The funniest part of any story to create is when crap gets sappy. That is if you are trying to create sappy crap.
I have an issue writing sappy crap, but for the most part, it is not all that difficult to do. All you need to do is be alive and experience life. You have, right?
But, how do you insert it, where do you insert it for that matter. How often?
I use it sparingly. Not because too much is bad but because a little goes a long way.
Let’s take my ARCHIVE series; a main character dies in one of the seven books. Actually, she is in a temporal state (time travel) to stop the bad guys (time travelers hell-bent on changing the timeline), and she is captured.
They know what and who she is, a temporal agent. They do not let her know, so she stays captured because she cannot openly transport home to save her life if non-time travelers are present. She has no idea that they know who she is, so she remains a prisoner.
Until one of them walks up behind her and fires a Colt 45 into the back of her head.
This is a beloved character. Someone the reader of the series has come to know, love, and hope for the best. One reader told me that when she read that scene, she was pissed at me. She was everyone’s favorite character. She has three children, two sons and a daughter. Her husband is the best friend and conscience of the main character. EVERYONE mourns her death. Everyone attends her funeral.
This offered me the opportunity to let her die with dignity, in a way. Her legacy is evident in the remainder of the book and the series.
Because of what happened to her, policy changes a little, and things are safer if possible. She was not the first temporal researcher to die in the past, but she was the first temporal researcher to die for no reason, to be murdered, for no other reason than she was a temporal researcher.
So, when you think about emotions, think about what you feel when you read. The strong emotions that tie the reader to a character are:
Know that character. How they would act, react, speak, and what they would say. In other words, ensure that the character stays in character.
Why does that character say or do what they say or do? What is their motivation? What drives them to action or to silence?
Allow the character to develop, grow, and change throughout the story. The reader will connect to that growth and with that character.
The main character of that series, Benjamin Jensen, starts in book one as a womaning ass. (No, that character is not modeled after me! :)
Over the following couple of books, he mellows out, finds love, marries, has children, and is literally the most upstanding citizen in the universe. He has friends, and he has power. He becomes one of the most powerful men in the solar system.
But his friend does not let the power that he has go to his head. He lives for others without ego. Something in book one he was very full of.
He grew, changed, mellowed, and we all like him.
Benjamin, his wife, his kids, his friends, and a reporter who comes to trust him as he trusts her.
He could never have done this in the earlier books in the series. But now, it is possible. The story takes an odd but well-directed turn. Did I plan for it to do this? WELL, honestly, yes and no. I knew it needed to get done, but I had no clue how it would happen. Organically, the story fixed itself, and the characters aligned with what I wanted to create.
Do I have more stories about the Jensen and Jorgen clans? Yes, I do, but I am refraining from creating new stories about Archive Island and the temporal researchers who work there.
LAST WORD: If you need to inject emotion into a story, is the story right?
If the story is right and true to itself, the emotional content and the characters will already be in tune.
Thanks for reading,
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Chris Cancilla
Shocked by her death, yes. But it was logical.....Things are not always Polly Anna....everybody is happy, everything goes just right. When there are humans, there will be conflict.