In an article for Writer’s Digest, Peter Mountford offers six tips for writing big emotions without getting maudlin. Mountford says the writer has two jobs: evoke the emotion in the reader and describe the emotion that the character is feeling.
Unfortunately, simple description often falls flat or feels corny. Mountford’s tips include:
- Give It Time. Stories set during a time of war or other significant events may need time to settle. In some cases, years may pass before a writer has the right perspective on a traumatic event.
- Use Figurative Language (Carefully!). Figurative language can powerfully convey your intention or it can sound ridiculous or clichéd. “Figurative language applied to emotion is particularly hazardous because it takes an abstract thing (an emotion) and amplifies the abstraction by using figurative language, which is itself abstract,” Mountford says.
- Let Objects and Motifs Activate Painful Themes. Anecdotes, objects, settings, and motifs can act as stand-ins for pain.
- Describe Feelings That Are Surprising or Askew. Grief is painful, but also unpredictable. It may dredge up feelings of anger, fear, shame, or happiness, sometimes all at once. “A lot of time, the major emotion a character is experiencing is somewhat obvious given the context,” Mountford writes. “In these situations, often the best approach is to focus on the surprising emotion or a complex feeling.”
- Let Everyone Be Complicated. As suggested above, strong emotions are complicated, and so are people. “Great characters in literature are rife with contradictions,” Mountford notes.
- Keep the Actual Crying to a Minimum. “Watching a character cry does not tend to evoke much feeling within the reader,” Mountford says.
