Exploring the Senses of Reality! Writing Advice!

This entry kind of explains the whole sense of “characterization, reality, relating the character to the real world.” And here’s how.

            I’ve basically covered the topic of making your character realistic. But now, you must also relate the setting to the reader. What do I mean by this?

            Well, what I’m getting at is this: I feel like a lot of authors nowadays do this type of writing. Here’s an example.

            So, let’s say, this character has just gone through a really depressing situation. And suddenly, they just break down. Instead of describing what the character is feeling, the author merely states something like “I couldn’t breathe.”

            Example: “When I saw her dead body on the ground, my legs collapsed beneath me. My hands went numb. I couldn’t feel anything.”

            While some readers, particularly not the hard-core analyzing ones, may find this phrase acceptable, writers know that this is not very good.

            This paragraph is too dry. It doesn’t say a lot. The whole point of this is to make the reader relate to what is happening. This doesn’t. It’s very specific to people who have felt like the character.

            Maybe I’m not making much sense. What I mean is, how many times do you remember ever feeling so depressed that your feet collapsed under you? Well, personally I haven’t (knock on wood.) And, I’m sorry, but numb isn’t acceptable.

            I feel like authors nowadays are so lazy with their writing. They don’t take the time to actually put themselves in the position of their character. Instead, they use the universal word “numb.”

            And I get that people do feel numb. And I’m sorry. But you can’t use that term all the time. Many people have never felt that way. You have to describe it to them.

            Don’t get me wrong, I am not a stranger to this type of writing. I pretty much took this excerpt from one of my manuscripts and changed up the situation; same wording, though. It was horrible.

            So basically the lesson here is, use your words. People want to know how the character feels; even if it’s nothing. Explain nothing. After searching in your mind, you can find some pretty deep emotions. Use them.