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#1 - The Greek word for "action."
#2 - A real life situtation or succession of events having the dramatic progression or emotional content typical of a play.
Love. Hate. Anger. These are just a few examples of emotions that bring our characters to life. How can we as writers make our emotions real to our readers? Here are some tips to help and some pitfalls to avoid.
Thanks to likenion for this week's newsletter topic. |
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Emotions encompass such feelings as love, anger, frustration, happiness, and despair. Some writing tools we can use to let those emotions out include:
 Dialogue
Metaphors
Symbols
Descriptions
DIALOGUE
Three neighbors have just found out that the family man next door who is a teacher at the local high school has been arrested for having sex with a teenage girl. Here's what they had to say:
#1 "The pig! He should go to jail!"
#2 "Jerry? He's such a nice guy."
#3 "I bet she threw herself at him."
There are three different emotions here. #1 - anger. #2 - doubtful. #3 - denial.
Dialogue is an easy and effective tool to get across the emotion you want as a writer.
Remember, these emotions should be consistant with your character. You the writer know your character best and how they'll react.
Things to keep in mind when you're writing dialogue:
Know your character's ethnicity, family background, gender, education, and how these factors play into your character's temperment. For example, a person from Boston speaks with a distinct accent and rather fast, whereas a character from the south might talk with a bit of a drawl and a little slower.
Also, remember dialogue can bring out emotion by where its placed. Ending a chapter on a note of dialogue leaves an unstated importance on emotion and gives the reader a sense of significance by adding emotional gravity.
Adverbs can indicate emotion. Here's an example:
"I love you," he said.
"I love you," he said softly.
Used this way, adverbs indicate tone of voice which implies emotion.
 Don't overuse adverbs. Placed stragetically, adverbs can be very effective. Also, "he said loudly" might not be a good choice when "he shouted," is much more effective.
Punctuation in dialogue
Dashes at the end of dialogue imply someone is being interrupted.
"Judy, I think -"
"You think what? I'm impulsive?"
Dashes in the middle imply the character is interrupting themselves. It can suggest stress or surprise.
Ellipses imply the character's train of thought is falling off which also is an indicator of giving up or uncertainity.
Single quotes inside double quotes implies the character regards the speaker of the quoted words outrageous or sarcastically.
A NOTE ON PROFANITY
Profanity is a natural means of expressing emotion, but don't over do it. And if you do use it, makes sure it "fits" the character.
Internal Dialogue
Emotional thoughts commenting on the story's action helps to make the story richer. Sharing fantasies, desires, and hurts with only the reader enhance emotion.
Example: Meeting Soviet Junior Sergeant Dimitri Nagory was like meeting a nervous chatterbox. She wondered if soldiers in his army were like him – curious about Americans.
TIP: When you write internal dialogue like this, try to stay away from "she thought," or "he thought."
METAPHORS
One example of using metaphors involves having the weather reflect the character's mood. Mind you, this is tricky. You don't want to bang the reader over the head. Don't make the weather an exact parallel to your character's mood. A good way to use a weather metaphor is to use it when its not even present in the scene.
Example: George saw Jane walking near the boardwalk and picked up his step. Seeing her smile brought May to his heart.
SYMBOLS
When writing about symbols its important the reader know the significance of the symbol the writer is using.
Example: A man gives a woman a scarf as a Valentine's present. She wears it all the time, but sadly, dies within weeks of receiving the gift. Afterwards, he admires the scarf often, a symbol of his love for her.
DESCRIPTION
Used skillfully with touch, taste, and smell, description can bring out emotion as well.
Example: Mihai walked past the jasmine vines in the castle's gardens. The rich, sultry scent tickled his nose. He paused, closed his eyes, and drew in a deep breath. How he longed to hold Theresa in his arms right now.
Bad example: Mihai walked past the jasmine vines. He stopped to smell them. They reminded him of Theresa.
In the first example, the reader can sense the longing and desire Mihai has for Theresa. In the second example you don't know how Mihai feels for Theresa, just that jasmine reminds him of her.
An exercise in emotion:
Write an argument between two people using only dialogue. Then write a three paragraph journal entry for each participant giving their thoughts on the argument. Exceptional entries will be featured in my June newsletter. Come on - get emotional. 
Research material used for this topic: "Characters, Emotions, and Viewpoint," by Nancy Kress, F+W Publications, 2005.
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Here's some feedback from my last newsletter which dealt with themes in drama writing:
Vivian 
Thank you for featuring my story, "Change of Life for Marilyn." As I shared with you, that is the first chapter of a novel, and since my attention has been caught again, I'm going to finish it. ~~ Viv
Viv, let me know when you start to add to it.
April Sunday 
Correct! Theme is nec for contests. Imp off-site contests insist on content/topic thus theme.
Ditto.
Two weeks ago, the Drama Newsletter featured darkin as a Guest Editor. I just wanted to share some of those comments on that newsletter with you.
katherinerose
Hello Darkin, thank you for your newsletter. Very interesting. It will go in a folder where I can refer to it often.
Larone Mckinley
Thank you for your newsletter. I think scene setting has been one of my weaknesses. You have given me a direction for improvement. Thanks for the help. Larone
Budroe
Excellent article in this Newletter, Darkin. I am going to make it required reading in my Mystery Writing Class. We will be discussing setting during the class. You have done an excellent job.
"90 % of writing isn't."
likenion
Hey darkin,
Great newsletter! I really find the tips given helpful especially the advice about sprinkling the information in the novel. However I didn't understand about whether the same tips should/could be used when creating a world of our own. Must a writer reserach a certain geographical area on which he would later build his world or just simply use imagination? The question refers to the quality of the new setting.
I can't answer for Darkin, but I lean toward researching an area that would be similiar to the setting you want to write about. I find when I do this, the research helps to bring a feeling of authenticity to the work, but that's just me.
Little Miss Leigh-Lee
Hi Darkin,
Ok - So i'm a little shy...
But - I felt that this was a brilliant newsletter. Scene setting.
I try to perfect this with my work - but by reading this newsletter - I'm actually going to go back through my work and make sure my scenes are all right.
Thank you for this,
Leigh
Don't be shy. Thanks for writing in. Feedback is much appreciated, not only by me, but by all the Drama editors. Please write in with your thoughts and suggestions.
Next week's editor: MandiK~ : p
PartyBee Works for LAPD as a 911 dispatcher in her day job. Her hobbies include watching "Dancing with the Stars." Honorable mention winner, genre writing, in the 75th Annual Writer's Digest Contest, for her story, "The Music Box."
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Drama: May 16, 2007 Issue [#1710]
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