Here’s a quick quiz:
1) When I see a see a sunrise, I’m moved to:
A. Compose a poem.
B. Try and capture the beauty with my paints and brush.
C. Stumble drunkenly into bed ? boy that party was a lot of fun.
D. Cover my face with my pillow and go back to sleep. Who in their right mind gets up early enough to look at sunrises?
2) At work, I’m the person my coworkers go to when they need someone to:
When we think about emotion in a story the word can mean different things to different people. The main divide and therefore the main difference is, of course, the male/female one. It might seem obvious, but if there is any doubt as to which you are writing for, men or women, think about it because your story must be couched to suit.
If there is one thing that lifts a story out of bland boring narrative it’s this: emotion. Yes, you have to have an interesting story to tell, but without showing your characters going through various emotional crises your tale could end up in the shredder. Here’s how to pump life and feeling into your work.
ROMANIANS…
JERRY SEINFELD: (trying desperately to make conversation) So, Ceausescu. He must’ve been some dictator.
KATYA [A guest character, she is supposed to be a Romanian gymnast who won a Silver medal in the 1984 Olympics] : Oh yes. He was not shy about dictating.
JERRY: He, uh, he must’ve been dictating first thing in the morning. “I want a cup of coffee and a muffin!”
KATYA: And you could not refuse.
JERRY: No, you’d have to be crazy.
KATYA: He was a very bad dictator.
JERRY: Yes. Very bad. Very, very bad.
