Emotional Upheavals Can Translate to Great Writing
I’ve had a rather tumultuous week since I returned from Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks. I started out high on beauty and serenity, natural landscapes and wildlife. I was calm, tranquil, close to meditative.
Then my sweet dog of thirteen and a half years passed away. It was downhill from there.
You know that feeling of being gut-punched, but you weren’t? Of having your throat close up but you’re not sick? Of crying during a comedy? Of laughing during a tragic drama? High one minute, low the next? Forgetting why you walked into a room? Not feeling particularly hungry one minute, but ravenous the next? In the words of C.S. Lewis:
“Grief … gives life a permanently provisional feeling. It doesn’t seem worth starting anything. I can’t settle down. I yawn, I fidget, I smoke too much. Up till this I always had too little time. Now there is nothing but time. Almost pure time, empty successiveness.”
This is grief. Grief . . . at the loss of a loved one, human or animal, or even the loss of a job, a car, a house. Not pleasant. Still, for writers, it can give us that added insight into the emotional underlay of our characters. Grief, or other intense emotions, like anger, can provide that extra dimension to boost ordinary characters into incisive, sharp, exquisite personalities. It’s hard to write what you can’t feel, or what you haven’t ever felt.
Actors practice getting into character by living or reliving these emotions and translating them into behaviors. Screaming, crying, yanking their hair out, pounding the table, running away or simply sleeping. So many ways to act out grief.
Writers must translate those same emotions into the written word. I encourage you to take these emotions and render them to words, then to sentences and scenes. How have your own experiences of these sensations, like grief, helped you bring your characters to life?
Sorry about the loss of your dog. They become members of the family and their passing is not easy.
And thanks for this post. It is a good reminder of how to use emotional responses.
Thanks very much, Thomas.
I’m an animal lover and I know the feeling. I’m so sorry for your loss, but you have to remember that you gave your beloved pooch as good life.
Thanks, Nike.
Also my condolences. Close to 14 years is normaly a long life for a dog but no matter when someone whether Family, friend, spouse or pet dies sadness will surely prevail.
Thanks, Bill. I appreciate the kind words.
I have never had a close connection to an animal, but I understand there are lots of animal lovers out there, so my condolences to you. But even if no one or animal dies, disappointment, setback and illness can cause grief. I must say that grief has inspired me to complete some of my best writing. During these times, I am the most reflective.
Thanks, Margo. I completely understand your connection between grief and writing.