{Creativity Corner} In the Mood
Our emotions are often powerful drivers behind our actions. They can affect how we speak, how we act, how we dress, and the choices we make. Without even realizing it sometimes, our moods affect who we appear to be at any given moment. This is the same (or should be) with our characters.
This week’s Creativity Corner prompt requires some self-reflection and observation. Don’t let that scare you away, though. The more you consider your emotions and how they affect your actions, the better your writing will be. How so? Scenes that involve emotional experiences will come to life with the details you discover. “Showing” emotions through action and dialog will be easier to do when you recognize how emotions change a person–her voice becomes strained, her shoulders slump, her eyes shine with tears. You get the idea. Once you’ve done this exercise, take what you’ve learned and head to your work-in-progress. Your writing will shine with emotional details.
In the Mood
Spend some time each day for a day or two paying close attention to your moods. When you recognize an emotion, notice how you are responding to it. How does your body feel? What are your thoughts? What instinctive actions are you prone to in these moments? Take notes throughout the day.
Once you’ve recognized the effects of your own moods, spend another day or two paying close attention to the moods of others. In this case you will be making a judgment based only on their actions. Which actions indicate which emotions to you? Again, take plenty of notes on your observations.
Now integrate these observations of self and others into your current works-in-progress or your new pieces and see how adding emotional details changes your writing.
When you’re finished, please feel free to share a paragraph or two of your writing in the comments or post the exercise on your own blog and leave a comment here with a link to your writing. Remember, these are exercises. The results don’t have to be perfect. But to benefit from them, you actually have to do the work. Now head to your corners and come out writing!
Posted in creativity corner, luring the muse
January 31st, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Good suggestions. My book is nonfiction. I’d like to think of it as a collection of memories. I was stuck because I wasn’t sure how to make the individuals I am including real — human. I now understand I need to include emotion. I’ve seen some of the men and women I’ve interviewed pause, take a deep breath, take a puff from a cigarette, and I’ve heard their voices crack — sixty years after they lived through the war. Now I just need to convey that to my audience. Thanks again
February 1st, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I like this idea. Conveying emotion through actions is such a challenge for me and such a gift when it works well. Got to work on this. Thanks for the nudge.
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:20 am
Sharon – Thanks for stopping by. The examples you give are great observations of the physical manifestations of emotion. The more we pay attention to these things, and the more we integrate our observations into our stories, the more vivid our writing will be.
Mandy – I agree that showing emotion through action is challenging. It takes practice, but as with everything in life, the more we do it, the better we get at it. Thanks for commenting!