I’m honored to be a guest poster for the award-winning blog, Writers Helping Writers. They have a plethora of wonderful resources for writers on writing craft and more, and they allowed me to talk about some of my favorite things, writing and creativity!
Here’s a snippet of the post, and a link to read more!
Don’t you just love feedback from beta-readers or your critique partners that goes something like this:
“I think you feel the emotion here, but the reader? Not so much.”
Or maybe, you get the dreaded, “Meh. Cliché.”
Today, we’re going to strap on our scuba set and dive deep into our stories with emotion, giving our characters oxygen with fresh viscerals and appropriate emotional levels.
How to Write Fresh Viscerals
Everyone has their own tried-and- true process for writing. However, writing fresh viscerals—involuntary physiological responses to external factors (like bad news)—requires a whole other skill set. It’s not one I’ve seen taught very often (Margie Lawson has some great courses and an Immersion cruise with Cruising Writers this December on viscerals), but I believe this particular skill set at the heart of every tip or strategy I’ve come across on ‘how to’ write emotion.
Vulnerability.
Yup. I went there.