What a wonderful topic for this month's Round Robin Blog. Thank you Dr. Bob!
Are you ever emotionally drained by writing certain scenes, and how real are your characters to you?
For romance novelist the emotional involvement is the 💖 of the story. Whereas fear would be the emotional of a horror story, etc.
So, like so many other romance novelists of my era, I have one key movie and one key television series which spelled out emotion in capital letters.
- The opening of the movie Romancing the Stone, where author Joan Wilder (played by Kathleen Turner) is bawling because she has finished her book with a very emotional scene in her book.
- The television series, Beauty and the Beast, starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Pearlman (as Vincent, the beast). The opening music was enough to make my throat thick and my eyes teary.
I've read meany books that brought me to tears (Jane Eyre, to name my favorite), and I must admit, I still cry when I re-read scenes in my own novels, too. Talk that dark moment in Lynx, Rodeo Romance, Book 1, when Rachel turns down Lynx's proposal. Or in Brede, Rodeo Romance, Book 2 when my heroine is willing to sacrifice her life to save Brede and his daughter. Well, you get the picture , ,
I plot my novels and short stories, however, I emotionally live my scenes. Since my settings are places I have lived or visited, I have memories and sensory reactions. In real life, since I can feel other people's emotions, which is difficult at times, and it helps for me to write it out through my characters.
Emotional draining? Yes.
Rewarding? Of course.
Please stop by and see what these wonderful authors have to say by clicking on the links below.
Happy Reading!
Connie
Victoria Chatham
Marci Baun
Margaret Fieland
Judith Copek
A.J. Maguire
Rachael Kosinski
Dr. Bob Rich
Heather Haven
Beverley Bateman
Kay Sisk
Diane Bator
Skye Taylor
Helena Fairfax
Rhobin Courtwright
I really like to actually GO to the places my stories take place, too.It sometimes helps me to feel like I'm there and if I can feel it, I can make both my characters and my readers feel it, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on using settings I know in my stories. For places I have never been I use Google Earth and Google Maps which helps a lot, especially Google Earth. I can't imagine now having to go back to the haunting the library days.
ReplyDeleteConnie, that's a good trick to tie the emotion in the story to your personal reactions to a real place. I've never tried that, but will give it a go.
ReplyDelete:)
Bob
It is interesting how places can effect us so emotionally. Yet I know I have very strong emotions when I'm walking the shores of Lake Michigan, or the streets of Chicago. I envy you the ability to feel the scenes why you write them.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Connie! I found it intriguing that you write about places where you have lived. I do that a lot, too, adding locales I have visited and even some places that I just need for the story. By the time I write it, I feel ike I have visited there. I also found it interesting that you have templates, so to speak, to guide you emotionally. As a romance writer, emotion is paramount to your writing, but those of us producing crime fiction also need to deal with heavy emotions.
ReplyDeleteVery much agree, Connie. :)
ReplyDeleteGood post. I like how you relate to your characters even on rereads.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd forgotten about the opening scene in Romancing the Stone - loved that movie.
Oh I know this one---I must have rewritten my dying Mozart scene about twelve times, and each time was more harrowing.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Connie!