Insightful writing (aka how to rip your reader’s heart out) - a tutorial
At the request of my very good friend and inspiration, @therealpoesdaughter - this is a small attempt at describing the process behind some of my writing.
Truth be told, I don’t consider myself that good a writer, or even that creative in terms of plot progression. One thing however that people have told me is that my writing is somehow deep/insightful/introspective in a way that brings out deeper emotions of the characters I write about. I don’t know if there’s a way to mimic that, but I’m going to try and create a ‘method’ to explain the madness that is the introspection reflected across my writing.
Here is one general rule I keep in mind as a reminder –
We are all complex, complex beings. We are constantly watching, judging, feeling, knowing, betraying, pining, wishing, and moving. We are evolving all the time, as are our thoughts and motivations, hopes and fears. It’s not a linear trajectory, though! Realizing the sheer humanity of your creation, is key.
With this in mind, here’s how I generally approach writing:
1) Capturing a snapshot in time. What truly breathes a life into a character imo, is writing about them as real people at a point in time, and try to capture all the dynamics above as they would be materializing in their head at that moment. Recreate everything, using all senses - what is unfolding before their eyes; does a certain sensation remind them of something? etc.
(Pro-tip: olfactory senses [smell] is the strongest at evoking old memories)
2) Go deep. As a writer, be prepared to take a deep dive into your character’s head. Swim through all the potential emotions they will be going through that moment in time, all their pre-determined beliefs and notions, all their hopes/dreams and motivations, all their pain and hurt. Because they will be going through all that, you just have to find it.
3) And once you have a range of these emotional dimensions, choose the ones that evoke the strongest emotion in you (the writer!). Chart them, mind-map them if it helps. But when it comes to writing you only focus on the ones that stop your own heart in your chest. If there’s something that leaves you reeling, it will have the same effect on the reader.
4) Amplify with non-verbal cues. Because your character is caught at a point in time, One thing that helps in making an environment/ambiance/air within a scene, is the pain that the writer puts into it. If a terse conversation is happening, then there won’t be as many words, as gestures, glances, clenched fists, heavy silences. Document them, it will add more realism to the scene and gravitas to any words spoken.
5) Rethink your dialogue. This is the real clincher (and requires the most editing IMO). Your character has been through hell and back, you are fully inside their head, and know all the different things buzzing around. You know there is one thought/emotion/cognition that they are hung up on the most. You know that they are reflecting all of that with their body and their silence to other people around them.
Now is the time for them to speak. What will they say?
This is completely at the discretion of the writer. But one thing to keep in mind is that at most points, characters will be tongue-tied. So what they say will often be either metaphorical or somehow indirect, because facing emotions in a difficult time is one thing, voicing them out will be another. And strangely, this is also the time to truly personalize your character. Be experimental at this stage, but the rule of thumb is to stick with the sentence (which should be simple, short), that once more, impacts you the most.
Now here’s a brief scenario as an example of how all these things fit in a scene:
Context: A woman was shopping at the grocery store/mall, and lost her 3-year old son for a good hour. Here’s how the above elements would play out.
1) Capture a moment in time: the mother is looking for her son. That moment when she would be looking for her child would be filled with the usual tension, anger, stress, anxiety, trepidation, horror. But underlying emotions/thoughts: they would be late for a birthday party, what would her mother-in-law/husband/any other antagonist figure in her life say, she was a failure, she was an utter, utter failure, etc.
2) Go deep: Think out every single emotion/thought. Why tense, why horrified, why anxious, why the hell is that birthday party important, why the fear of her mother in law, why is she a failure?
Now at this point, you’ll have a lot of stuff, and most of it wont make it to your final writing. So be prepared to edit and cut - it’s part of the process in helping identify what impacts one the most.
3) Choose the strongest emotion: and build your writing around that. To me, would be the sense of failure. Every single time that young mother had felt incompetent, inept, stupid, would rush through her brain. Every failure, from dropping out of college to a public gaffe, would rage through her mind. Now attached to failure is self-loathing, so it will be accompanied by a lot of “you dont deserves.” ‘You don’t deserve to be a mother,”/ ”You mess everything up, you dont deserve a happy life” / “You are a failure, you dont deserve a beautiful child like Ethan..” etc.
4) Amplify with non-verbal cues: The mother is waiting in a lounge as the mall police continues their search. There is an attendant with her, but she’s distraught, pacing, crying, trying not to make a scene, trying to reel it in, wringing her hands, slapping her forehead. Eventually, the attendant tries to make small talk, but quiets down because she knows its not the right time, it was never reciprocated.
5) Rethink dialogue: Of all the dialogues that stuck out to me most, was this one thought verbalized - which deflected acceptance of pain openly, is emblematic of the mother’s character, yet reveals she is human and not without a heart.
“I wouldn’t wish this upon an enemy,” whispered the mother to the attendant, tears clinging to her lashes, her breathing uneven.
(they find the son at the end, dw :p ).
I’ll try to reblog this with an actual scene incorporating all of these some time later ^ . But for now, that’s all folks. I apologize about the length, this was my first time doing a tutorial like this. Hope it’s helpful, reach out if there are any questions! Enjoy :)
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