Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Feelings

General Writing Discussion
#1

So, I’ve heard this a couple times recently: “Wow, this story is just getting so emotionally heavy… I’m not sure I can keep reading.” or “This is just so hard to read, emotionally, it’s hard to keep going forward.” Stuff like that.

Is this something we authors should worry about? I’m not really sure how to take statements like that. The core of any story is conflict and growth, and often both are painful. How do we know when what we’ve written is too much? Is too much even possible?

Edit: Here’s a good example. Kyell Gold has been doing a biweekly update of a story, and after the latest installment (Part 52), someone said this: “I really hope that something happy happens in this story Kyell. It’s just been one crushing blow after another and I’m starting to lose interest in all of it :/”

#2

Occasionally you may write something that’s very deep or emotional. But why cull what the story is driving for? Let’s cut out Bambi’s mom dying because it’s too much of a shock for children!

If you’re going to lose a reader or two because it’s too much for them, then let them leave. If they truly will never read another of your stories, that’s sad but mostly for them. You can’t expect every story you write to appeal to every reader. I guess a good question to ask would be, why are you writing this story and who is it for?

#3

Good point. I agree; the story is what it needs to be. Just like I suppose I don’t agree with cutting out offensive scenes/language/acts because they might be offensive to some people, if they’re important to the story.

#4

If your readers feel the story that means you did a good job as a writer.

#5

It’s all about target audience. If you want your story to be a depressing, bone-chilling thriller then cater to them. If you want it all to come out okay in the end then go for that. As much as most people say they get tired of the cliche’d happy endings, most of these same readers will call you out if your story DOESN’T have a happy or at least somewhat positive ending.

In a boring enough answer, I’ve found that stories that do go back and forth cater to the widest audience. It actually takes a lot of skill to pull sunshine land down into the bloody abyss then back into the sunshine. At least, to do it convincingly anyways.

#6

I always try to include some lighter moments, a joke or two, to stop things getting too heavy and add balance. Personally I find I get more emotionally involved if there are these lighter touches, too (I cry buckets at Casablanca because Humphrey Bogart’s character has so many brilliantly funny lines; I’d be less sympathetic if he had no sense of humour).

#7

I think that doing this makes the dark scenes that much better. The best example that comes to mind of this is Mass Effect 2 (spoilers): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJXm3l3Sjsc

This is in the middle of the unexpected scene of the game, which shows exactly how dire the situation is. And EDI, the ship’s AI, cracks a joke. And it’s wonderful.

#8

I thought that clip was going to be one from ME3, Mars.

SPOILERS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lfJMIwHDEM

#9

Agreed. If you’re giving people “teh feels” then you’ve got to be doing something right.

#10

Hopefully it’s ‘the feels’ and not ‘the horror,’ though both have their uses I suppose :stuck_out_tongue:

#11

I agree with the general feeling around here that it’s a good thing if you are making your readers feel something, be it joy or depression.

That said, I can understand/relate to the one Kyell Gold quote above, because if a story is constantly dragging me down emotionally, there is a pretty good chance I will either stop reading, or will delay my reading of it by a long time period simply so I don’t have to deal with it.

What I can’t stand is when people use cheap tactics to bring about an emotional response from the readers. Things like Rape, excessive gore (ie: biting off a toe in minute details) and abuse of children) (this happens a lot in horror to elicit some kind of emotional response, usually horror. :P)

#12

Mm, well, that’s fair. I don’t necessarily mind the employment of such; it depends on the intent.

#13

Okay, here’s something I hate that fall into this category: A not particularly well-established or introduced character that’s important to the main character dies, and then the main character is upset and depressed. Usually the emotions will roll off the main character and the reader will feel sad, even though they don’t give two ***** about the character that died. It’s sort of a proxy way of making the reader feel sad for the death of a character. However, usually the feeling isn’t as powerful, it’s lazy, and overall not a good tactic. It makes me feel cheated as a reader, whenever something like that happens. It can sometimes even backfire and alienate the reader from the main character, because the reader doesn’t understand why the main character is sad.

#14

I’ll agree that I’ve put down books that try to elicit an emotional response to heavily. Getting a major emotional reaction from the reader is a good thing, but its tapping into the fight or flight response. If there’s not enough there for me to want to fight for the characters then I’m more likely to just drop the book.

Bringing out the big guns should be saved for the climax, or at least the most important parts of the plot.

As for Friday and Voice’s mention to cheap tactics. Yes, very much. If you’re going to do something like kill someone off I, as the reader, better bloody well care about them. Just telling me he’s the protagonist’s best friend who I’ve only ever met once ain’t gonna cut it.

One of the best (and worst) examples of this was an old Michael J Fox episode of Family Ties. " ‘A’ My Name is Alex". It’s amazing for what the actor is able to carry off, but incredibly lazy about how it deals with the ‘best friend’ who’s never mentioned again before or after.

#15

This. Some people want certain things from what they read. Some want to be uplifted, others want bitter hopelessness. The same is true for what one doesn’t want - a story without hope or the only characters involved are wretched scumbags will turn me off faster than anything. I’ll also often stop when romantic or erotic situations pop up when I’m not interested in those things.