{"id":720,"date":"2016-03-30T08:24:59","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T12:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/?p=720"},"modified":"2016-03-30T08:24:59","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T12:24:59","slug":"other-than-weepy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/30\/other-than-weepy\/","title":{"rendered":"Other Than Weepy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sad news is that the Powers That Be at my publisher are no longer pleased with the title\u00a0The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre<\/em>. I suggested Look, This Book Has No Title<\/em>. Everyone laughed. I\u2019ll keep you posted.<\/p>\n

On February 16, 2016, Writeforfun wrote, What are some emotional reactions to lots of terrible changes happening at once in a preteen\u2019s life that don\u2019t include crying? My character, an independent but insecure 12-year-old girl, has gone through a lot within a three-day timeframe; her dad was framed for a terrible crime, someone broke into her house and tried to kidnap her and her mom, she had to go to live with a friend to be safe, where someone tried to break in and kidnap her again, and now she has been sent to live on the other side of the country with relatives she has never met. When I try to write her reactions to all of these events, I find that she just ends up crying! I suppose technically she isn\u2019t crying the whole time, but whenever she stops to think about what is going on, she always winds up bursting into tears. How can I make her reactions seem real without making her cry all the time?<\/em><\/p>\n

Poppie suggested this: Mrs. Levine should have a post on emotional characters. I recommend reading it. It might help.<\/em><\/p>\n

That post is called “Weepy.” If you’re interested, you can look it up.<\/p>\n

In my last post, I proclaimed the helpfulness of lists in getting to writing solutions. Writeforfun\u2019s question is perfect for the list approach. I\u2019d start by listing possible emotional states. Some may be appropriate and others not so much, but I\u2019d list every one I could think of, and I wouldn\u2019t rule any out right off the bat. And, to give my brain a break, I\u2019d probably research the question. I might google \u201clist of emotions\u201d and see what I got. If that didn\u2019t yield much, I\u2019d rephrase my query. If you have time right now, try it. It\u2019s wonderful to remember that we don\u2019t have to go everything in writing alone. While I’m using the possibilities that the worldwide web gives me, other ideas may also arrive. Everything goes on my list.<\/p>\n

Yesterday I heard a short segment on the radio about the neuroscience of creativity. Seems that studies on the generative part of creating (as opposed to the editing stage) show that the part of the brain that pays attention to social norms is dialed way down. We turn off the side of our minds that cares about\u00a0what other people will think of us or our ideas. I think this is critical. We’re creating! Who cares what anyone else thinks?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not online as I write these possibilities, so I\u2019ll wing it. Here\u2019s at least a partial list:<\/p>\n

\u2219 tearful (which is the problem, but which pops up first)<\/p>\n

\u2219 sad but dry-eyed<\/p>\n

\u2219 angry<\/p>\n

\u2219 happy (we\u2019re writing everything down)<\/p>\n

\u2219 joyous<\/p>\n

\u2219 ecstatic<\/p>\n

\u2219 calm<\/p>\n

\u2219 anxious<\/p>\n

\u2219 hysterical<\/p>\n

\u2219 amused<\/p>\n

\u2219 frightened<\/p>\n

\u2219 cerebral, thoughtful (which probably isn\u2019t an emotion, but who cares?)<\/p>\n

\u2219 disoriented<\/p>\n

\u2219 comforted<\/p>\n

\u2219 satisfied<\/p>\n

\u2219 self-satisfied<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s stop here, though I might be able to wring out a few more. And, when it comes to lists, it often pays off to keep going after we think we\u2019ve squeezed out every possibility. Stare out a window. Stamp around the room. Give it ten more minutes before moving on.<\/p>\n

In this case let\u2019s look at what we have. Let\u2019s start with the least probable one: happiness. How might that one come into play? Well, let\u2019s make a list. I\u2019ll make it short, just to illustrate how we can keep using lists:<\/p>\n

\u2219 MC Judith arrives at the home of her unknown relatives, and the welcome is warm. She\u2019s so relieved (add relief<\/em> to our list of emotions) that she feels a brief burst of happiness.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Judith uncovers her first clue to what\u2019s behind her troubles, which she comes about\u00a0purely by her own brainpower. Briefly again, she feels happy. Her adversary doesn\u2019t know she\u2019s smart.<\/p>\n

Looking down our list of emotions we see others that will be easy to draw on: anger, fear, anxiety, disorientation, hysteria. We can use them to vary the weeping. But if we bring in some of the more surprising ones, like amusement or thoughtfulness, we\u2019ll also expand Judith, make her more interesting, deeper, and more varied.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll end with this over-the-top statement: If the only writing wisdom you take from the blog concerns lists and the freedom to generate them, I will have done a good job!<\/p>\n

Now for four prompts:<\/p>\n

\u2219 Before Judith leaves for her relatives, at her friend\u2019s house, the friend criticizes Judith for the way she\u2019s handled her many crises. Write the scene and bring in a surprising emotional response from Judith. Use notes and lists in writing the scene.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Judith is picked up by the police for questioning about her dad\u2019s supposed crime. Write the scene and have her run through three emotions, and not all of them have to be genuine\u2013she can play act strategically.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Rewrite the questioning scene and make Judith make everyone, herself included, laugh.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Turns out Judith\u2019s relatives aren\u2019t very happy to have her as a guest. Write the scene when she finds this out and do not<\/em> let her cry.<\/p>\n

Have fun and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sad news is that the Powers That Be at my publisher are no longer pleased with the title\u00a0The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre. I suggested Look, This Book Has No Title. Everyone laughed. I\u2019ll keep you posted. On February 16, 2016, Writeforfun wrote, What are some emotional reactions to lots of terrible changes happening at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[111],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":722,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions\/722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}