Thursday, December 9, 2010

Crying With Your Story

I'm curious. All you writers out there, when you've written that gut-wrenching scene whatever it is, the most emotional scene in your book, it could be a death, it could be someone breaking up, it could be a farewell or just a description that tugs at the heartstrings ... do you cry when you write it?

I ask this because it takes a heck of a lot for me to cry when I read a book. I can remember exactly 3 times when I've done it. When I first read the play Cyrano de Bergerac and he ... well I won't spoil it if you haven't read it. When I read that scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Chapter 35 was it? You know, when Harry is walking and thinking that ... well I won't spoil it (has anyone NOT read it)? And the last few chapters of The Time Traveller's Wife. Sobbed. Sobbed I tell you! I wasn't able to do much of anything for hours. Now I don't know if Edmund Rostand (who wrote Cyrano) cried much, if at all, when writing the ending or even if Audrey Niffenegger did for Time Traveller's Wife. But I do remember reading an interview with J.K. Rowling and how she was sitting in the hotel room typing away and sobbing as she wrote this pivotal scene. I know I was completely wrenched when I finished it and glad no one was home to hear my sobs.

Now my stories haven't had that many sob-inducing scenes except for one. I won't go into details but two readers who I trust dearly both contacted me after finishing the book and told me that they sobbed at one particular scene. I knew it was emotional. It was not an easy scene to write but I knew it had to be written. Maybe that's why I didn't cry when I wrote it. I was so caught up in making sure it was right - not too melodramatic nor too distant. The right notes are so very, very hard to hit in these types of scenes. I was dreading writing it, was wiped after writing it but ... I did not cry while writing it. Was I too close? Had I thought about it too much to then feel the - hopefully - gut wrenching impact I wanted it to have? I guess it doesn't matter. As long as the reader feels the impact. Not necessarily to cry but to feel something inside them.

So, how about you? What books/scenes have made you cry? And have you ever written a particularly emotional scene that made you lose it?

12 comments:

  1. I remember crying buckets over Cyrano de Bergerac in HS! "The only man I ever loved...and I lost him twice." I had a scene in my novel that didn't fit and that no one got, but I cried every time I read it. I knew there was something there and that I had to draw it out. I think (I hope) that eventually I did--but it was a good lesson: just because the scene meant something deep to me didn't mean I had communicated that to the reader--not at first, anyway.

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  2. Hi Lena!! YES! That's when I read Cyrano too. Maybe it was those teen hormone's but I was devastated for that last scene. And now I'm very curious about that scene in your book. If you make me cry when I read it you'll have been successful. I'm a tough nut to crack! :)

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  3. I sometimes get teary-eyed when writing emotional scenes, unfortunately I know that doesn't mean the writing is there yet. :) The books I remember crying in are older ones:
    Bridge to Terabithia and Where the Red Fern Grows. That one I totally bawled! They are both MG but I think they are sadder for adults who have more life experiences than kids.

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  4. I agree with Laura. My own writing has made me tear up on occasion, but the writing still can need work. I think when I'm so close to the story, I get caught up in the emotional lives of the characters.

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  5. Hi Laura: You're right.Sometimes I think the MG stories tug at the heartstrings even more because of the sentimentality and loss of innocence that we see through our older eyes. Don't even get me started on some dog movies like Old Yeller and My Dog Skip.

    Hi Andrea: Thanks for dropping by! I think if you do get caught up in those emotions it can be a good thing - but there's always a time to step back and look at the scene critically. Maybe let the emotions flow during the fast first draft and then be more removed when revising it?

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  6. I have shed a tear or two while writing emotional scenes. Not so much now, since I'm sticking to funnier stuff. But, yeah, I do get into the feelings while I'm writing.

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  7. I sobbed through the last third of BEFORE I FALL - that book just really struck a chord with me. I did cry while writing the end of my first complete novel because the ending for my character was so sad (with just a tinge of hope). But I also cry at Rice Krispies commercials (you know the really nostalgic ones?) so I think I might just be a wimp. :-)

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  8. Hi Linda: I always knew you were a softie! :)

    Hey Anna: I've heard amazing things about BEFORE I FALL but I'm a little hesitant about picking it up because I'm not ready for a heart-wrencher like that right now. Maybe in the summer. And if you've been in a movie theatre when I watch a Pixar movie you'd have to wipe me off the floor so I'm with you on the wimpdom.

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  9. I remember crying many years ago with some of my early manuscripts. These days never. I write light-hearted novels, whereas I wrote dark and emotional material when I started out.

    Pat Conroy's writing used to make me cry hard.

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  10. Hi Medeia: Yes, it totally depends on the type of story you're writing. The one I finished last year was a bit more emotional than Illegally Blonde. And Pat Conroy is a great writer - no surprise he could invoke tears!

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  11. A SEVERE MERCY and PAULA -- I read this one in an airport all alone, sobbing under the departures and arrivals monitors.

    Now that I'm a mom, here are certain children's books that have just made me sob: the end of THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER, where Christopher Robin is growing up. I just can't read it without getting weepy. I re-read THE YEARLING last year, and it broke my heart. When I read it as a child, it was all about the deer. As an adult, I saw Jody's loss of innocence and the pain the whole situation caused his father, Penny.

    Teacher books also get to me. I even cried while my family listened to FRINDLE. Yes, that's the book about a pen!

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  12. Hi Caroline! I haven't heard of the first two - now I'm going to have to put them on the list. But they sound like real heart-wrenchers - not sure I can take it. And The Yearling, oh, wow, I haven't read that one in ages. Animal stories get me every time. The Incredible Journey was another sobber!
    So, okay, I've maybe cried more than 3 times over books...

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