Writing tip 15 - create an emotional graph

Art moves through emotion

A work of fiction is not simply about what happens. It gives a sense of the experience of what happens. Emotion is a critical factor - although it's not always easy to get the right balance.

So I would suggest looking at your manuscript from the perspective of emotional engagement by creating an emotional graph. This is borrowed from my few years of acting experience.

This can be an actual graph, or simply take the form of 'note to self''. The latter might involve going through the entire manuscript once it has been put aside long enough to enable you to read it with fresh eyes, and putting a mark in each spot where you lose interest with it yourself (the theory being that if you do, possibly someone else will). You might put a different mark where the text is particularly engaging to you, and analyse why that might be so.

For writing to be engaging there need to be highs and lows. Highs, plateaus and lows. Plateaus are important too, I believe. A story of all highs, or lows, becomes a high or low plateau, and can be as dull as one which simply trundles along going nowhere emotionally. (On the other hand, I think a story with all highs and lows can be emotionally exhausting).

This is not to say that the highs and lows can't be subtle, or that they need to involve raw human emotion. Many aspects of a story capture my attention when I'm reading. An interesting piece of information or well-argued point can be just as interesting (to me, anyway) as a more dramatic occurrence.

How do you improve the graph, or lift interest in the story? I always think the particular is more interesting than the general. If characters are to live on the page and to feel real, we need to experience details of what it is like to stand in their shoes, or at least in the shoes of the character, or characters, whose point of view is being explored. I think this is better if the balance of detail is more external than internal (action, interaction and dialogue, rather than expounding the philosophies of the author through the character's inner machinations. Not that there's anything wrong with inner machinations but if there are inner machinations, I have always thought it was best to challenge my own beliefs as an author, rather than express them. Why? In an attempt to continue to see things from different points of view. Nothing new about externalisation, by the way. It's frequently called "show, don't tell.")

Writing prompt

From your manuscript, lift out what you consider to be a problematic chapter and read through it with an eye to identifying where it engages your interest, and where you feel less happy with it. This will provide information with regard to some serious editing and rewriting. Check with a trusted reader before changing it to make sure that you are not throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.