The Emotional Truth of Fiction
Fiction is primarily an emotional exchange.
Readers stay connected to the hero because they feel the story. Readers want to see the
character succeed, or at least want to see what happens next, based on this
connection. Because fiction is an emotional exchange, a writer chooses words to
create a larger emotional impact. For example, the denotative meaning is the
explicit definition as listed in a dictionary. Childhood means
the state of being a child. However, the emotional weight, or the
expressiveness of language, comes from the connotative meaning. The connotation
of the word impacts the tone and themes of the narrative. When Dorothy says
"there's no place like home," she is referring to the emotional
impact of her family.
Two books I’ve revisited of late takes a deep dive into this
relationship to the emotional truth of fiction.
In his book, The Emotional Craft of Fiction (Writer’s Digest
Books, 2016, Donald Maass explains that human action is driven by need. “That
need is sensed in subtext and revealed through what people say and do,” he
states. According to Maass, the dynamics of reader responses are complex. And
“the language of emotion…also makes a difference to readers’ experiences. Plot,
too, can be understood as a sequence of emotional milestones.”
According to Maass, there are three paths to producing an
emotional response in readers. 1. Report what characters are feeling so
effectively that reader experiences the emotion. (Tell). 2. Imply the character’s
inner state through external action. (Show). 3. Establish an emotional dialogue
between author and reader by causing the reader to feel something that a
character does not feel themselves. In my own writing, I discover the best emotional
responses are often elicited when these three modes are combined.
The second book is The Emotion Thesaurus (2019), by Angela
Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. As the authors explain in detail, all novels, no
matter the genre, have one thing in common: emotion. “(Emotion) lies at the
core of every character’s decision, action, and word…Without emotion, a
character’s personal journey is pointless. Stakes cease to exist, The plot line
becomes a dry riverbed of meaningless events that no reader will take the time
to read.”
The challenge becomes, obviously, dramatizing these emotions
in such a way as to allow the reader to experience them wholly. Experiencing a
novel means “feeling immersed, rapt, caught up in the spell of the story.”
One can either read a novel, or experience it.
Here’s the truth of it: Writing is brutal work. It’s time-consuming, and exhausting. It’s wibbly wobbly in the best of times, a paradox that lives in a multiverse, a technical marvel that is bigger on the inside, and a creative force that knows no bounds.
Stories are ancient. So old, so intimately connected with language, some researchers suggest that language was created to express stories, that we are hardwired to think in story. And yet, each story is a new creation, and a new experience. At once, old and new. And every storified experience is a paradox in that it seems absolute in the moment, and yet the writing goes beyond itself, even as it never escapes itself.
"Throughout my career, if I have done anything, I have
paid attention to every (word) and every (word) I (write) - if I
respect the (story). If I cannot project this to a (reader), I fail."
--Bobbi Miller
Much to contemplate, Bobbi. The difficulty is how to write this emotion in the voice of a 13 year old without sounding whiny or too adult.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to comment anonymously. Beth Schmelzer, pre-published MG author
DeleteHi Beth: Most definitely! There's a reason why writing is called hard work, and writing for younger audiences, trying to capture an authentic voice and emotional experience, is harder still!
DeleteWriting for kids is the toughest (and best!) job there is. Can't wait to see your next book, Bobbi!
ReplyDeleteOoh--I love that #3 from Maass.
ReplyDelete"Here’s the truth of it: Writing is brutal work. It’s time-consuming, and exhausting. It’s wibbly wobbly in the best of times, a paradox that lives in a multiverse, a technical marvel that is bigger on the inside, and a creative force that knows no bounds."
ReplyDeleteSo true, Bobbi! Especially the wibbyly-wobbly-ness.
Emotional journeys are what make us keep reading. Thanks Bobbi.
ReplyDelete