the toughest part you’ll face when writing a novel
it’s all about emotion and trusting yourself as a writer to go there.
Ask any new writer what holds them back when writing and they’ll say writing emotions, it hits too close to home. They can write about locations and character descriptions, but when writing about emotions it trips them up. Can it be done? What are some tips to help?
in this blog, we will look at the toughest part you’ll face when writing a novel
THE TOUGHEST PART YOU’LL FACE WHEN WRITING A NOVEL
Table of Contents
Countless people dream about writing a powerful literary classic emotional novel. One that is read by millions and stands the test of time, but few ever do. But what makes some able to write that literary classic and so many not. What holds them back? It all comes down to the writer being vulnerable when writing.
There are two types of novels, ones that move you and those that do not. When you sit down to read a novel you either connect with or fail to. There are some novels that do nothing for you. You feel nothing throughout. It’s like reading a phone book. But other novels can bring you to tears. a novel that affects you for the rest of your life.
DOING SOMETHING THAT IS SCARY
What is it about these novels that move us? How did the author bring such a scene to life? How can so many authors write something so powerful?
As a new writer, if you wish to achieve this level you have to do something you may not want to do. You have to let yourself be vulnerable when writing and transfer your heart soul onto the page. You’re not just writing words, you’re putting life on paper. This is a scary idea for most. They do not wish to look within.
DESCRIBING POWERFUL EMOTIONS
A new writer has to do the scariest thing, “Go deep inside and feel things they may not be comfortable feeling”. The best writers can describe something emotional because they felt it when writing. They let themselves “go there” so they can capture the best words to put down on paper. You read it and feel it as well. you become the novel.
But can you as a new writer go there? are you able to let yourself feel? It sounds easy, but you’d be amazed by how many new authors cannot let themselves feel negative feelings. It’s not easy. It’s only natural to avoid feeling negative emotions.
USING ALL FIVE SENSES
But for those who cannot what ends up happening is their writing sounds empty. As though something deeper is missing. It sounds like a report in a newspaper. All the information is there giving the reader an idea of what is happening, but somehow you don’t feel it. You cannot connect with the characters or story.
Well-known authors know how to use the 5 senses. They can capture a moment as though it’s real by describing the events with sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. As you read the description it’s as if the events are happening to you.
TAKE THE READER TO A NEW WORLD
Most new writers like to use sight as the only description telling the reader what’s happening. It does paint a picture but it leaves out everything else. The reader cannot smell or touch anything unique. Maybe the scene takes place in a flower shop but the reader cannot smell or feel the flowers. It’s as if they are not there.
Everyone who reads a novel wants to be taken to a new world. They want the author to create a universe they can step into. It’s exciting to start reading a novel. You’re hoping the novel takes you on a journey to strange new worlds.
WHERE THE READER FEELS EVERYTHING
Most people will not travel around the world. They would love to but due to one reason or another, they will not. But reading gives someone that chance. They want to see through the protagonist’s eyes. See the wonders of the world. But you as the author have to make it happen. You cannot just give a play-by-play, you have to take it further.
Create a world where the reader feels they have truly been to another place. If you write about traveling back in time and seeing dinosaurs the reader wants to truly be taken back there. They want to picture with such detail everything happening. They truly feel they have seen dinosaurs. As a writer, you have to use the 5 senses to bring the dinosaurs back to life. What sound like, smell like, feel like, what does it feel like when they walk by.
NEW AUTHORS WILL SHY AWAY FROM IT
Writing a science fiction novel can be exciting. Being able to describe the actions scenes, making the reader feel the action is happening to them. But what about emotional family dramas? Most writers stay away from writing powerful emotional family dramas because it hits too close to home.
New authors shy away from writing about family dramas because the emotional depth of the context is too personal to them. But in reality for a writer that’s a good thing. It gives you something to work off of in creating something the reader will connect with and read for generations.
PEOPLE CAN RELATE TO FAMILY DRAMAS
In reality, writing a science fiction novel is more difficult because you have nothing to base the emotional element off of. You’re making it all up as you go along. It’s difficult to write something the reader will have difficulty connecting with.
It’s hard to describe aliens if you’re making them up in your head. But when it comes to family dramas most people can relate. Very few people have a perfect family. When they read about a family that fights they can relate. However, when it comes to writing about a family with fighting and drama most new writers cannot bring themselves to write it because it’s too personal. It hits too close to home.
THEY WILL FEEL EMBARRASSED
The great writers are able to “go there.” They can let themselves feel pain and unhappiness and transfer it onto paper so others can read. It’s like a kind of therapy for the writer to free themselves of the emotions by putting it down on paper for others to read.
New writers are embarrassed to be judged. Afraid if they write something tragic or sad the reader will believe it happened to the author. Therefore they avoid feeling anything negative while writing. Worried what their friends or parents might think.
THEY WILL AVOID WRITING THE DETAILS
They will make sure everything written is happy and sweet. And any time they come across something that makes them feel uncomfortable they will gloss over it. Writing only short sentences and getting back to the happy thoughts as soon as possible.
If they have to write a scene about someone dying they will avoid the details. Or they’ll write a short description. Some amateur writers will only mention someone’s death but not actually write about it happening. Because they find it too difficult. Leaving the reader to feel cheated.
IT WILL MAKE FOR A BETTER STORY
But a famous writer knows they have to “go there,” even if it’s not what they want. The reader wants to read about it. They want to feel and experience what the protagonist is feeling. So in order for the reader to feel the writer has to feel. It’s scary to feel as a writer but the more you do the better the story.
As crazy as it sounds there are doctors who want to understand what someone goes through when poisoned. They cannot ask someone to poison themselves so they will poison themselves. They will make notes on how they feel. What’s happening to their body. They will use all 5 senses when describing what the poison feels like in their body. So a document on the poison now exists. It’s a bit extreme, but the doctors were willing to “go there” to capture the true description.
YOU WILL HAVE TO FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE TO WRITE
Being a writer is like the same thing. You need to feel uncomfortable feelings so you can write them down using the five senses so when someone reads your book later they will understand and feel everything as though it were real.
The whole reason why someone whats to read is to feel. No one wants to read and feel nothing. That’s what it’s like reading an encyclopedia. A novel is the opposite, it’s supposed to make you feel all emotions. from anger, love, sadness to hate, to laughter.
YOU HAVE TO MAKE THEM BELIEVE
Even an actor has to do the same thing. Needing to feel to make their performance believable. They cannot “pretend”. They can trick the audience by feeling nothing inside and only move their facial muscles to show happiness or sadness.
A great actor knows it’s not about “acting ” but re-acting” you have to “react” in an honest way to what’s happening around you. You do not “act” scared of a gun pulled on you, but you “react” to a gun being pulled on you as you really would in real life. The audience has to believe the scene is real. As an author your looking for the same thing, nothing fake. Do not have your actors act” have them “react” and express it with the 5 senses.
YOU HAVE TO BE A NEWS REPORTER
Great writers know how to go to dark places within themselves to make a scene powerful and real. They can let themselves feel. Knowing it helps their novel. New writers are nervous so they play it safe by writing safe. But by doing so the story lacks life.
Writing difficult scenes is difficult. No two ways about it. If characters are going to yell or fight as a writer you have to be an invisible viewer of the events. Like a news reporter on the scene. You have to witness what is happening and write it down. No matter how difficult or how much it hits close to home you have to record what’s happening. So the reader can experience it.
YOU HAVE TO LET YOURSELF FEEL
The more you let yourself feel the better the scene you’ll be writing. If you close off your emotions you limit what you’ll be writing. You’ll only be left with what you see. But since you feel nothing you have nothing to describe. leaving the scene feeling empty.
Do not make your reader have to figure out what to feel. Show them the way. No one wants to read a book where they have to guess what the characters are going through.
HE WILL PLACE YOU INTO THE STORY
Stephen King has a way of placing you right into the story. it’s as if you’re seeing through the protagonist’s eyes. The events are not happening around the protagonist they are happening to the protagonist. which means the events are happening to you, the reader.
People say Stephen King writes horror. But in reality, what he does is place you the reader into the mind and eyes of the protagonist so when the antagonist comes after them you the reader feel the antagonist is after you. You do not feel safe. This is why Stephen King’s novels appear so scary. It’s not about blood, it’s about placing the reader into the protagonist’s world. Then having something scary happen to them.
DO NOT PUT YOURSELF INTO YOUR NOVEL
What is one of the biggest problems new writers have? Putting themselves into their novel. They make themselves the protagonist. This cannot be done. If you do your protagonist will do nothing you wouldn’t do. As a writer, you have to free yourself from your novel. You cannot be your protagonist. There has to be a wall between you and your characters.
You cannot have your characters doing what you would do, you have to give them life and have them do their own thing. New writers put themselves into their novel and end up having a passive character. They don’t do anything active. Their characters do nothing wrong or bad, leaving the reader nothing to feel. Making for a boring story.
IT WAS A POWERFUL MOMENT
Some new writers give up on writing because they can sense negative emotions within when writing a scene. It makes them feel uncomfortable, so they stop. But this is when you should be writing the most. Capture those negative powerful feelings using the 5 senses.
When William Kennedy wrote “Ironweed” he had a chapter in which the protagonist speaks of a baby he was holding dying after falling out of his hands because he had too much to drink earlier. It must not have been easy for him to write. But it created a powerful scene making the novel powerful.
THE READER WANTS TO FEEL
By him going there he made a scene powerful and real. If he avoided it the novel would not have been as alive. Always remember the more you feel the more the reader will feel. If you’re closed off the reader will be closed off.
Remember, the reader wants to feel. It’s something they look forward to. They want your book to be amazing. When they sit down to read your book they want you to take them to another world. No one reads to be bored. No one sits down to read your book wanting it to be bad. Everyone is cheering for you. By being brave and “going there” when it’s scary to do so, you take the reader with you.
you might be interested in these blogs…
THE BENEFITS OF SPEECH TO TEXT AS A WRITER
WHY YOU SHOULDN’T SWITCH GENRES HALFWAY THROUGH
HOW TO MAKE YOUR NOVEL IRRESISTIBLE TO ALL READERS
