Read 'Em and Weep: 6 Tips for Moving Your Readers to Tears

with guest Keli Gwyn.

Have you ever plunked yourself down in a plush theater seat to watch a Nicholas Sparks’ movie, knowing full well that a sad ending might turn you into such a splotched-face mess that you’ll slink to your car afterward, hoping you don’t encounter anyone you know along the way? I have.

Why do I do it? After all, I’m a fan of romances, where there’s a guaranteed Happy Ending. The best answer I can come up with is that I enjoy watching movies that move me.

When you think of an author who makes you reach for a tissue—or two or three—who comes to mind? I’m sure you can come up with several.

The first one I thought of was Katie Ganshert. When I read her debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter, I reached a point in the story where I wept. No. That’s not true. I bawled my eyes out and sported a Rudolph nose afterward.

Since Katie is my friend, I arranged a time to talk about her story. I was eager to tell her how powerfully it had impacted me. And—I’ll confess, since Katie already knows—I wanted to find out how she’d done it.

We spent an hour on the phone. Being the nice person she is, Katie didn’t seem to mind. Now that I’m a published author myself, I can understand. But I didn’t have a book out at the time and didn’t want to bother her. I’ve wised up since then. Readers rock! Readers who take the time to gush about our stories can send us soaring so high we have to look down to the see the mountaintops.

When Tina offered me the opportunity to visit Seekerville again, I suggested tackling the topic of stories that lead to tears. When she accepted my idea, I contacted Katie to see if she’d share some of her wisdom with you. She agreed, so you’ll get my thoughts coupled with a bit of her brilliance. 

• • •

Katie and I have come up with six ways to evoke emotional engagement in your stories.


1. Create characters so real and so sympathetic that we care deeply about them. 

Why?

If we’re invested in the main characters of a story, we’ll be eager to see good things happen to them. When tough stuff comes their way, we’ll hurt for them. When they suffer, we’ll suffer along with them.

 How?

Keli ~ To make my characters as real as possible, I endow them with some good traits—along with a flaw or two. I can’t relate to perfect people, so my characters are works-in-progress, just like me. Throwing some past wounds into the mix can help, too.

The hero of my March Love Inspired Historical, A Home of Her Own, was injured in an explosion and left with a scar on his face—and a chip on his shoulder. James has endured a number of losses and turned his back on God, believing He doesn’t care. To his credit, James loves his ailing mother deeply and would do anything to make life easier.

Katie ~ I confess, sometimes my characters aren’t super likeable when we meet them. Readers were split on Bethany, my heroine in Wildflowers from Winter. Same with Ivy from A Broken Kind of Beautiful. The key, for me, when it comes to creating characters that move readers is creating a sympathetic background. And then, of course, finding a poignant way to reveal that background to the readers.

In Wildflowers from Winter, this revealing came in the form of short first-person vignettes sprinkled throughout the story. In A Broken Kind of Beautiful, the reveal came through the eyes of another character. Arguably one of my most beloved characters amongst readers—Ivy’s stepmother, Marilyn Olsen.


2. Create high stakes. Give you characters something (or someone) to lose.    

Why?

I don’t know about you, but I find it’s often easier to sympathize with someone who is going through a tough time than it can be to rejoice with someone who is enjoying success, especially when I’m not. When I encounter a character with a lot to lose, I can empathize. While I have no idea what it feels like to win the lottery or be handed the keys to a brand new BMW, I do know what it feels like to love someone and have that person’s life on the line or to cling to a dream, only to have my hopes of achieving it dashed. 

How?

Keli ~ While it’s obvious from the beginning of A Home of Her Own that James is

concerned about his mother’s declining health and is terrified at the thought of losing her, I quickly established a connection between his mother and the heroine, too. That gives Becky an emotional buy-in from the outset of the story. Both have someone to lose. In addition, Becky, who is on the run, is concerned about losing her freedom—and possibly even her life—if her abusive brother finds her.

Katie ~ In Wishing on Willows, Robin is trying to save her café. That’s all well and good, as the café is her livelihood and livelihoods are important. But what makes the stakes higher—what really taps into the readers’ sympathies—is what the café represents. It’s the dream she and her late husband shared. If Robin loses the café, not only does she lose her job; she loses another piece of her husband.


3. Take away something or someone your character cares about deeply, or withhold something your character wants. 

Why?

When characters I care about suffer loss, I feel their pain. Tapping into my grief brings the emotions I experienced to the surface, and I ache along with the grieving character.

How?

Keli ~ James has suffered one loss after another. He lost his career and his looks as a result of the explosion—along with the woman he was seeing. Not long after James fought for his life, his father passed on. Learning that his beloved mother has cancer and that he could lose her, too, is a crushing blow.

Katie ~ Sometimes, we don’t even have to take anything away. We can simply withhold something our character wants. Just as most of our readers will be able to empathize with loss, they will also be able to empathize with longing. It’s what I did with Carmen Hart in The Art of Losing Yourself. She yearns for a child—a common desire amongst women. It was a longing I withheld, and one of the reasons why Carmen strikes such a deep chord in readers.

4. Don’t be afraid to tackle tough subjects.

Why?

Tough subjects evoke emotion because we put ourselves into the character’s place. Even if we haven’t experienced what they’re going through, we can sympathize.H

How?

Keli ~ Choose an emotionally charged topic or situation. There are plenty to chose from, such as an abandoned or neglected child, a victim of abuse, a difficult diagnosis, an injury. Becky arrives in California bearing bruises she received at the hands of her own brother. But it’s worse than that. He falsely accused her of arson, and she was forced to flee. Forcing our characters to deal with challenges as great as these puts them under intense pressure and shows us what they’re really made of.

Katie ~ I agree with Keli. We shouldn’t be afraid to tackle tough subjects, so long as they arise organically from the story. My editor has taught me a lot about this. If we’re throwing in tough circumstances just for the sake of having tough circumstances, we’re dipping into melodrama and we should proceed with caution. This was the case with A Broken Kind of Beautiful. Originally, there was a thread about a hereditary neurological disorder that lent itself to some really weighty scenes (my favorite kind to write). But my editor saw what I couldn’t see for myself. The disorder wasn’t necessary. Taking it out made the threads that were necessary for the story stronger and more poignant. 

5. Tap into your own emotions. 

Why?

If we write with authenticity, readers will sense that realism in our stories and be more invested in them as a result.

 How?

Keli ~ We’ve all experienced loss of one kind or another. We might not have lost a loved one, but grief is grief. If we’ve lost a job, a pet or a friendship, we can tap into that those feelings and use it to evoke emotional reactions in our readers.


Katie ~ They say write what you know, which is lousy advice, really. I don’t know what it’s like to take my husband off of life support. I don’t know what it’s like to be a single mom or a teenager with an alcoholic parent or lose a loved one to Alzheimer’s. But I’ve written each scenario. The key—as Keli said—is tapping into those universal emotions we’ve all experienced. Fear, loneliness, heartache, confusion. You don’t have to live on planet earth for very long before you become acquainted with one of those. Start with a seed of truth and expand from there.


6. Have your characters fight their pain as long as possible before finally being overwhelmed and giving way to the emotions that have been welling up inside them. 

Why?

When characters are fighting to keep their emotions under control, we often experience the emotional responses in their place, which can draw us even more deeply into the story. 

How?

Keli ~ Being a strong man, James struggles to contain his emotions. But a person can only keep feelings inside so long. I wept when I wrote the scenes where his self-control finally fails him, and I have a hunch readers might be moved to tears at that point as well.


Katie ~ I think this is a great way to evoke emotion. The longer our characters keep those emotions bottled up inside, the more tension builds in our readers. And the more tension we build in our readers, the more emotionally charged the moment will be when we finally hit the release button. 

 • • •

Stories such as Katie’s can move me to tears. You’ve seen why and how we work emotion into our stories.

I’d wondered why Nicholas Sparks does the same, and I got my answer—from the man himself. He grew up in the Sacramento area not too far from where I live and returned for a book signing at a Barnes and Noble a few years back.

A friend and I attended the event, along with some five hundred others. We got to hear Mr. Sparks field questions from his enthusiastic fans during a Q&A. One of his devoted readers asked him a question that had all of us on the edge of our seats eagerly awaiting his response: Why do you write stories that make readers cry, and do you have any plans to change that?

Mr. Sparks smiled and said that he writes what his readers want. To paraphrase, they like sad stories that make them hurt along with his characters, so he writes them. And, no, he has no plans to change unless his readers ask for something different. Since his books continue to fly off the shelves, it’s evident many readers want to be moved to the point of tears.

I’m curious. Do you like to read stories that have you reaching for tissues? Why, or why not? 

 • • •

My thanks to Seekerville for hosting me and to my talented friend Katie Ganshert for sharing some of her wisdom with you. You can learn more about Katie by visiting her website at www.katieganshert.com, where you’ll learn about her amazing inspirational romances and young adult novels. 

• • •

Award-winning author Keli Gwyn, a native Californian, transports readers to the early days of the Golden State. She and her husband live in the heart of California’s Gold Country. Her favorite places to visit are her fictional worlds, historical museums and other Gold Rush-era towns. Keli loves hearing from readers and invites you to visit her Victorian-style cyber home at www.keligwyn.com, where you’ll find her contact information.

 A Home of Her Own


 A Blossoming Love

Becky Martin knows that she can't stay at James O'Brien's apple farm forever, but she wishes she could. After her brother framed her for arson, she flees Chicago, traveling cross-country to California and finding work caring for James's ailing mother. Beneath the apple blossoms, it's almost as if she has a real family…but her secret won't stay buried forever.

James, scarred from an explosion, didn't expect to connect to the pretty young traveler. Could she really love someone damaged like him? He knows she's hiding something. If only she'd trust him. Can she let go of her past and believe in the possibility of a future amid the apple trees?

It's not too late to Speedbo. Details here.

Please welcome our guest Margaret Brownley

Margaret Brownley

Let’s Get Emotional

Margaret Brownley

Think back to your earliest childhood memory. You were probably three, four or perhaps even five at the time.  Now think about how you felt. You might have been scared or hurt. Perhaps you felt giddy with joy or maybe even lonely and confused.  Whatever the emotion, it was strong enough to make a deep and lasting impression or the memory wouldn’t have stayed with you all these years.

The same type of emotional response that fuels our memory banks is also what makes characters memorable. Think back to all your favorite movie and book scenes.  Characters that make us laugh, cry or tremble with fear stay with us long after we turn the last page or walk out of a theater. I was only ten when I read Little Women but I still remember feeling sad when Beth died.   

Readers choose genres for emotional reasons.  They read romances to experience the joy of falling in love. They expect thrillers to excite; horror to shock; mysteries to surprise. If a book disappoints, it’s generally because it fails to meet a reader’s emotional expectations.  Readers don’t want to read a story, they want to feel it.

Here are some tips for giving your story an emotional lift.

Make Us Care

There are many ways to reach a reader’s emotional core, but first of all you must make readers care about the character. Melvin in As Good as it Gets was one of the most flawed and unlikeable characters you’d ever hope to meet. Melvin’s gruff exterior wouldn’t have worked without the lonely and vulnerable man inside who made us care.  

Make Us Bond

Another way to reach readers emotionally is to make them bond with the character through recognition and familiarity.  I’ve never lived in the ocean depths, but I’ve known loss and I know how it feels to be a concerned parent. That’s what made me identify with and care about an overprotective clownfish named Marlin in Finding Nemo.  Write about werewolves if you want, set your story on Planet X, but it’s the humanity of your characters that will keep readers turning those pages.

Make Us Feel

Readers are also affected emotionally through theme. Theme is the emotional base beneath the story. We are told to write what we know.  Better advice would be to write what we’re passionate about. What’s important to you?  What are your passions? Is it love, freedom, salvation or injustice?  The passion of your theme will strike a chord in readers.

Be Specific 

Don’t just state an emotion, show it.  I don’t want to know that Paul is angry.  I want to see him tighten his lips and pull down his eyebrows. The seven basic emotions are anger, contempt, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness and surprise.  These basic emotions have been proven to produce certain facial expressions.  Learn them and use them.

Show Motivation

A four-year-old I know was on a quest to find a spider.  When asked why, he replied “I want it to bite my grandmother.”  He then went on to explain that Spider Man got his super human powers from a spider bite. Since his grandmother was having trouble with her eyes, he figured that a spider bite would help her see again.  The driving force behind that little boy’s actions was his love and concern for his grandmother and his desire to help her.  His motivation was simple, yet compelling, and I admit it made me teary eyed.  That’s the kind of response we want from readers.

Write the Truth

Emotions spring from truth; Loss is sad, war is tough, love is grand. Write about truth and your readers can’t help but respond with emotion.

www.margaretbrownley.com

Leave a comment to get your name in the drawing for Waiting for Morning

Waiting for Morning (The Brides of Last Chance Ranch)

If Molly Hatfield’s purple attire doesn’t blind you, her dazzling smile will. She doesn’t just sing to the cattle, she puts on a whole show. If only she wasn’t so stubborn about her brother’s care. Or so distrustful of a certain handsome doctor...

A Bride for All Seasons is in bookstores now!

Novella Collection with Margaret Brownley, Robin Lee Hatcher, Debra Clopton and Mary Connealy.

A Bride for All Seasons blurb

It All Started with an Ad in a Mail Order Bride Catalogue…

Melvin Hitchcock of the Hitching Post Mail Order Bride Catalogue isn’t dishonest—not exactly. If he tweaks his clients’ applications a bit, it’s because he’s looking out for their best interests.

This charming bouquet of novellas introduces four Hitching Post prospects in the year 1870, each one eager for second chances . . . and hungry for happiness. Year in, year out, they’ll learn that love often comes in unexpected packages.
After Tom's brother is murdered, Mary-Jo shows up claiming she's his brother's fiance. Could Matt be desperate enough to accept Bible-thumping Ellie? Luvena is a singing sensation, and Clay owns an abandoned theater---a perfect match? And when Megan responds to David's ad, she doesn't realize he's a dying man!

About Margaret:

Thrills, mystery, suspense, romance: Margaret penned it all. Nothing wrong with this—except she happened to be writing for the church newsletter. After making the church picnic read like a Grisham novel, her former pastor took her aside and said, "Maybe God's calling you to write fiction."

Margaret doubted this was true, but she wasn’t about to take chances. She’s now a New York Times bestselling author with more than 30 novels to her credit. Her latest story can be found in A Bride for All Seasons: a mail order bride collection written with Mary Connealy, Robin Lee Hatcher and Debra Clopton.  Gunpowder Tea will be the next book in her Brides of Last Chance Ranch series and is scheduled for October. Not bad for someone who flunked 8^th grade English.  Just don’t ask her to diagram a sentence.

Be Brave!

Missy Tippens, here. One of the books I enjoyed reading to my children when they were little was Be Brave Baby Rabbit by Fran Manushkin. In that story, the mother repeatedly tells her young bunny child to be brave. And 20 years later, I still think of that book anytime I’m telling myself to be brave and take a risk. :) I also (much to my kids’ dismay) still sometimes tell them, “Be brave, baby rabbit.”

Uh, yeah, try that one on a 21-year-old or a teenager (when they already think I’m the dorkiest thing alive).

But it’s a message we as writers need to give ourselves.

I’ve been working on a story I sold to Love Inspired in February (Woo hoo! Its new title is Georgia Sweethearts and it’ll be out in the spring of 2013!). This past Thursday, I came to a decision point about a subplot.

The actual subplot came about by (gasp!) flying into the mist (yes, I had a rare pantser moment!). And I was so excited about it.

But that night as I lay in bed unable to sleep, I worried that it would be tough to deal with the situation I’d set up. I came up with an easier-to-handle, easier-to-write situation that I could replace it with. In the dark of night, I made the decision to take the simpler route.

Then I sat down to work on it Friday and re-read what I had written. I knew I didn’t want to change it. I told myself (quietly so the kids couldn’t hear and ridicule me!), “Be brave, baby rabbit.”

Sometimes it takes energy and determination to write with deeper emotion. And it may even seem to take more than we have at the moment. But it's always worth it. I promise it's worth the effort.

So now I have this really cool subplot that I think will tie in nicely with my moral premise. As my characters help this teen kid figure out how to take a risk and be responsible, they’ll be learning, themselves, how to take a risk on love.

Isn’t writing fun?!

Some tips I’ve come up with for helping you push yourself:

--Don’t take the easy way out. But don’t get convoluted with your plot either. Often simpler is better. Just don’t be chicken.

--Don’t be lazy. This is so tempting if you’re tired or stressed. So put your best effort forward every time you go to the keyboard.

--On the other hand, don’t be a perfectionist either. You need to get that draft on paper. But don’t avoid tough scenes.

--Use positive self-talk. Don’t tell yourself this is an impossible scene. No, tell yourself that this will end up being a great scene with lots of emotional punch!

--Don’t give in to fears that hit you in the middle of the night!

--Don’t worry too much what readers might think (or complain about). Trust your editor to make those decisions.

--Remember that making the situation difficult for your main characters is a GOOD thing. So don’t shy away from ideas that come to you. Torturing them makes for great reading. :)

I’ll leave you with a new mantra:

Be brave, baby rabbit.

(Now you have my irritating voice in your head, bugging you! You’re welcome.) :)

So…care to share a situation you’re facing now where you need to take a leap of faith and be brave in your writing? Where you need to push yourself?

I’ll be giving away a copy of my most recent Love Inspired, A House Full of Hope, to one commenter today. To be in the drawing, be sure to let me know you’d like to be entered!

******

Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com for more info on her books.

A House Full of Hope

Before becoming a Christian, Mark Ryker ran with a bad crowd and broke hearts. Including his father's. Now a successful businessman, Mark has come home to Corinthia, Georgia, to make amends. But no one will forgive him. So when the widowed mother of four renting his dad's run-down house needs help fixing up the place, Mark gets to work. Pretty Hannah Hughes and her sweet kids have him longing to be part of the clan, but Hannah isn't ready to let go of the past. Still, they are working together on a house full of hope—and that's all Mark needs.

Going to the Dark Side

After the release of Courting Miss Adelaide in 2008, a couple readers asked if I’d been abused. I found the question startling. Though some characters in the story endured abuse, I assured them I’d been blessed with a wonderful childhood and marriage, a good life. That question got me thinking—how do writers find the emotion necessary to write the dark side of life?

Shirley Jump and several Seekers shared how they write character emotions.

Cara James, Love by the Book, July 2011.

I think it's easy to empathize with other people's tragedies etc. because we've all lived through difficult moments or periods in our lives and managed to overcome and move on. The circumstances will differ for everyone, but the emotions are the same.

Mary Connealy, Out of Control, Ten Plagues and eBook The Sweetest Gift in an anthology “At Home for Christmas”—all available now.

I am pathologically non-confrontational. I will go to extreme lengths to avoid a difficult issue. This is not something I'm proud of. I am far more likely to smile and go along and tell little white lies to sooth a situation, then later gossip and stew and pout. It's not a good thing. But out of this stewing comes books. All the things I want to say but absolutely never ever would.

So I shoot people and I write villains who are cruel, heroes who issue orders and expect obedience, and heroines who are sassy and say whatever is on their minds right into the hero's face. I think of it as cheap psychotherapy.

Debby Giusti, THE CAPTAIN'S MISSION, LIS, October 2011.

Most of us have experienced some type of loss in our lives. Perhaps a job, a marriage, a loved one. Maybe it's been something less significant. Even a small loss that seems unimportant to others can cause struggle and stress. Those of us who are writers know too well about the pain of rejection and the feelings of unworthiness that can come after we read that sorry-but-I'm-going-to-pass-on-this-story letter. Even if we haven't experienced big hurts or anything as significant as our characters may be going through, we can still pull from the feelings we've had and apply them to our writing.

Ruth Logan Herne, Mended Hearts, LI, September 2011

Some from childhood, from remembering, but mostly empathy. The urge to help, to make things right. To fix. And it's directed at women with traumatic pasts, my way of applying balm to old wrongs.

But I believe the gift of the spirit starts the idea. Then I tap into the emotions of the it, the whys and wherefores. How angry would you be if your family was taken from you? What would you do to get them back and HOW HELPLESS would you feel if there was nothing you could do?

Right there, imagining that helplessness, I can feel the person's despair, and from that despair builds grief, guilt, questions, self-loathing, disappointment. So now I've got internal conflict, mental and emotional.

And when I know what the character's personality is (anxious to please, quiet, boisterous, a loner, a joiner, a leader, a quiet assessor) I try to see through his/her eyes how this tragedy would apply to them and then gauge their reactions. Because that personality type makes all the difference in how the problem gets handled.

I don't have to watch sad things. Or prep my head. I simply envision the tragedies around us, the sorrow on people's faces and apply words to it.

Missy Tippens, A House Full of Hope, LI, February 2012.

I mainly use things in my past and twist the emotions to fit the story—so it's experience that's been fictionalized. Other times it's from experiences of friends (like one whose kids chose to live with their dad—which I used in A Family for Faith). And then other times it's purely imagination—like my upcoming book where the hero ruined the heroine's sister's life by introducing her to alcohol (she became an alcoholic and druggie).

Shirley Jump, Family Christmas in Riverbend, December 2011.

I think everyone has tragedies in their lives and dark moments that they can go back to when they want to draw out that emotion in their writing. I remember when I was acting in a play in college, and I couldn’t figure out how to cry in a pivotal scene. The director told me to think of a moment that hurt me badly, and I went back to the day my grandmother died. I conjured that up every night during that scene, and it brought out that layer of emotion for my character. My character was upset about something entirely different, but I could relate to it by tapping into that core emotion of pain and loss. As an author, you don’t have to live the same disappointments and hurts as your characters, you just have to be able to tap into the emotions those events bring. In my December book, for instance, the hero has to deal with some pretty heavy guilt over an accident that he feels responsible for. I’ve never been in the same situation as him, but I could go back to moments of deep regret and pull on those when I was writing the hero’s POV. Writing deep emotion requires getting in touch with yourself, and feeling free enough as a writer to let your gut write the words.

Thanks to all these wonderful writers for sharing their process!






We’ve all experienced trauma and loss and the accompanying emotions. Losing loved ones produces grief and lessons on living. A health scare or bad diagnosis sends emotions into overdrive.






Not everything that enables us to write emotion is negative. We experience the joy of our countless blessings. But we're talking about pain in this post. We've all seen that blessings have a flipside. Falling in love and motherhood are two tickets to an emotional roller coaster ride. When we love someone we share their heartache, their pain. We live through broken arms, broken hearts, high fevers, low grades, lost kids and lost love. We use our experiences, the experiences of others and translate those feelings to the page.



So how do we writers do that?

Writers start with ourselves. We have to first know and care about our characters before we can put ourselves in their skin. Then we dig deep within ourselves for all the life we've seen and experienced. We open that vein and bleed on the page. I'm guessing that after you've written an emotional scene, you're as drained as I am. I cannot write strong emotion for hours.

Writers learn to show rather than tell emotion. We show emotion as actors do through character facial expressions, actions and dialogue.



Writers have another tool at our disposal. We can get into our characters’ heads. We know them. When I'm having trouble writing emotion, I usually don't know my characters well enough to feel how they'd react. Once we know them, we can express this emotion without telling by using significant details in the setting. The weather can reflect or contrast mood. Objects like a cold unlit fireplace can be used to echo the hero’s mood. Readers see their state of mind by how the character sees/describes every aspect of the story.



Writers give characters poignant memories with significant details that grab the reader's heart. We use the five senses to trigger those memories. To bring it all rushing back. But don't linger long. Writing long passages of what happened in the past interrupts the pace.

As I was scanning our Seekerville archives, I was impressed by the knowledge and expertise that's at our fingertips. Several posts talk about writing emotion. If you’d like examples of how to use setting to convey character emotion, check out this Seekerville post and this post.


So let’s talk emotion. For the writers out there, how do you get into your characters’ state of mind and express their emotions?

For the readers, share what in the story makes you laugh and cry.

Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my January release, An Inconvenient Match.

After all the talk about dark emotion, I brought chilly-weather comfort food. Grab a serving of homemade moist pumpkin bread, steaming chicken noodle soup and creamy tapioca pudding.

An Early Christmas Celebration!

Missy Tippens, here. I’m not one to celebrate Christmas early. I love Thanksgiving, and refuse to decorate or do major shopping until after the holiday. But this year, I have a Christmas book recently released! So I’m celebrating early. I’ll be giving away two copies of A Forever Christmas today to two commenters!

As I was thinking about this post, I was thinking of what it is that we love about a good Christmas story. I think one thing is that most of us have favorite Christmas memories. And reading about characters during a special holiday season elicits a lot of emotion.

I was thrilled to read something Mary Connealy said about my new book. And she can’t deny it. She posted it on a review on Amazon! :) Mary said: You KNOW a book is wonderful when you close that last page and realize you're just grinning like crazy with the happiest ending ever.
Terrific, perfect Christmas Romance.

Thank you, Mary, for noticing my ending! I saw that scene before I ever started writing the story. And I kept it the same in several different versions I went through while writing and editing. It jerked at my heartstrings in the imagining.

There’s just something about a family story with Christmas as the backdrop. And in honor of that, I thought I’d share holiday memories from a few of the Seekers who were generous enough to share.

First, I wanted to share about my favorite Christmas gift when I was young (I think elementary school). It was perfume my dad gave me. He picked it out himself. And it was my first ever perfume. Oh, how I loved that lemony fragrance. I felt so special, so grown up! And there was something affirming about it. It was like my dad was telling me I was a young lady now and that I was special. Still, to this day, I love the smell of lemons!

Myra Johnson actually shared a special Thanksgiving memory with me. She said: “One year when the kids were little, we desperately needed to get away from it all--including the big family gathering thing that was standard fare for the Johnson clan. We rented a motel room for a couple of nights on a South Texas beach and made sand castles and generally just kicked back and enjoyed being a family. Even took our dogs with us. Unfortunately, they came back covered with sand fleas!!! But it's a Thanksgiving that will always have a special place in my heart because of the memories we made with our girls.”

Missy again. Isn’t it cool how even the simple things become extraordinary when it’s time spent with those we love most?

Mary sent me this wonderful story of her typical family Christmas. And of course it has a little romance in it!

“I’m from a family of eight. And we had NO MONEY.

My memories of Christmas are wonderful. Yes, with NO MONEY. I remember one year my mom saying, “Well, we try to spend $3 on each of you.”

Can you imagine that? $24 for Christmas for eight children. I just don’t remember being deprived. We had neighbors with more money and they did get better stuff. So I was a little bit aware we were poor. But honestly most people didn’t have much back then so it wasn’t a bit deal.

We always got up super early in the morning. I now wonder if we even ever went to sleep or did we all just lay there awake waiting for mom and dad to go to sleep, so we could get up. But we’d be up at like, 2 a.m. and just ATTACK the tree. The presents seemed to be plentiful, though modest. I remember one year we practiced tiptoeing so we wouldn’t wake up Mom and Dad. There was a bedroom on the far side of my parents room, so we had to walk right through their room to get to the tree. So two of us pretended to be asleep and we’d take turns tiptoeing, while the ‘sleeping parents’ lay there, eyes closed, listening for creaking floor boards. We tested each step so we could dodge the creaky steps. We did it over and over and over trying to get it right.

I suspect my parents weren’t fooled for a second.

They were really great about it though, they never snarled at us to get back to bed. They just let the chaos reign, this wild rumpus in the middle of the night. Then we’d creep off back to bed and I suppose my poor dad had to go out and milk cows, and never did get any sleep.

My parents were wonderful Christian people who always seemed to really genuinely adore each other and us. It’s almost weird how much they were in harmony considering all the non-harmonious facts of their life. . .like eight kids in a three bedroom house, cows to milk before sunrise and no money. But I have this memory of kneeling over some brand new toy. Funny how I don’t remember the toy isn’t it? And I looked up from the midst of the Christmas morning madness and saw them standing side by side in the doorway of the living room. Dad had his arm around my mom’s shoulders and they were just watching and smiling. That’s it, the two of them enjoying our happiness, all the excitement, that they’d given us a good Christmas morning.

It’s such a sweet strong memory and very precious to me, more precious than all those presents I got, over all those years, combined.”

Missy here again (sniff, sniff). Sorry, should have given a Kleenex alert.

And Ruthy Logan Herne shared a poignant story with me. Kleenex alert this time…

“For years we'd have a Christmas party for the Herne side of the family. Originally slated for Christmas Eve, we moved it to a weekend when the family grew too large to gather easily with little ones on Christmas Eve.

For the longest time, that was the one day I knew Mom would be sober. Dave and I hosted the party for over twenty years, and didn't have alcohol available, but more than that, she chose to be sober that day, at least until she went back home where whiskey tempted oblivion.

Because every year, on that day, Mom would open the Bible and read St. Luke's version of the Christmas story. A born writer and actress, she did the story perfect justice, her voice tingeing sadness at the thought of Jesus' birth in a manger, a child of the poor. But when she got to the part of heralding angels, a shining star, gathering shepherds exclaiming the wonders of the night, her tone peaked joy and light, happiness and honor, a riot of cherubim and seraphim celebrating the newborn king.

For that twelve hours, every year, I had a mother I'll never forget.

We still read that blessed Bible passage every year. And I can't say I do it justice the way Mom did, but I do my best. Or if I can't quite pull it off, I hand the Bible to my brother Terry and he takes over.

Because it's a tradition that can't be allowed to die, a memory that shouldn't ever be allowed to fade.

Twelve hours only, but every minute a blessing.”

Missy again. (Wiping my eyes.) Thanks, ladies, for sharing.

Holidays can be fun, lonely, loving, painful, poignant. And what a great emotion-filled backdrop for a story. Think about the emotions these stories elicited, and go put some of that emotion in your work-in-progress. Yank those reader heartstrings!

Also, share a holiday memory with us today. Or leave any comment (along with your contact email addy) to be entered in the drawing for a copy of A Forever Christmas. I’ll draw around midnight Eastern time.

Photo of Missy at about age 3 or 4.
Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com

Holidays Overwhelming Our Writing

Missy here. Are you in a shopping panic? Still trying to finish decorating? Frantic about gifts and food for a gazillion holiday parties? Well, so am I. On Saturday, Jennifer Taylor, a fellow F.A.I.T.H. blogger, wrote about how the busyness of the holidays has left her overwhelmed. And how being overwhelmed has had an effect on her writing. She said she’s had recent feedback that her chapters lack emotion, and she attributes it to her real life “going through the motions” carrying over into her writing.

I think we all get there this time of year! I get drained. Wiped out emotionally, even. Then I start to read my own writing, and think, puleeze, that’s so lame. And as Jenn said in her post, thank goodness in our writing, we can go back over it and fix the problem.

So, do you have problems getting the emotions in your writing, layering in all that makes your writing better? I thought I’d make up a passage to show what might be a typical progression in my writing. (Sorry about formatting problems. I tried to fix but Blogger doesn't like me.) See where you are along the steps:

Ex. 1 Talking heads. I am the queen of this. My first drafts are very heavy on dialogue, and dialogue is great. But without action or reflection, it makes for a tedious rhythm to the reader.

“It’s good to see you again,” she said.
“Wow. You look just the same.”
“So, how long are you here for?” she asked.
“Just long enough to finalize Grandma’s estate,” he said.
“So I guess you have a wife and houseful of children by now.”
He laughed. “Hardly. No, just me and my dog.”
********
Ex. 2 Add in a little more action. You have all the tags so you know who’s speaking. And it may be a bit interesting. But something is still missing. It almost feels like a script for a puppet show (with speaking lines and movements). The readers just can’t get involved. After a few pages, they think, who cares? And notice, other than the heart pounding, you can hardly tell who’s POV you’re in!

Her heart began to pound. “It’s good to see you again,” she said as she approached from across the room.
His mouth fell open. “Wow. You look just the same.”
“So, how long are you here for?” she asked as she bit back a smile.
“Just long enough to finalize Grandma’s estate,” he said.
She looked behind him. “So… I guess you have a wife and houseful of children by now.”
He laughed and looked behind him as well, as if making sure there wasn’t anyone there. “Hardly. No, just me and my dog.”
*******
Ex. 3 Dialogue, action, and some emotion added in. This version is getting much better. The reader will definitely be more involved. You’re also more anchored in the POV character’s head. (Deeper POV.)

There he was. Across the room. Her heart began to pound, but she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other. “It’s good to see you again,” she said as she approached.
His mouth fell open. “Wow. You look just the same.”
“So, how long are you here for?” she asked as she bit back a smile. She absolutely should not be so pleased that his mouth fell open.
“Just long enough to finalize Grandma’s estate,” he said. He smiled, but she could see the pain of loss.
She looked behind him, expecting to see some lucky woman waiting, preparing herself for the hurt. “So… I guess you have a wife and houseful of children by now.”
He laughed and looked behind him as well, as if making sure there wasn’t anyone there. “Hardly. No, just me and my dog.”
********

Ex. 4 And now, adding in some fine-tuning: the perfect word choices, adding in more setting and the senses, a little more specific emotions, bits of backstory, taking out unnecessary tags…

There he was. Across the too-small restaurant, looking calm, in control…gorgeous. More gorgeous than he’d looked the last time he kissed her.
Her heart gave a squeeze and began to pound, but she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other. Her high heels click-clacked on the tile floor as she neared the man who’d broken her heart five years ago. “It’s good to see you again,” she said as bravely as she could manage, with only one little wobble in her voice.
His mouth fell open. But then the shocked expression turned to…pleasure? “Wow. You look just the same.”
“So, how long are you here for?” she asked as she bit back a smile. She absolutely should not be so relieved that he looked so pleased.
His cheek gave the slightest flinch. “Just long enough to finalize Grandma’s estate.” He smiled, but she could see the pain of loss.
She had to fight a sudden urge to comfort him. It wasn’t her place, after all. Instead, she peeked behind him, expecting to see some lucky woman waiting, preparing herself for the hurt. “So… I guess you have a wife and houseful of children by now.”
Please say no, please say no.
He laughed and looked behind him as well, as if making sure there wasn’t anyone there. “No, just me and my dog.” Then he took a step closer. A little too close for a casual conversation. “What about you?”

See how much better! This is what I shoot for on the first draft. But I never get there. For one thing, it makes the writing a whole lot slower. But hey, a girl can dream, can’t she? :)

So, where along the four steps are you in your current WIP?

Missy

SEVEN TOOLS FOR ADDING EMOTION TO YOUR WRITING

Janet here.

If we writers want to sell or keep selling books, readers must care about our characters. To make characters come alive, we give them strong internal and external goals, believable motivations and oodles of internal, external conflict, creating tension on every page. But no matter how well we do all this, our books will disappoint if we don’t produce strong emotion in our readers. As Vince said last week in his Seekerville post "What Mega-Selling Authors Know That You Could Use to Boost Sales"—“Fans read romances to satisfy emotional needs that when neglected become cravings.” Providing that emotional read romance readers crave requires us to dig deep and that’s hard work. I hope these seven tools help you see ways to take the emotion in your novel to the next level—engaging your readers, satisfying that craving while taking the book to SOLD.

1. GIVE YOUR CHARACTERS PHYSICAL REACTIONS: Margie Lawson in her
“Empowering Characters’ Emotions” recommends giving characters strong physical reactions that show how your characters feel, instead of using the easy way out and telling readers. These physical reactions allow readers to interact with the characters, to get involved emotionally and to make the character more active, less passive. Don’t use the first thing that pops into your mind. We can be guilty of using pet reactions just as are at using pet words.

From my debut novel, Courting Miss Adelaide, Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical:

He tried to lift his foot, to climb the steps leading into the house of worship, but he couldn’t move. Sweat beaded his forehead and the lump swelled in his throat until he felt he’d suffocate. He bent over and dragged oxygen into his lungs.
A cloud passed between him and the sun, covering him in shadow. A sudden chill streaked down his spine.
He couldn’t move. Couldn’t pray, couldn’t worship.
Too much stood between him and God.

In the excerpt above, I not only used physical reactions to build emotion in the reader, I also varied sentence structure, repeated words, and put the last sentence by itself for emphasis. Margie Lawson gives numerous methods to help writers create emotion by what words we use and how we put those words on the page.

2. ADD SPECIFIC DETAILS THAT BUILD EMOTION IN THE READER: Specific details—descriptions, senses, memories—make our characters 3-D so readers can actually see the character, instead of a vague, colorless version. Characters are shaped by their pasts, by their environment, by what they wear and how they’re treated. You can build any emotion you want by using details that show how the character sees the world.

From Courting Miss Adelaide:

She’d been eight, when her mother, sick with influenza, sent Adelaide to stay with Winifred Cook’s family. Disorder reigned in the Cook household, but Winnie’s parents tucked the children into bed with a prayer and a kiss. What a revelation to discover not all children lived in a neat but silent house.
For weeks after returning home, Adelaide’s skin ached to be touched.
She’d tried to keep the warm feeling by stroking her arms and hugging herself, but it hadn’t been the same.

I could’ve said Adelaide’s mother never touched or rarely talked to her. Instead I used a detail from her past to show the deprivation of her childhood.

3. MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS’ INTROSPECTION TUG AT READERS’ EMOTIONS:
From Courting Miss Adelaide:

Adelaide stepped inside, but didn’t dust the counter, didn’t wash the windowpane. Instead, she stood transfixed, watching Charles’s muscles as he pushed that broom like a madman.
A desirable, intelligent man cared enough about her to worry, to take a burden from her shoulders.
Like a husband would.The thought took her breath away, zinging hope through her, hope for a husband, and hope for children. She shoved it down. She had no claim to Charles, no need of a man. She took care of herself. And if God willed, she could take care of a child, too.
But oh, for a moment, she wanted to believe in the fantasy.

Notice the technique of listing what Adelaide didn’t do to show her emotional state. I italicized one thought, the stunning thought, for emphasis. Through her introspection, readers see the core issues for Adelaide. When writers show how the character feels with tight, strong lines, we don’t have to hammer at it. The reader gets it and cares.

4. ADD ACTIONS THAT CONVEY EMOTION: Watch movies or people to see what actions convey which emotions. Use actions to show how your character is feeling that will elicit an emotional response in the reader.

In this passage from Courting Miss Adelaide, Adelaide is talking to seven-year-old Emma at the breakfast table:

“Tell me, honey, why?” Adelaide continued massaging Emma’s back, and waited, every muscle in her body as tense as the small ones under her fingers.
Emma’s mouth tightened. She picked up her spoon and began shoveling the oatmeal into her mouth, avoiding the question.

I do a little telling here…avoiding the question…to show Adelaide understands Emma is hiding something, adding to Adelaide’s alarm and motivating her next action.

5. HEIGHTEN EMOTION THROUGH DIALOGUE: Writers can use not only what the character says, and how they say it, but what the character doesn’t say, to up the emotion. Dialogue should further the plot and develop characterization, but it’s also a great tool to give the reader an emotional read.

From Courting Miss Adelaide:

“I remember how the hair on my neck would rise, how my gut would knot.” Charles swallowed against the old familiar lump in his throat. “How I wanted to run, but knew running would only make it worse. It was the same for you, wasn’t it?”
Slowly, William nodded.
Charles lifted William’s chin with a palm. “I want you to know something else.”
The boy’s tear-filled eyes, the color of the sea on a cloudy day, met his.
“It wasn’t your doing. None of it was your fault, William. You were never the reason for what was said or done. Never.”

This scene with Charles and William is pivotal for healing and was emotional to write. If you’re unaffected by your scenes, see if you can use dialogue or one of the other tools, or all of them, to stir you.

6. USE SETTING TO UP EMOTION: Setting can mirror or contrast the character’s mood. Setting can awaken or trigger emotions the character doesn’t want to face. Setting can build emotion in the reader.

From Shirley Jump's Marry-Me Christmas, Harlequin Romance, December 2008:

Flynn didn’t know how they had done it, but their path had taken them to the park where the Winterfest had been held. On purpose? By accident?
He paused at the entrance. The lighted displays--gingerbread men, snowmen, Christmas trees, teddy bears--had all been left on, layering the grounds with silent, twinkling enchantment. The people were gone, Santa and Mrs. Claus back at home, the stands and games shut up for the night. Only the reindeer remained, chomping on some hay in his pen. The blanket of night gave everything a spirit of magic, as if anything could happen, as if, on this night, wishes could come true.
What would he have given to have gone to something like this as a kid?
To have been able to bring Liam to Santa’s Workshop, to let him sit on Santa’s lap, and tell Santa what he wanted--
And even more, have Santa actually deliver what he and Liam really desired?
The one thing neither of them had ever had. The only gift ripped away, time after time.
A home. A family. A place he could depend on, knowing it would be there this December 25th and the next, and that there would be someone there who would hang the lights and string garland on the tree.
Flynn shook his head. Damn. He hadn’t intended to think about those days. Ever.
He felt a soft hand on his back. “Flynn? Are you all right?”
Sam. Her voice, so gentle, it called to him like a salve.
Maybe it was the timing. The darkness, punctuated by the sparkling holiday lights. Or maybe it was something more. Flynn didn’t pause long enough to question why, he just turned toward Samantha Barnett and gave in to the desire that wrapped between them as tight as a bow on a present, and kissed her again.

Jump is giving her readers the emotional payoff they want.

7. USE SYMBOLS TO HEIGHTEN EMOTION: Tangibles can stand for something abstract/intangible, be it a mood or an idea, and take on special significance in our books. Writers can use symbols to elicit emotion in the character and in the reader. When writers use the same tangible throughout a book, the symbol becomes powerful at creating emotion. Chances are you already have symbols in your story you can emphasize to add emotional depth.

From my second book Courting the Doctor’s Daughter, Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical, May 2009:

Turning to go, his gaze swept the enormous breakfront filled with medicine. Something stopped him, made him open the glass door. Finding what he sought, Luke clutched his remedy, then walked to the table, dropped into a chair and set the bottle in front of him. Doc had said the contents of this bottle mattered. Had been part of God’s plan.
Joseph’s suffering had led him to find this medicine, to dedicate his life to healing. God had used this remedy to bring Mary, Doc, and the boys into his life. The liquid caught the light from above, glistened with a shimmer of gold. An unbroken bottle, unblemished, and shining like a new start. Or so he saw it now.

The remedy/medicine is a symbol I used throughout the book. Sometimes it represented failure, but in this passage, it stands for hope, a new beginning for Luke.

1-7—USE ALL THESE TOOLS (ACTIONS, DETAILS, DIALOGUE, SETTING, INTROSPECTION, SYMBOLS AND PHYSICAL REACTIONS) TO HEIGHTEN EMOTION:

From Courting Miss Adelaide:

Tears spilled over her pale lower lashes, becoming visible now that they were wet and spiky. If he didn’t do something, she’d start bawling. The prospect sent him behind his desk. He jerked open the top drawer and rummaged through it until he found what he sought—a bag of peppermints. “When I was a youngster,” he began, “on my way home from school, I’d pass Mrs. Wagner’s house. She’d be rocking on her porch, wearing a gray tattered sweater, no matter how hot the day...”
Emma stopped crying, but looked far from cheerful.
“She’d call me up on the porch, ask if I was studying and behaving. Then, she’d reach into the pocket of her sweater and pull out a peppermint.” Charles took a candy from the bag. Emma’s eyes widened. “She’d say, ‘You’re a smart boy, Charles. Work hard and one day you’ll make something of yourself.’ And, she’d drop the candy into my palm—like this.”
He opened Emma’s small hand and let a peppermint fall into her palm. When the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile, a peculiar feeling shot through him. As it had for him all those years ago, the candy once again worked wonders.
His entire adult life, he’d kept a stash of peppermints around, to remind him of Mrs. Wagner, the one person who had believed in him, who’d given him a desire to improve his lot. The candy still tasted as sweet as her words.

This scene with Charles and Emma gives insight into Charles’ life as a child and hopefully, elicits emotion in the reader.

When readers are given an emotional read, they care about the character and can’t toss the book aside. Editors, also, find it hard to reject a book that creates strong emotion in them. Look for passages in your WIP that tell the reader how the character feels. How can you use one or all of these seven tools in the writer’s toolbox to not only show how the character is feeling, but to create that emotion in readers?

Shirley Jump is giving away a copy today of Miracle on Christmas Eve, her first book in the Riverbend, Indiana series. Her second book in the series, Marry-Me Christmas will release this December. Leave a comment to be eligible for the drawing.

If you’re feeling brave, share a passage from your work that shows how you built emotion for your reader.