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EricaWordsmith replied to the topic Emotional Scenes in the forum General Writing Discussions 7 years ago
Hi there! I’m going hop in and say emotional scene… one that makes the reader hurt. Like, when a character dies in a story and it devastates you, think about why did that hurt so much? My theory is that at least in my case it’s because I loved that character, they had become my friend or loved one, and when something hurts them it hurts me.
I’d say make sure the character is real and lovable (or whatever other emotion you want the reader to feel).
Also, I’ve heard people say to write what you need and not what you think other people need. I’d say apply that to your story.
In this sort of context, tragic backstory… make sure that that all the characters are consistent to their personality. You want for the reader to feel the pain of the character having to trust enough to reveal that hurt. Like, if the girl is always trying to be brave, then telling her story should be hard because she doesn’t want to show that she’s weak in that area. If it’s hurting another character to hear her story, then think through how they would act. This can be slightly hard for me sometimes because I naturally feel inclined to give all the characters the same emotional response I would.
So, tip in a nutshell, just evaluate your character and think about how they are likely to react to that emotion and stay consistent with it. Spend time trying to get into each character’s head and figuring out their mental process and how they will respond to the struggle they’re going through.
Also, don’t delve to deeply if it’s early on in the story. Save the most explicit descriptions of emotion for the climax/ending.
I hope some of that was decipherable!












