E Motion

Emotion is my word of the week - I seriously need to grasp it by the horns now and start applying it. Reading Writing for Emotional Impact I've just gone through the section on Humanistic Virtues in which a character who puts others before themselves, despite how they will be affected.

It got me thinking back to The Pursuit of Happyness, which I sat through t'other night (yawning only for the fact that a lot of this stuff we've seen before). Don't get me wrong, the film was well done, the characters believeable. I just didn't like the voiceover - it's an American thing isn't it (what I call the Jerry Springer moment), usually occuring at the end of a tv episode to give the moral story to the undeserving audience who've failed to pay attention. I mean, why do I need to be told that this is "my stupid time" or this bit's entitled "running" when I can clearly see the character doing something dumb, and then running (two separate incidents).

That's not the point, the point is Happyness uses some good ideas to generate audience empathy:

1. Will Smith's character Chris is locked up for parking tickets the night before his interview to join the internship. He'll be let out at 9:30am, but he's in civvies, no suit and tie, and plastered in paint! Who'll pick up his son and look after him (it's such a blow considering he's just got his son back)? Will he get to the interview? What will they say when he turns up as he is?
2. Chris has finally had someone pick up the phone and agree to see him, and hear his pitch, he flies out the door only having 20 minutes to get there, and his boss wants him to move his boss's car. The next scene is spent searching for a space to park it. He gets one, doesn't have time to worry about paying the meter, but is too late. He gets back to the car to find it has a parking ticket... and all his time wasted when it could have been spent calling and pitching back at base.
3. Chris takes his son up to the guy's house to "apologise" for not turning up on time. Good ole Chris doesn't have to do this, but he's making the effort to go out of his way for the sale. They end up at the big game together, and whilst Chris tries his pitch he's shot down - the other guy isn't interested after all. Chris is devastated.
4. Thrown out on the streets, the IRS having seized his assets, Chris is desperate to sell one more medical unit (his other job) to pay for his son to stay in a hotel, but he gets to the hospital and it refuses to work. Another night to be spent on the streets.
5. That first night, Chris plays pretend with his son in the subway, pretending that they are hiding in a cave from dinosaurs when in fact it's a toilet. While his son sleeps, Chris holds the door closed, crying as someone beats on the otherside.
6. Having spent a couple of nights in a hostel Chris is just heading out to collect his son (they have to get there before 5pm to be guaranteed a room) and his big boss borrows a fiver off him for a cab, meaning he can't catch the cab himself... and they don't make it on time.

All of these examples relate around Chris's need to protect his son, provide for him, and give stability. He's holding down the internship (which doesn't pay) with no bank account and trying to sell his medical units (which just won't sell), whilst looking after his son.

The writers (not a hard job since this is based on a true story) focused their scenes upon Chris's continual struggle against his pursuit.

Discovering the Treasure of Charolastra

And so it is uncovered, this gold from deep within the Aztec-ian hills:
It comes down to not so much writing what you know, but writing what makes you feel. You get that emotional connection between subconscious, your real world, and the world inside the pages, and you can construct a story that makes an impact on you.

Both Solvey and Mr. Cox have shouted in my ear for emotional content, and MG's references are only now striking a chord (C Major, I think). There is a time and a place for learning and development. We strike up the mountain of knowledge and end up on a stretching plateau where we believe we're not learning anything. Simply put we must consolidate upon what we have learnt previously before going on. I hope this means I'm about to take my next step up. Maybe I won't get it :)

It goes hand in hand with my new book (well, not my new book): Writing for Emotional Impact, by Karl Iglesias. People want emotional relativity in what they see, read, interact with. Let's see if I can turn that onto my new fiction project.

Emote

If there's one thing Solvey is consistently trying to drill into my head it's to concentrate upon drawing emotion from my reader. Aristotle has this to say:

So far as possible, they should act out what they are writing, even down to the characters' movements and gestures. If two writers are of equal natural ability, the more convincing will be the one who [also] shares the actual emotions, blustering like a blusterer, ranting like someone furious. Writers need to have sympathetic natures or be slightly mad. The first kind easily understand the emotions [of the characters], the second kind feel those emotions in person.

- Aristotle's Poetics

Emotional Response

I'm feeling kind of happy this morning. My wife picked up my latest short story (on its way to Litopia's next competition - It seemed like a good idea at the time), and for the very first time she circled only one sentence. She had no spelling, grammar, word choice, abstractions, or confusing corrections.

Instead she questioned just one line... and why am I so happy about this?

We were sat at either end of the dining table eating strawberries. I’d pluck them from my bowl and suckle at the ends like a baby on a teat as she looked on.

She felt that for a six year old this was a too erotic. It made her uncomfortable! Uncomfortable! Excellent!

For the first time I've actually got someone feeling some emotion (expressed immediately back to me that feels tangible between us) over my prose. Obviously, she didn't feel it was right to stay in, but for that very specific reason I know it is right for the piece.

Can I keep this up?