Emotion in Writing, Part 4: Conflict and Connection

In Part 1 of this series I talked about the power of emotions and why they are important in writing. In Part 2 I talked about Pain and Joy. In Part 3 I went over Love and Hate.

Today we will be discussing conflict and connection. I know that these are probably not the first things that come to mind when you think of emotions. But all emotions lead to one or the other - a conflict or a connection. And some emotions, like love, can even lead to both.

Conflict

Conflict is the driving force of a story. Without conflict there is not story. Would you read 200 pages about someone who has a perfect life? No. Why - because it isn't possible. It isn't believable. And it is down right boring.

Lot's of things can cause conflict in our writing. For me the most powerful ones are conflicts born of emotion. Take a moment and think of your favorite book - the one you read over and over again. What is the conflict? Keep digging deeper until you find a conflict tied to emotions.

My favorite book is The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. The main conflict begins when the hero - driven by an emotional force he does not understand - kidnaps the heroine. The following conflicts ensue because the heroine starts to fall in love with the desert people and of course - with the hero.

Emotional conflicts fall into two major categories. There is a conflict because of opposing emotions. (For example, Bella and Jake from Twilight have different emotions towards Edward - which creates a conflict between them.) Or the emotion a character has is in conflict with what they have to do. (In The Blue Sword the heroine loves the hero but must go against him and risk loosing his love to save the day.)

Connection

I wrote and entire series on Emotional Connections with Characters. What I want to discuss here is emotional connection between characters.

Let's address the obvious first - love. When two characters love each other (on whatever level) they become connected. I laughed in Harry Potter when he broke up with Ginny because he did not want to put her in danger. When will heroes learn that just because the aren't with the person they love the bad guy won't still kidnap them.

Back to Harry and Ginny. He breaks up with her to keep her safe. However he still loves her. And guess what - Voldemort knows that. Gasp. So even if Harry wasn't with Ginny - Voldemort would still come after her to get to him.

Hate can also connect to characters. Take for example Harry and Voldemort. They hate each other and that is a powerful part of what binds their fates together.

Can you think of other connects between characters that are formed because of emotions, such as fear, hope, respect?

In summary, emotions are the tools we use to create conflict and connection in our writing. They give depth and detail to a story.

What do you think? What are some emotional conflicts and connections you have come across in your reading or writing?

Emotion in Writing, Part 3: Love and Hate

In Part 1 of this series I talked about the power of emotions and why they are important in writing. In Part 2 I talked about Pain and Joy. Now I would like to talk about the two emotions that bind people and characters together - Love and Hate

Love

In my opinion - love is the strongest emotion out there. Under its influence people do the most amazing things. There are many different levels and kinds of love. Family love, romantic love, friendship, caring.

Love forms a bond between two people. I also think that once this bond is formed - it can never be broken. Although it might change its nature.

Love is a very powerful tool in writing. It can cause the pain or joy in our characters lives that draws are readers in. It is also an excellent motivator. Take Harry Potter for example - can you think of how he was motivated by love even in the first book?

I will give you a second to think about that.

Okay, times up. Harry felt unloved. In the new world that opened to him in Hogwarts - he continually tried to fill that void in his life.

Hate

Hate is second only to love, in my opinion. In fact, when love sours it turns into the most intense kind of hate. Going back to love forming bonds - if there is a love connection of some kind between to people and that turns into hate - the bond is still there it is just different.

Think of what kind of story you could build around that. Take two mortal enemies and trace their story back to the point where they once loved each other. This is not a new formula - it has been used many times. But the possibilities are still endless.

Often, we (or at least I) tend to think of hate being ascribed to our antagonist. They are the bad guy after all. But just like love is a powerful motivator - so is hate. Hate can drive a person to do many things. I bet you can already think of several examples in books you have read.

How do you use love and hate in your writing? Have you read anything that utilized these two emotions in a surprising way?

Emotions in Writing, Part 2: Pain and Joy

In Part 1 of this series I talked about the power of emotions and why they are important in writing. Now I would like to cover two of the most basic and powerful emotions we can inject in our writing: Pain and Joy.

Pain

All the most interesting characters in fiction experience pain at some point. It is why we care about the story, it is what draws us to them.

In The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantès suffers the pain of being falsely accused and loosing everything he cares for.

In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo must bear the heavy burden of the ring all the way to Mordor.

In Harry Potter, Harry is an orphan who feels unloved and out of place.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss sacrifices everything for her own survival and that of those she loves.

Pain gives us something to identify with. We identify with Edmond because we have all felt betrayed. We identify with Frodo because we all have burden's to carry. We identify with Harry because we have all felt alone. We identify with Katniss because we can imagine giving up so much to save what we love.

We can inject pain into our writing by giving our characters something tragic in their past and having them face difficult circumstances and set backs in the course of the story.

Joy

On the other side of pain is joy. After travelling with a character through their journey we learn to take joy in what they take joy in. We celebrate their success and find home in the victories. Some stories, by design, lack joy. But for me a fulfilling story always has one ray of joy shining at the end.

But the joy most worth having comes at a cost. It is by pushing through the pain to find the joy on the other side of the trial that our characters overcome. They turn the pain into joy.

In most stories the joy comes at the end. Some endings are happy. Some are bittersweet. But both will linger.

What stories with pain and joy have you read lately? Do you prefer a happy ending or a bittersweet one?

Emotions in Writing, Part 1: The Power of Emotions

My husband and I have a running joke about emotions. You see - women are emotionally complicated, so much so that we can feel two conflicting emotions at the same time. Men, on the other hand are simple. They have four emotions, happy, sad, hungry, and sports. Anyway, this got me thinking about how important emotion is - especially in writing.

Recently my mother in law suggested I read Chinese Cinderella. It was an amazing story based on the true story of the author. It was stuffed full of emotion. Yep, went through about a box of tissues reading. Needless to say I really enjoyed it.

On the other hand I have read some books - can't think of any right now which shows how memorable they are - that have little to no emotion in them. Not so enjoyable.

And on to the point - I thought I would do a series on emotions in writing and how we can use it (without using it). Or, my thoughts on the subject. First I would like to discuss the power of emotion.

The Power of Emotions

Emotions are how we connect with, experience, and react to the people and events around us. This is why I think emotional writing strikes a stronger cord with us. Especially if it is an emotion that we can identify. For example, in Chinese Cinderella she felt awkward and like she did not fit in. I think most of us can identify with that on some level. Which made the story have more of an impact.

One of the main reasons why I read is to experience a story along with the main characters. This is why my favorite types of stories to read are character driven. I like characters that I can identify with - or at least empathize with. I recently started a new WIP and have been thinking lately about using emotions in writing to make it more powerful. I want my characters to be real, the situations they go through to be memorable, and for their story to make an impact.

How do you use emotion in your writing.