Hey all,
I know it's been a long time since I've discussed the actual mechanics of writing, but I'm back now with a pet (pet? more like a wild bear...) peeve: terrible mood flow. I'm talking about those characters who feel about as many emotions as a preteen girl going through puberty in the span of, like, two paragraphs.
 |
| "Woo! I'm happy! Lol, jk, I'm sad. Nah, man, I'm teed at you now. Oh, wait, you were justified all along? Dude, I'm sad again." WHY SO MANY FEEEEELS?! |
Yeah, that sort of thing.
(Disclaimer: Just because I'm using a picture from Inside Out in a negative light does not necessarily mean that I dislike that movie. On the contrary, Inside Out is an exemplar of extremely smooth mood flow, and everyone should watch it. Period. Go support Disney, y'all.)
Now, I know, being an ENTJ, I'm more distanced for emotions than the average human, so I probably find mood flow easier due to personality, but too many emotions still seems to be the number one problem with writers
universally. In every story I read (yes, yes, including mine too), there's always at least one scene that is too rushed and emotionally herky-jerky (and, most of the time, the entire story is just an emotionally-lurching wreck).
After having dealt with this problem when editing individual stories time after time, I am now here to write this blog post as a reference to all the authors who seriously need some mood flow help.
So, listen up,
EVERYONE.
Here are
FIVE TIPS TO DECREASING HERKY-JERKY MOOD FLOW:
1.)
If your character is in trouble, don't make him or her feel exhaustion until AFTER the trouble is over.
Bilbo's going with the dwarves on a sudden adventure. Well, he's certainly not going to stop after the first night, winded and complaining about all the sore muscles he's got. That exhaustion waits until later to aid the climax.
Similarly, let's suppose your character, Captain America Junior, is in a street fight. Captain Junior definitely will
NOT be adrenaline-hyped during the fight and then tired as he's running away from his foes; he will feel the effects of exhaustion
after he's locked the front door to his house and has safely gotten away because this is how adrenaline works.
Got it?
The exception to this, of course, is a battle, in which case second-winds and third-winds and seventeenth-winds are all acceptable, depending on how frustrated you want your reader to be with you.
2.)
Write your story like a movie.
Your protagonist's lover, Anne, has just received the news that she's fatally ill. The grief-stricken mood of the following scene should stay long enough for a full, seven-minute, James Horner soundtrack song to be played. Naturally, this means that, not only do you have to generate a sorrowful feeling in yourself, but you also have to generate a sorrowful feeling in your readers.
How do you do that? Give your characters something to do to demonstrate their sadness during the movie-equivalent of at least seven-minutes in your book. Make Anne cry; make her argue with her lover about how they won't be able to afford treatment unless if he takes on an additional job as a plumber; make her take a meditative walk in the rain, considering how the feeling of the raindrops will someday just disappear in the face of death.
When you've written enough for your characters to start feeling the grief too, THEN you can move on to the next feeling of panic and confusion or whatever have you. But, don't forget: it takes longer than you might first think for your reader to get on board with an emotion change.
3.)
Treat grave situations with proper gravity.
Guys, this is common sense.
Someone close to your protagonist dies? You'll want to write at least a page of emotionally-sorrowful eulogy for said someone. Don't just skip over this death to happy, angry, or condescending emotions, because death is
grave and must be treated by your protagonist with gravity.
But what if someone gets a cut because your protagonist couldn't help in time? Authors,
please don't give me another tome on how useless and dejected your protagonist feels. It was just a
cut; said someone will
live. Since the situation is less grave, your protagonist should treat the situation with
less gravity.
4.)
Don't merge character moods in interaction.
When Sam is feeling very cheerful and Sue is feeling very irritable, it's easy to forget how Sam feels and to just make him come right across the bat as sounding irritable too. However, conflicting character moods must clash and interact.
Haven't you ever been in a situation where you were feeling kind of down and all of your friends were up on cloud nine? Considering you legitimately were miserable, you didn't just naturally drift up to join them, did you? Instead, you probably got angry at them for joking and teasing and laughing like idiots who couldn't understand the seriousness of your feelings. The same should be true for your characters.
5.)
Above all else, have an over-arching, skeletal, plot-driven feeling to rely upon.
Personal example: in my story, my over-arching, skeletal, plot-driven feeling for Skain is a feeling of powerlessness. Because the plot demands that he is consciously emotionally abused and manipulated for the main of the story, he feels out of control, exhausted, and frustrated. This is his default.
Naturally, his emotions will swing different ways. When he first falls in love with Silvia, he feels ecstatic and free. When his puppeteers start targeting his sister as a way to get to him, he feels inconsolably angry and wild. However, throughout all of this, the main feeling of vulnerability stays as a solid theme for the reader to grasp at and rely upon.
Likewise, your characters should not be emotionally drifting along with the events of the plot. Up until the climax (and maybe even then), they should have a default, constant feeling. In the Matrix, Neo felt confused. In the Lord of the Rings, Frodo felt burdened. In Up, Carl felt bitter. These feelings reside and seep into the reader, providing a deep sea of mood stability.
Lastly, subpoint inside point five: whatever over-arching, skeletal, plot-driven feeling you choose for your character, you've got to feel it immensely yourself. One of the main reasons why writing Skain is easier for me than writing Silvia is because I've undergone intense emotional abuse myself with authorities forcing me to behave certain ways and apologize for what I didn't do. I know the feeling of powerlessness intimately. Whereas, with Silvia, her backbone feeling is one of compassion, heroism, and hatred towards the injustices in the world. While I do feel some of those feelings, I naturally drift towards a default of helplessness, which means that I'm constantly having to double-check that kindness and courage shine through in Silvia's chapters. If you want to portray it, you've got to feel it yourself; I cannot stress this enough.
So, there are my five starter points. I'm sure that, when I continue my editing, I'll think of more and maybe do a part two or something. In the meanwhile, I hope what I wrote is helpful and applicable to your everyday writing. :)
Also, as a side update, school has officially begun for me. I'm a senior, and my classes seem to be fairly easy thus far. However, with the continued testing and college application/scholarship essays that I've got to write, my blogging might be sporadic. Just so you know. :)
Write on!
Clove
