MONDAY MUSINGS—STORIES THAT DRAW ME

I read more than one genre. I lean toward a good story with an element of romance. I do enjoy various sub-genres of romance. I like sci-fi and thrillers. Danger and adventure is great escape. I love stories where good wins over evil and the hero gets the girl, or vice versa.  I read for entertainment. I want something that gives me a break from day to day cares and concerns and makes me feel good.

I got to thinking about some books I read recently and what is was that drew me to them. It wasn't a new concept. I've been reading paranormal for sometime and trust me there is no ‘new’ idea out there, just a fresh way of presenting those ideas. And all three of these authors did that. Still, that wasn't it. What was it about these stories that drew me and even made me want to visit their worlds again (I've now reread two entire series and part of the third)?

What made these different? Upon reflection, there were several things made the series special.

One of the biggest draws for me was a sense of community and a well-developed world. That’s a big one for me. I want the world to feel real enough that if I could arrange a trip I would recognize it. Real enough that I would want to visit if I could. That doesn't require ad nausem pages of description but it does take some well place phrases to give me a sense of place. Carolyn Brown nails that sense of place and community very well. Anne McCaffrey does as well. Her Pern series is excellent because of it. Another is Alex Cavanaugh with his world, community, and friendships. Jennifer Ashley with her Shifters series is also outstanding in realistic world building. It gives a feeling of a mini vacation when I read the worlds these authors create. And, I can reread them more than once (and have) with the same sense of wonder and enjoyment as I did the first time.

Another is the characters themselves. I don’t need comedy skits but I do like humor and sass. Good repertoire between characters (Thea Harrison does a great job with banter and adding fun zingers between friends and family—love her Elder Races series). I like seeing and feeling the friendship and if there is feeling of distrust and measuring prior to becoming friends or allies, or a lack of friendship and trust, I want to understand why. A sense of dimension and scope in their personalities so they feel real. I want a clear enough picture of them as a person that I can determine why do what they do or like or dislike what they do. I need an understandable picture of their goals and motivations. Realistic actions and reactions.

Sense of family is another draw. I want to see and feel the bond between family members. Family doesn't always agree with one another. Regardless of the love there is still squabbles and disagreements. It’s a natural thing. So, strong and realistic interactions and reactions are important. That sense of family isn't limited to blood. As the wise man once said, there is the companion that is closer to us than a brother. What that means is that strong bond of love can be between friends and those friends can be a family.

There are several authors that do both well. I've always admired Nora Roberts for her ability to create a tight bond of love and friendship. She also creates a realistic picture of family by blood. I think that’s why, aside from a good story, I like reading her trilogies. She nails family and friendship so well. Donna Grant and Jennifer Ashley do, too.

When I stop and analyze the books I really enjoy it helps me look at my own writing more critically. Am I hitting those benchmarks? Do my stories have strong family connections and the sense of community and place? What can I do to add more depth and atmosphere to my world or people? What layers can I go back and add to give my story so it has more impact?

• What components draw you to your favorite authors?

Creating Emotional Impact

I’ve heard it said, and no doubt you have too, that to write emotion you first have to feel it. Author blogs and writing books will tell you all sorts of things. Write what you know, write what you love, and write what you feel. These are all true statements in so far as they go. It’s how we understand those statements and what they mean, and how to apply them that the trouble starts.

I think there is a mistaken assumption about writing emotional impact into our writing. What it is and what it’s not.

I can write about fear because I know what fear feels like. It doesn't mean I have to feel my heart racing, have clammy hands, and hyperventilate as I'm writing the scene. I know what anger feels like too, and what makes me angry, but because I am choosing to put my characters in an emotional situation of anger or fear doesn’t mean I’m feeling those emotions as I write. You see what I mean?

As a writer, I'm ultimately the narrator carrying the story from point A to point Z. To do that, I have to be able to keep my wits about me. I have to keep my goals clearly in mind, which means I can’t get bogged down in emotion as I’m writing. Look at it this way, a writer is dealing with a set of people going through various situations, having problems, facing heartbreak, making love, laughing, anger and fear—the gamut of emotions. As narrator of this group’s story I have to be able to relay everything clearly. I have to stay removed from the situation to be focused. Otherwise I’ll go off in a tangent or lose the thread of where my story and characters are going.

I’m rather clinical as I write certain scenes. In that sense I’m the observer as well as narrator. I equate it to being a therapist. Therapists hear the most heartbreaking details of people’s lives. While they have to have compassion and understanding for their patient, they also have to remain detached to effectively do their job.

Knowing what an emotion feels like gives us a base from which to write emotion for our characters. Our characters have to be real not only to our readers but to us. They have to act and react realistically. As we write, we put our characters (or they put themselves), into certain settings/situations. Much of the inner conflict for our characters is about them facing their fears. So we produce external conflicts in our story so they have to face those internal demons.

For example, if we’re writing romance or a suspense and we have a character that has grown up in an abusive home that got so bad she and her mother have to run for their lives. They’re always looking over their shoulders, always changing their names, always in fear because they’re hunted. Never taking a stand and able to fight back. Now we have her background and some idea of her inner conflict. As an adult she stays clear of anything that resembles the trauma of her childhood. What is the worse external conflict we could put her in? To keep it simple, let’s place her in a situation where she has seen a murder, and the murderer knows she’s seen him. Now he’s after her. Just like that she is again on the run, living in fear. But now she is an adult, not a helpless child. She has to take her stand at some point. Add to it a hero whose job it is to keep her safe, keep her from harm. He’s tough and strong and very good at his job. But let’s say as a child he came face to face with the inability to keep those he loves safe because he was too young and inexperienced. Now his job choice makes sense, as does his inner pride/need in being very good at his job. But internally his greatest fear in not keeping someone he cares about safe from harm. Hero and heroine come together, and emotional attachment forms. Now we have both characters facing their inner conflict/fears while dealing the external conflict/fear. Now we have in place a plot specifically designed to trigger emotional responses from the hero and heroine. And the reader.

Writing what you feel is the ability to write or invoke an emotional response in your reader. You don’t have to be feeling whatever the emotion you’re writing as you write it (although I’ll confess there have been time or two I have). You do need to know what a particular emotion feels like to set it up and then amplify it via your character’s reaction to the stimuli. If you know the feeling then it follows you should be able to imbue that emotion in your writing by the story set up, character reactions and hence trigger the reader’s reaction.

That’s writing what you feel and what you know. That’s creating emotional impact for your reader.

What are you thoughts?