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Emotions influence us in a myriad of ways, even if we're trying to hide them - sometimes especially if we're trying to hide them. Show us how your characters act because of their emotions, and the ...
Answer
#2: Post edited
by
Tau
·
2020-05-31T04:41:53Z (almost 4 years ago)
- Emotions influence us in a myriad of ways, even if we're trying to hide them - sometimes especially if we're trying to hide them. Show us how your characters *act* because of their emotions, and the decisions they make.
- To build on your example:
- Imagine that one evening, a knock comes on your vampire-hating character's door. One of his neighbours says that there's been a vampire spotted in the area nearby and they're gathering people with military experience to hunt it down. What does your character do?
Maybe he reluctantly says no, saying he's given that life up, then spends the next hour agonising over the decision, imagining vampires killing his friends, until he changes his mind and ends up running out to join the group anyway. Or maybe it's the other way around - he agrees immediately, then keeps remembering his father's death as he waits for the rest of the group to gather and finally, with a great deal of resistance, goes "sorry, I can't do this". Whatever happens, his emotions should be a key driving force to the point of making him act irrationally, giving your readers an insight into them... and, for bonus points, they're getting an insight into them while plot is happening! Sitting around watching a character navel-gaze isn't enjoyable and doesn't carry your story forward. Readers read wanting to see characters _do_ things, not _feel_ things.- The above was just an example, but the point is that it should be easy for you to throw the character into a situation where their emotions make a difference. Maybe that's a vampire hunt, maybe it's him needing to work closely together with a vampire sympathiser or a vampire who deserted and joined the elves, sky's the limit here.
- If you can't think of anything... if your character has strong, powerful emotions which don't have enough of an impact on his choices and actions for you to show this way... well, frankly that's a contradiction! I would urge you to go back and look at how you're portraying the character, and/or see if their backstory is actually relevant to the story you're telling.
- Emotions influence us in a myriad of ways, even if we're trying to hide them - sometimes especially if we're trying to hide them. Show us how your characters *act* because of their emotions, and the decisions they make.
- To build on your example:
- Imagine that one evening, a knock comes on your vampire-hating character's door. One of his neighbours says that there's been a vampire spotted in the area nearby and they're gathering people with military experience to hunt it down. What does your character do?
- Maybe he reluctantly says no, saying he's given that life up, then spends the next hour agonising over the decision, imagining vampires killing his friends, until he changes his mind and ends up running out to join the group anyway. Or maybe it's the other way around - he agrees immediately, then keeps remembering his father's death as he waits for the rest of the group to gather and finally, with a great deal of resistance, goes "sorry, I can't do this". Whatever happens, his emotions should be a key driving force to the point of making him act irrationally, giving your readers an insight into them... and, for bonus points, they're getting an insight into them while plot is happening! Sitting around watching a character navel-gaze isn't enjoyable and doesn't carry your story forward. Readers read to see characters _do_ things - them also _feeling_ things is a nice side-effect but not the main event.
- The above was just an example, but the point is that it should be easy for you to throw the character into a situation where their emotions make a difference. Maybe that's a vampire hunt, maybe it's him needing to work closely together with a vampire sympathiser or a vampire who deserted and joined the elves, sky's the limit here.
- If you can't think of anything... if your character has strong, powerful emotions which don't have enough of an impact on his choices and actions for you to show this way... well, frankly that's a contradiction! I would urge you to go back and look at how you're portraying the character, and/or see if their backstory is actually relevant to the story you're telling.
#1: Initial revision
by
Tau
·
2020-05-31T04:40:51Z (almost 4 years ago)
Emotions influence us in a myriad of ways, even if we're trying to hide them - sometimes especially if we're trying to hide them. Show us how your characters *act* because of their emotions, and the decisions they make. To build on your example: Imagine that one evening, a knock comes on your vampire-hating character's door. One of his neighbours says that there's been a vampire spotted in the area nearby and they're gathering people with military experience to hunt it down. What does your character do? Maybe he reluctantly says no, saying he's given that life up, then spends the next hour agonising over the decision, imagining vampires killing his friends, until he changes his mind and ends up running out to join the group anyway. Or maybe it's the other way around - he agrees immediately, then keeps remembering his father's death as he waits for the rest of the group to gather and finally, with a great deal of resistance, goes "sorry, I can't do this". Whatever happens, his emotions should be a key driving force to the point of making him act irrationally, giving your readers an insight into them... and, for bonus points, they're getting an insight into them while plot is happening! Sitting around watching a character navel-gaze isn't enjoyable and doesn't carry your story forward. Readers read wanting to see characters _do_ things, not _feel_ things. The above was just an example, but the point is that it should be easy for you to throw the character into a situation where their emotions make a difference. Maybe that's a vampire hunt, maybe it's him needing to work closely together with a vampire sympathiser or a vampire who deserted and joined the elves, sky's the limit here. If you can't think of anything... if your character has strong, powerful emotions which don't have enough of an impact on his choices and actions for you to show this way... well, frankly that's a contradiction! I would urge you to go back and look at how you're portraying the character, and/or see if their backstory is actually relevant to the story you're telling.