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Feeling the Sun on Your Face
| How do you feel when you write? Do you experience emotion? |
The writers who know me (God bless their souls!) have heard how I have a tendency to feel as though I'm watching a movie as I write, seeing the characters and the action before me. All I do is get my laptop and some popcorn and away I go.
It's really interesting to find out what happens and what we experience when we write.
Do you see the characters and the action happen before you, (the way I do) as if on the silver screen? Do you feel as though you're sitting and talking to them, maybe even having coffee with them? Are you smack dab in the middle of all the action, walking silently through scenes like a ghost? What's it like for you?
Unless you're a writer, you'd probably think any of us ready for Nurse Ratched to hand us our medication and place us in the white rubber rooms after reading this, but writing is definitely an experience, both singular and unique.
| "The voices are that of the main character...I promise!" |
Yes, definitely singular and unique, and similar to the experience of the reader. Every reader recreates the books they read in their mind, making it a truly special experience. This very reason is exactly why there will always be books around in some form, whether digital or made of paper, or in whatever form the future will hold. A book is an adventure between two covers and it's up to us as writers to make that adventure compelling and evoke emotion.
And yes, sometimes even a manuscript in revision can evoke emotions, and we're coming back to the phenomena I brought up at the beginning of this post. Yesterday I experienced something I hadn't ever before, and it happened when I was revising a specific scene in my manuscript, where the m.c. is feeling a moment of exhilaration as she sees her destination ahead (Character is on a road trip and hasn't had a vacation in years...poor thing.) and as she drives over an iconic suspension bridge, she feels the heat of the sun beaming down upon her through the sunroof and hears the rush of wind and feels...happy!
Not sure what caused it, but suddenly I was in the driver's seat of the vehicle, and I was feeling the excitement of the character and guess what? I felt the warmth on my face as if I was there. It was honest-to-God heat I experienced. Anyhow, I kept on with the revision work and the "total immersion effect" (what I'm calling it now because "unexplained phenomena" sounds like it belongs on a show about area 51) continued. I felt the character's optimism, and literally what it felt like to drive where she was going. Needless to say, it was really fun yesterday with the revisions.
After I was done a few hours later, hubs came into the room and saw me smiling. He said, "Wow you're in a good mood." And I told him I just had the most fun writing I'd ever had before. He just kept walking into the kitchen. A few other writers who may have been writing a heart-wrenching scene have told me they've even wept, feeling the pain of the character as they wrote.
Let me know what happens when you write, and most importantly has this "total immersion effect" ever happened to you? Ever laughed out loud or cried or felt the sun on your face or the wind in your hair?
We're all in this together, so let's have fun...and write!
10 comments:
What a fascinating observation, Joey!
I have to admit that I do "feel" a lot of what my characters do, before the words go down on paper or screen; part of my process is getting into their heads and testing out if their reactions and emotions would be true, at least to me. I've laughed and cried before (silly me?), but I don't think I've ever really experienced a flush of heat like you describe. I long for that day, now, though!
Nope you're not silly, nor more than I'm silly (but then again...?)
How do you test out the character's emotions? Do you read it aloud? Do you imagine them talking? I think the day of you feeling their emotion is around the corner.
Or else it is just me who's felt that and I am simply weird.
I'd always heard writer's were transported, and characters just walked onto the page when writing. I have to admit, I was skeptical. Until, it happened to me. In the novel I'm half way through, I was in the zone. I had my MC on a plane headed home, and low and behold in walks another character I hadn't planned on originally. I have to say, I got pretty excited.
I'm a visual person, so I do see the scene in my head as I'm writing. My characters have come alive for me. It's really a thrill.
That's awesome what happened on the plane, and when we get in the zone it's organic and it flows. Granted when I do it there are usually some mistakes when I just being typing in that almost flow-of-consciousness type state, but it's usually good stuff that comes as a result.
Joey,
I actually experience a lot of what you do: I can see a scene as though it's a 1-camera shoot (with coverage, of course!) happening in front of me. And, this is a bit blush-worthy, but I also act out some scenes, including speaking aloud the dialogue. (That's why I have a closed-door office!) I don't know if it's the theatre person in me or just that I want feelings and actions to be accurate, but it helps me with my writing. Of course, I'm not successful or even really published, so I have no idea how that will translate to readers! :D
Would it help Mayumi if you knew I'm not published either? But I'm working on it, just as you are ;)
There is absolutely nothing wrong in reading the dialogue aloud, again, unless you're NOT a writer (or actor/actress). If you're neither, then quite possibly you're more like the wild-haired man in the second photo in the blog post above.
Whatever imho, allows you to create the words to create the perfect scene or emotional moment for the reader I think is a good thing, as long as it doesn't involve gunfire or bungee jumping.
I have always felt my character's. I have also always seen them, in my minds eye, of course; however, I do see and feel each character and I feel what they feel, I see what they see, I eat, sleep and breath what I make of them. I believe this is normal because, in some way, we are the character's we create. We are their heart, their soul, their existence and, most importantly, we are their creator.
Writing is akin to being a God, we are creating a universe where our character's live and breath--without us, they would never exist. Being a writer is as close to being a God as we will ever get. God created the world and the human beings inhabiting His world in six days and then he rested on the seventh day--oh, how I wish it worked this way when each of us write our novels, when we endeavor to create our worlds and our people (creatures, etc.).
We perceive, we create, we bring life to the characters through our abilities to write--this had to be how God felt when he perceived this Earth, His people and then created this world and us, and it certainly is tiring to create a world and brings its inhabitants to life, isn't it?
Yet, it is a joyous thing to know they exist, to know their thoughts, beliefs, their accomplishments and failures and to know without our blood, sweat and tears, (our pens, papers, computers) they would be, merely, fleeting thoughts in our minds, forgotten and replaced when the next thought took hold of our minds.
I have always felt my character's. I have also always seen them, in my minds eye, of course; however, I do see and feel each character and I feel what they feel, I see what they see, I eat, sleep and breath what I make of them. I believe this is normal because, in some way, we are the character's we create. We are their heart, their soul, their existence and, most importantly, we are their creator.
Writing is akin to being a God, we are creating a universe where our character's live and breath--without us, they would never exist. Being a writer is as close to being a God as we will ever get. God created the world and the human beings inhabiting His world in six days and then he rested on the seventh day--oh, how I wish it worked this way when each of us write our novels, when we endeavor to create our worlds and our people (creatures, etc.).
We perceive, we create, we bring life to the characters through our abilities to write--this had to be how God felt when he perceived this Earth, His people and then created this world and us, and it certainly is tiring to create a world and brings its inhabitants to life, isn't it?
Yet, it is a joyous thing to know they exist, to know their thoughts, beliefs, their accomplishments and failures and to know without our blood, sweat and tears, (our pens, papers, computers) they would be, merely, fleeting thoughts in our minds, forgotten and replaced when the next thought took hold of our minds.
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