Emotion

In my writing class, we talked about emotion a few class periods ago. How we accomplish making our reader, our characters, even ourselves feel.

I think that emotion can be one of the hardest parts for writers to accomplish, and it's the most important. All of the books that you read over and over again, that leave you anticipating for the sequel, crying when the series is over, it's all from the emotional tie you as a reader have to the book. There's a lot that comes into play with this, characters and plot, mainly, but the actual writing itself can be the most difficult. You don't want to sound too emo or sappy or hateful.

So as I questioned how we as writers can do this, I thought about music. Generally speaking, the lyrics that move us the most aren't overly emo or sappy or hateful (at least, for me they're not). Just look at these lyrics:

From Where You Are by Lifehouse
"I miss the years that were erased
I miss the way the sunshine would light up your face
I miss all the little things
I never thought they'd mean everything to me
Yeah I miss you
And I wish you were here"

This set of lyrics gives us a specific image by saying "I miss the way the sunshine would light up your face." You can see it. You can see a loved one's face tilted up to the sun, a smile, the happy feeling that's now been taken away. The absence of that happy feeling is what makes it hurt the most. These lyrics are so simply stated they make a big impact. There's no great metaphor for how he feels life is a black hole and there's no more joy in his life. It just simply says "I miss you and I wish you were here." How much more powerful is this than a hyperbole of depression?

Now, when I write emotion, I try to think of a great song that makes me feel in a similar way. Getting down to the sentence-level I've found has really helped me.

How do you try to bring out emotion in your reader?

Book Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

First, a reminder to enter my blogiversary giveaway.

Title: Shatter Me 
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: YA (dystopia)
Why I read it/how I found it: I followed Tahereh Mafi's blog, and heard about it there.

Description:

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.

But Juliette has plans on her own.

After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.

Review:

Have you ever read a book and thought, dang it, why can't I write like that? That's Shatter Me. The prose was beautifully crafted. I'd heard about the strike-outs before, and I wasn't sure how I'd feel about them, but even when the first one came up I didn't need to get used to it. It was a natural extension of the story and Juliette's character. I also really enjoyed the characters in this book. I can't say that Juliette will make it into my favorite protagonists of all time, but I do appreciate what she went through and the layers that Mafi put on her. She has anger, feelings of abandonment, loneliness, but she's always trying to do the right thing. For me, that's a crucial part of me liking a character--I'm all for the good guys. The love interest, Adam, was awesome--tough but caring. He turned out totally different than what I'd been expecting when first introduced. As for Juliette and Adam's relationship, I did have trouble buying the fact that they supposedly knew each other before, they both liked each other, but never spoke. They were sitting along the same chain fence for six years without any friends but never talked to each other? I didn't buy that part of it, but the rest I could get into. Mafi really knows how to write sexual tension. Whew! As for the villain, Warner, he was an interesting, twisted character. I really didn't like him, but in the good way that you're supposed to not like a villain. The few other characters, James and Kenji, I also really liked, with their own unique personality. This book has a lot of great action, and it's always moving through with hardly ever a slow moment. The ending though, I'm not sure how I'm liking it yet. I'll have to see how it gets incorporated into the next book to see if the plot development works or not.

Other information: There are two more books to this trilogy, currently untitled. Shatter Me has been optioned for film by Twentieth Century Fox. You can find Tahereh Mafi's website here.

On a non-book review note, Happy New Year! May 2012 be an awesome year for all of you.

And a song with Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt (in case you haven't heard it yet):

Some Lesser-Known Christmas Songs

If you're anything like me, around the halfway point between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you're going CRAZY because of all the same Christmas songs playing again and again and again, the same tune and words just with different voices and arrangement, or that same popular song played on the radio fifty times a day (how many times am I expected to hear Taylor Swift whining as usual about her freaking boy issues during Christmas?!)...

First, I really do like Christmas music. But the situation above makes things a little tiresome for me about this time. That's why I want to introduce you to some Christmas songs you might not know, and if you do, your ears probably haven't been boxed in by them yet.

This one is my all-time favorite (and this original version specifically). Mary's Boy Child by Harry Belafonte. I have so many childhood memories of listening to this song during Christmas and marveling about how miraculous Christmas is.

I was raised on The Beach Boy's Christmas Album. This is one of their songs, Little Saint Nick. I LOVE dancing to this and decorating the tree:

And, for a last one, Christmastime by Hilary Weeks. This one is so cozy and makes me think of all the amazing things that Christmas is:

On a completely unrelated note, I would like to proudly declare that I have not yet been put under torture submission to hear any of Justin Bieber's Christmas songs. It's a beautiful, wonderful feeling to be free of such horrid pop culture.

PerNoFiMo is FINISHED!

Last night I officially completed the first draft of my W.I.P. Time to blow the horns! WHOOOO!!! Personal Novel Finishing Month has been a success.

So, for anyone who's curious (and me to record):

Working Title: Forget Me Not
Genre: YA Fantasy
Idea came: March 4, 2011
Bumps along the way: I started to write it seriously around April, but had to scrap it mid-June and start over.
Finish date: November 30, 2011.
Word count: 67,000
Brought to you by: Josh Groban, Josh Groban, and oh yeah, Josh Groban. I couldn't listen to anything but him for some reason. Especially this song:

For those curious about the premise of it, let's just say that when I heard this song I was kind of freaked out about how well it fit my MC's situation:

(As you might tell, music is huge for me when it comes to writing).

And right now is really the perfect time for me to be finishing up my first draft, because now I can focus on my last week of class and finals week. Then over Christmas break I'll be able to dive right into revising.

So since November tends to be a productive month for finishing projects, have any of you finished a draft lately?

Music for Writing

I'm not talking about music that reminds you of your book, or music you listen to while writing. Sometimes, hearing a song just reminds me of what I'm feeling about my writing. These are the songs for me, not my book or characters or setting. Just for me.

The fabulous Regina Spektor's song Eet reminds me of those times I'm in despair and wondering why the heck am I doing this again?

A song that always reminds why it is that I write is Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield.

And if I ever feel like just giving up, Josh Groban's You Are Loved always puts me in a better mood.

Do you have any "you" songs for writing, or life, that you feel are just meant for you?