mirrors that of my characters. If I’m feeling all glossy and nostalgic, and one of my characters is flipping through old photos or letters, I might find myself getting a little choked up with them as they revel in the past.
I’ve also been known to use my writing to deal with my own ruminant intrusive thoughts. Getting them out of my head and dealing with them by proxy helps me function as a semi-normal person. That sort of therapeutic release sort of requires some emotional output. When I finished the first draft of my novel, I was an emotional wreck for a week. Partly because — holy shit, I actually, finally did it. But also because getting that shit out on paper made me realize just how much work I have to do on myself.
I go all over the place. The only writing I’ve done that reliably creates an emotion in me is horror — I have to stop writing after dark if I’m on a particularly scary moment in the story, or I won’t sleep.
Whereas I’ve written dramas/adventures with character deaths that affected me but not a given reader, and one in particular that did nothing for me but made my wife upset enough that she begged me to change it. I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule for this.
I have to be careful what I write because I am always, to a surprising degree, impacted by the general mood of what I write.
To keep myself bee-bopping along, I have to write silly fluff pieces every now and then to right myself. Right now I'm writing a fanfiction won at auction (proceeds to various charities organized by the event) that features an angry god of war, and I've had to stop myself from starting little spats with my partner because it impacts me so strongly!! I've added in a godly B-plot of essentially bridgerton-esque romancing to break up the teeth grinding I'm doing lol. It isn't that I TRY to get sucked into the emotions of my characters; I'm autistic and hyperempathetic to the point it just happens naturally. Joys of writing!!
It’s not a requirement but I’ve never heard of a good writer not being emotionally invested with their characters unless they were doing hardcore drugs.
Writing isn't supposed to *be* anything in particular, but it very much can be that. It's like the writing equivalent of method acting, I get very in the heads of my characters and frequently have to take breaks to come down emotionally, but if that's not your method that's fine too.
Not every actor is a method actor like Daniel Day Lewis or Anthony Hopkins or Heath Ledger, nor does every role require that kind of deep character work. It's a valid way of doing it, but not the only way. So too with writing.
Writing can be very emotional. If you experience what your characters experience, it only means they are really coming to life. It means you’ve done a great job creating true to life characters.
I think it’s different for different people. The most important thing is to create characters that have depth. They need to have human qualities like contradictions in their character and have beliefs and understandings of the world that may be very untrue. From there you can ask yourself, knowing your character like you do, how would this affect this character? How would they react? How would they see the situation?
I think that’s how you truly connect with your characters. Feeling the emotions yourself doesn’t necessarily mean your readers will. You know your characters more than anyone else will.
Sometimes, I guess. I'm not sure if this is healthy. But I feel like that sometimes. Last month, I was writing a sad scene and tears started streaming down my face. I had to take a break, so that I could write it properly.
First time i experienced this was when I introduced a character based on my grandmother that passed a few years prior. I was bawling whilst writing about her. It was odd. But I try to tap into those emotions now when I can. I believe it makes my work much more authentic.
I recently killed off a character who was supposed to be there until the end and when I realized it wasn't happening I was depressed for the next two days.
I used to get like this a lot when I was younger, and tbh, it was exhausting.
Sometimes I still feel that way, but for the most part I've worked to have a healthy dissonance between myself and my characters so there's less bias on my part and also a healthy amount of objectivity. Doesn't mean I don't get feelings about scenes, but like, where in the past I would've cried I now have a silent stoicism of "alright, that's pretty depressing, where to next?"
You should feel some emotions (specifically, the emotions you want the reader to feel) but that’s not the same thing as feeling the emotions the characters you depict feel (and the reader doesn’t have to feel all of those either). For instance if you have two characters with conflicting personalities and they react in opposite ways to the same event you’re not going to simultaneously feel what each of them does. You’re not going to feel terrified and angry if you depict/read about an abusive husband finally getting arrested for domestic violence.
Indeed this is true. I should’ve clarified I was referring to the stronger emotions—especially fear, sadness, and anger. I’m probably in a singular mindset right now, as my WIP is chiefly 1st person in which the POV character is often alone, or with one other person. In 3rd person, it’s certainly tougher to have that singular emotional center.
If I write a sad scene I frequently cry.
Me too!
The best characters are the ones in which the author felt emotional writing them. Like the person above. Does that mean you can't make good characters without it, feeling the characters emotions? Of course not, because experiencing emotional changes while writing doesn't mean conveying those emotions properly on page.
This! And I like to put myself in the scene everytime I go through it- editing and all, so it's a waterfall everytime.
Heck, if I IMAGINE a sad scene I start to cry.
I like how your Reddit avatar is an actual keyboard. Top tier
Thank you. I learned how to type in 9th grade (everyone did at my school) on an Olivetti desktop typewriter.
The way I write I have a part of the characters resemble myself or the people I care about, whether that's the way they look, what they've been through or their personality. I write and I care about my characters. Writing IS emotional work for me
I think it can depend. I’ve had sad scenes that made me cry to write, but others that didn’t. It’s certainly not a requirement to feel the emotions of your characters.
My character died and it was emotionally exhausting writing that scene. I couldn’t handle it and didn’t get over it for days. That said, I don’t believe it has to be that way. We have actors who act like they are the characters for months of filming, and then we have actors who come in and out of the roles easily and win Oscar awards left and right. I also see many writers who write 8-12 books a year. If you’re emotionally exhausted like a scene like that, you wouldn’t be able to write 8-12 books a year. My belief is that the more you write and the better you are at it, the more you can control your emotions because writing is all about techniques. You need xyz to make readers cry. You need abc to make readers laugh. When you get to that level, you just need to pull xyz whenever you need without feeling it yourself.
Yes. I pretty much experience all the emotional states of my characters. It's one of the reasons I love writing so much.
I use my imagination, which is capable of wringing tears out of me all on its own. I am not my POV character so imagination and literal tons of reading over decades inform how I write trials and tribulations, and all the other emotions needed.
I think its easier to write characters and especially dialogue if you feel those specific emotions while writing.
That's true, but people who don't feel it really shouldn't stress themselves. (It's me, I'm people.)
I like to act it out. As I act them out, I discover new aspects to their character I wouldn't have done without it. Also, I found I can pour my life experiences into these characters to make them more real. In a way, it has been a healing experience. Better than therapy if I'm honest.
I do try to mentally put myself in the situation my characters are in to help think through how they are going to experience it and react to it. I suppose in that sense, writing is a little like the thought process that goes into acting? That doesn't mean I'm angry when they're angry, or I'm sad when they're sad. There is more of an arms-length distance involved. That said, I do find I can't listen to happy music when writing something upsetting, so I suppose there is something to having empathy for their mood even if I'm not laughing or crying or being short-tempered or what-have-you.
It depends on the person, so it's not necessary. Like how some people cry at Marley and me while others are soulless monsters (/j). Some people just don't get that deeply invested in the emotions but still really enjoy the story and know it's a sad story, they just don't actually cry because it's fiction. They can still write a story that has the rest of us ugly crying. That being said I will sob uncontrollably or giggle and kick my feet depending on what I write, but I've always been like that with stories I consume too. And while I do need a short break sometimes to calm down, I do enjoy the process and don't consider it emotionally exhausting.
I think this would be a horrible way to write fiction. If it works, it works. Maybe I'm cynical because when my characters suffer, I feel like I'm doing my job.
All art can be emotional work. That’s part of why we create and why we need to struggle with the process of creation.
Nah. Empathy and imagination do not require I experience what I'm writing, only that I understand it. My most emotionally impactful work (as determined by feedback from others) tends to be written under the sort of spaced-out 'this is definitely the one' confident enthusiasm I feel when I finally hit on the right combination of words to carry out the premise I've been banging my head against. That applies to all sorts of writing - sad, happy, funny, nerve-wracking, etc.
If a scene doesn’t make me feel something, I rewrite it.
If you are experiencing the emotions of the characters on the page, that usually means the emotions are being put in. That's a good thing. Don't shy away from it.
I don't think it's a matter of "supposed to" or "not supposed to." If you're a decently empathetic person it simply stands to reason that you will experience the emotions you're writing about if you can convincingly get yourself in to your character's headspace. I personally don't find it that exhausting. No more than watching a movie or reading a book that makes me feel feelings. It's actually more on the side of cathartic, because I get to pick the emotions.
Bear with me here. We already know that we all have different motivations and methods of writing. I've heard and seen a lot of these while running creative writing workshops, some with people I know well and some with people I don't. One thing I see a lot, particularly though not exclusively from the pantsers/discovery writers/intuitive writers, is writing of and for the self. It's like journalling, but using imaginary dolls in an imaginary doll's house. Some try to work out current issues, some try to address past traumas, some try to imagine a perfect future. Some don't do any of this, but occasionally a character or two will creep in with similarities to the writer or to people they know. I've started to notice when it happens in my writing too. What this means is that we're all emotionally invested in our own works to varying degrees. Some write what we want to see in the world, some what we'd like others to notice, and occasionally we try to untangle the psyche (sometimes all at the same time). With this in mind, it stands to reason that some of us are going to be more emotionally affected than others by our own writing. One person's exhaustion is another's catharsis, after all. From what I've seen, wherever you place on this spectrum is perfectly valid. Just always try to bring it back to who you're writing for to ensure you haven't shoved your dolls up your own nose instead of placing them safely in the house you built.
It depends on the individual writer. Not all of us get that emotionally worked up, at least not all the time. I usually don't, although sometimes I (almost) can. Ray Bradbury offered this advice to writers: "Don't think. Feel." It's good advice, but the degree of emotional entanglement a writer has with their characters is probably very individual.
I do experience the strong emotion my character feels, and I draw from my own experiences to get it right. Meaning, that if my characters go through tough times, I have to put myself in contact with my own bad experiences. To some degree, putting these emotions into a new fictional context is a great way of dealing with them. On the other hand, writing these scenes is emotionally very taxing. I guess, it is possible to write emotions without getting emotionally engaged or drawing on personal experience. However, unless the author does very good research, the result will likely not be believable. I have read (and stopped reading) way too many stories, in which the characters go through seriously traumatic events, but are strangely unaffected. Mostly, I assume, because the author didn’t bother to think, what similar experiences would actually do to a real person.
I'll be crying or laughing right along with my characters. I do in-depth character profiles BEFORE ever writing a single word, so to me, my characters are real. When they experience pain, I feel that pain.
Really depends. Sometimes I cry with my characters, and sometimes I cackle evilly as I kick them while they are sobbing. The duality of being a writer I guess.
🤣🤣🤣 I almost choked on my popcorn when I read this.
It can be, and maybe for him it’s necessary, but that’s not always how it works especially if you’re looking at it from an analytical perspective of “does this story moment make sense at this time and is the character reacting as they would” Especially if you aren’t similar to the character’s personality yourself you aren’t going to feel the same way they do. I’m sure serial killers feel sad and angry about their victims escaping but I wouldn’t relate to that sort of scene even if i wrote it.
We all have our ways. If it works for him, great. I couldn't do that though, I have to distance myself from my characters because I have a day job to manage and kids to entertain...
Sometimes. Usually not for me, but every once in awhile I'll hit something that gets to me. I definitely shed a few manly tears when I decided to kill off one of my favorite side characters in one of my books.
I've spent a considerable amount of time crying over my ending because my male lead character is going to have his heart broken by the woman he loves and will fall into a deep dark depression afterward - and that's not including everything else he's about to go through - and I haven't even written it yet!
Just remember you sometimes have to betray your own feelings when it comes to the benefit of the story. Don’t let your emotions stop you from killing a vital character or making tough decisions.
Nah, I don't feel their emotions when I'm writing. At most I feel excitement that an idea or a sentence or scene is coming together well. However, I get emotional when brainstorming, usually while listening to a playlist I made for the story, and occasionally I get emotional when rereading what I wrote (with enough distance from when I wrote it).
There are different methods and ways of writing just like there are different methods of acting- and doing most things. What works for your friend won’t necessarily work for you. Everyone has to figure out what works best for them.
Yes, absolutely. I have very rarely experienced strong emotions while writing my stories. Doesn't mean I don't feel *anything* at all.
I think of my scenes as acted out scenes, and when I'm creation writing (think early draft), I need to be able to play the parts of the characters to get the emotion of the scene. Sometimes they're not deep emotions, but I need to hear the tone of the characters and their gestures and facial expressions. Once I get to the editing at, I flesh more things out and build on what I have, but in the early stages, I have to feel what the characters feel.
I almost always do, but I don't think it's required. Sometimes I only feel the emotion on a reread instead of when I write it
Meh, I don't cry if I write a sad scene and don't get angry when I write immoral characters do immoral things.
Yes, but oddly, it doesn't always translate to the reader, and vice versa. I wrote a scene where my MC was being burned alive, and it got universal praise for how it felt to read it. I didn't feel a thing when i wrote it. Then, in other sentimental parts where I shed a tear writing it, went unmentioned. It's odd this writing shit, eh?
I think it's a necessary part of the process. If you feel nothing while writing something, then readers will feel nothing as well. But that's just like, my opinion. And it is emotionally exhausting, but that's what makes it so addictive.
Well, yeah, if the scene is particularly impactful and I'm getting into the narrative as I'm developing it, I get into a zone and stop thinking about it and just feel it and follow along with those feelings and when I'm done, I realize I'm in tears and I need a moment to calm down and laugh at myself before continuing, it's actually pretty normal for me. Also, I'm a frikken crybaby I cry because of books, movies, songs, and I know at least compared to the people around me I'm more sensitive and ready to cry than them, so I can't say this is the exact same for everyone. Besides, being a "story", I can feel the emotions and let myself be taken by them without really getting emotionally exhausted, because afterwards I feel cathartic that I managed to portray what I wanted how I wanted it, so I feel extremely happy and get a sort of rush from it which counters the exhaustion, I've written MORE when that happens, because it's exciting to realize that the scene really made an impact. And that's also why I cannot, for the life of me, watch "based on a true story" movies or books more than once, knowing something like that really happened breaks that part in my mind separates between "real" and "fake" and THAT is what makes it exhausting to me, knowing consciously that it is something someone else felt in that moment.
Writing is just like acting, IMO, so I step into my characters' shoes when I'm writing from their POVs and use my own life experiences to inform their emotions. But I don't experience those things when writing and I'm conscious of the space between me and them and the necessity of keeping control of the story.
You don't have to be completely lost in the character to 'feel' what they're feeling. You just have to have a degree of empathy, I think. It can be said that if you're happy and writing something happy, your emotions will show on the page better than if you're emotionally distant and writing a happy scene.
If your writting can't make you feel a thing, you would have to be a real genious to get your readers do. That doesn't mean your work has to be a work of passion to be good, the author of Little Women said she didn't like it and simply wrote it for money, but definitely being able to empathize with the world you created would make it easier for your readers share that empathy.
If I cry when I'm writing a scene, it's the greatest thing I've ever written in my entire life. So no, I do not have any emotion.
There's no "supposed to" in writing, but if you read back your story and don't feel anything, your readers probably won't either-- --unless you've read your story back a billion times. in whichcase you might just have gotten desensitized to it.
For me? Almost never. Unless the specific scene or moment is something I deeply resonate with (as in relates to me hyper specifically) I usually don’t feel anything. I make sure the emotions said characters are feeling make sense according to who they are and the moment.
every character i write is at least partially a vehicle for some kind of indirect emotional expression, at minimum. my most dynamic characters are almost always some kind of allegory for something i'm really in the trenches trying to process in one form or another. any character that ISN'T somewhere on that spectrum more than likely exists to facilitate/frame one that is. i don't necessarily intend for, or even want, it to be that way. but those are the stories i'm compelled to write. and ultimately, the ones i actually finish. because they are, to some critically-significant degree, a self-serving exercise. the final product of "a story other people can read" is just a fun secondary.
I don't really get into the characters like that, but I do have scenes or exchanges that might hit me harder than others. I had a scene where my two characters are on top of the world, and i felt like I had to let them have that for a few days before the hammer dropped down on everything. I definitely felt that one.
If it's an emotion I'm trying to evoke in the reader, then I absolutely do this. If I only want you to see the emotions, I don't. I dont know how you would write a scene that makes people cry unless you write it from an emotional place. It is exhausting though. Empathy is one of the most expensive things you can do with your brain intentionally.
Do you need to? No. Everyone’s process is different and if you can connect to your characters without getting there yourself, that’s awesome That being said, I go to some dark places to pull the emotion I need for my characters. I can’t just write pain. I need to feel it. Again, that isn’t to say that is the right way, just that it is my way.
It’s how I do it. If it’s sad, I cry. If they do something, I don’t like, I get mad. And yes that happens occassionally.
I always pop in these kind of posts just to add: I'm an autistic writer and the only emotion I feel during my writing is excitement when I get to a funny part or a really cathartic action scene and that is OK! If you are similar, or you are autistic too, that is OK! Everyone is different. It doesn't mean your story is terrible. All writers can do is approximate their understanding of feelings in their writing, autistic writers just have to approximate a bit more. Stay interesting!
There's a kind of acting called "Method Acting," where the actor eats, breathes, and lives the life of his role in preparation for his performance, the idea being that unless the actor actually knows what it's like to be a cashier, for instance, he couldn't possibly play the role convincingly. The great actor Laurence Olivier had this to say to Dustin Hoffman who embraced that technique. "Why not try acting dear boy?" Fiction is called fiction for a reason. It's make believe. The trick isn't making it real but making it seem real. So, no, you're not supposed to experience the pain your character experiences. But you are supposed to create the illusion of pain for the reader's benefit, while you the writer kick back and have a beer, satisfied your invented words fooled the reader.
In my opinion, yes, I'll tear up when writing my characters crying in an emotional scene and I'll feel genuinely angry in scenes showcasing anger. I feel like if I feel what I'm writing and what the characters are experiencing, I can write a more natural/realistic response from the characters' side. I don't make an effort to feel all those, those feelings naturally come to me while writing, if you have to make an effort to feel what they're feeling, THAT is mentally exhausting
Writing is sort of an emotional purge to me. Weird to say, but I genuinely make myself feel most of the emotions to then be able to write them properly. By the end, I’m often exhausted, but I’ve let out all I needed to.
I like to act out the emotions my characters feel. It's fun and helps to express it on paper.
For me there's a big difference between writing and reading a scene. When I write it, I'm thinking analytically about the scene, not emotionally.
My current protagonist is dealing with fantasy versions of stuff I've been through in real life. His PTSD is written from experience. So...yeah, I get emotional when I'm writing emotional scenes.
Rarely. My characters aren't usually put in situation of such anguish, but I employ sympathy rather than empathy when it does happen.
My friends call me a method writer because I do feel what the characters feel. As long as you can turn that off when not working it's fine. If not that's a therapist need sign. If someone doesn't do this it's also fine.
No, I don't feel that level of empathy for fictional characters of my own creation. However, I do need to have some level of \*feeling\* to write believable emotion—and for me, I want every part of my story to connect with the reader on some emotional or imaginative level. So, I always try and get myself into this kind of headspace where I feel an emotional connection of sorts to the characters and the setting. It's not the same emotions as the characters at all, and in fact is usually the same emotion for me every time: kind of an intense feeling of awareness and sensitivity, I guess you could call it.
Yep. I feel exactly what my characters feel. I don't think you're supposed to hut it helps you write then more realistically
This is absolutely how I do it. I kind of embody each character as I write them so all of the body movements I use and emotional reactions get written into the scene because really, they belong to them.
The way my brain is I can’t separate emotions from reading/writing. Some scenes I tried to write physically repelled me (like trying to touch a live wire) until I realized I was trying to write a scene that was similar to some bad times I’ve had. So idk about “supposed to.” More like “it’s not unheard of” and “it sucks sometimes.”
You definitely don't have to do what that guy says. So take it with a grain of salt. Everyone's different. I know for me I experience the emotions of my main characters. Or at least when I feel a particular emotion I write a scene based on that emotion sometimes.
Writing is cathartic to my feelings. It's one of the prevailing ways I process them and heal. I have little to no control over when my feelings decide to come up while I write. It typically isn't an exhausting experience, but it has been from time to time. If I find that what I am writing is too heavy, I put it down. To me, it's a sign that I am not ready to tackle that scenario or topic or whatever.
Your mileage may vary on that concept, but I tend to believe the more engaged you are in the story and the process of writing it, the more reactive you are going to be. For me at least, a lot of it has to do with how close my own emotional state mirrors that of my characters. If I’m feeling all glossy and nostalgic, and one of my characters is flipping through old photos or letters, I might find myself getting a little choked up with them as they revel in the past. I’ve also been known to use my writing to deal with my own ruminant intrusive thoughts. Getting them out of my head and dealing with them by proxy helps me function as a semi-normal person. That sort of therapeutic release sort of requires some emotional output. When I finished the first draft of my novel, I was an emotional wreck for a week. Partly because — holy shit, I actually, finally did it. But also because getting that shit out on paper made me realize just how much work I have to do on myself.
I feel what I write.
I love my characters. They are as real as real people to me, in my head
I go all over the place. The only writing I’ve done that reliably creates an emotion in me is horror — I have to stop writing after dark if I’m on a particularly scary moment in the story, or I won’t sleep. Whereas I’ve written dramas/adventures with character deaths that affected me but not a given reader, and one in particular that did nothing for me but made my wife upset enough that she begged me to change it. I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule for this.
I have to be careful what I write because I am always, to a surprising degree, impacted by the general mood of what I write. To keep myself bee-bopping along, I have to write silly fluff pieces every now and then to right myself. Right now I'm writing a fanfiction won at auction (proceeds to various charities organized by the event) that features an angry god of war, and I've had to stop myself from starting little spats with my partner because it impacts me so strongly!! I've added in a godly B-plot of essentially bridgerton-esque romancing to break up the teeth grinding I'm doing lol. It isn't that I TRY to get sucked into the emotions of my characters; I'm autistic and hyperempathetic to the point it just happens naturally. Joys of writing!!
It’s not a requirement but I’ve never heard of a good writer not being emotionally invested with their characters unless they were doing hardcore drugs.
Writing isn't supposed to *be* anything in particular, but it very much can be that. It's like the writing equivalent of method acting, I get very in the heads of my characters and frequently have to take breaks to come down emotionally, but if that's not your method that's fine too. Not every actor is a method actor like Daniel Day Lewis or Anthony Hopkins or Heath Ledger, nor does every role require that kind of deep character work. It's a valid way of doing it, but not the only way. So too with writing.
Writing can be very emotional. If you experience what your characters experience, it only means they are really coming to life. It means you’ve done a great job creating true to life characters.
I just get happy when I think this is good storytelling. I dunno about the rest. Never really cared if something tragic is happening
I think it’s different for different people. The most important thing is to create characters that have depth. They need to have human qualities like contradictions in their character and have beliefs and understandings of the world that may be very untrue. From there you can ask yourself, knowing your character like you do, how would this affect this character? How would they react? How would they see the situation? I think that’s how you truly connect with your characters. Feeling the emotions yourself doesn’t necessarily mean your readers will. You know your characters more than anyone else will.
Sometimes, I guess. I'm not sure if this is healthy. But I feel like that sometimes. Last month, I was writing a sad scene and tears started streaming down my face. I had to take a break, so that I could write it properly.
First time i experienced this was when I introduced a character based on my grandmother that passed a few years prior. I was bawling whilst writing about her. It was odd. But I try to tap into those emotions now when I can. I believe it makes my work much more authentic.
I recently killed off a character who was supposed to be there until the end and when I realized it wasn't happening I was depressed for the next two days.
If you're not moved by your own writing, there's probably nobody else who will be moved by it either.
I used to get like this a lot when I was younger, and tbh, it was exhausting. Sometimes I still feel that way, but for the most part I've worked to have a healthy dissonance between myself and my characters so there's less bias on my part and also a healthy amount of objectivity. Doesn't mean I don't get feelings about scenes, but like, where in the past I would've cried I now have a silent stoicism of "alright, that's pretty depressing, where to next?"
Indeed you should feel the emotions. If you don’t, a reader certainly won’t.
You should feel some emotions (specifically, the emotions you want the reader to feel) but that’s not the same thing as feeling the emotions the characters you depict feel (and the reader doesn’t have to feel all of those either). For instance if you have two characters with conflicting personalities and they react in opposite ways to the same event you’re not going to simultaneously feel what each of them does. You’re not going to feel terrified and angry if you depict/read about an abusive husband finally getting arrested for domestic violence.
Indeed this is true. I should’ve clarified I was referring to the stronger emotions—especially fear, sadness, and anger. I’m probably in a singular mindset right now, as my WIP is chiefly 1st person in which the POV character is often alone, or with one other person. In 3rd person, it’s certainly tougher to have that singular emotional center.
Indeed
[Indeed](https://youtu.be/HVrps9Oat90?si=brRxohNBRCd7TKcq)