Comments on: Emotional Distances http://cindiegeddes.com/2010/01/21/emotional-distances/ Random musings from the exaggerated mind of Cindie Geddes Tue, 12 Apr 2011 08:44:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Cindie http://cindiegeddes.com/2010/01/21/emotional-distances/comment-page-1/#comment-233 Cindie Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:37:53 +0000 http://cindiegeddes.com/?p=154#comment-233 Which book? Which book?

]]> By: wolfgang http://cindiegeddes.com/2010/01/21/emotional-distances/comment-page-1/#comment-209 wolfgang Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:00:30 +0000 http://cindiegeddes.com/?p=154#comment-209 funny because no more than an hour ago i pulled a book off your shelf that was on this exact subject. something must be trying to tell me something.... funny because no more than an hour ago i pulled a book off your shelf that was on this exact subject.

something must be trying to tell me something….

]]> By: Melissa http://cindiegeddes.com/2010/01/21/emotional-distances/comment-page-1/#comment-207 Melissa Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:51:38 +0000 http://cindiegeddes.com/?p=154#comment-207 I remember reading a John Gardner book with this exercise: your character is grieving the death of someone close. She looks at a building. Describe the building from the character's POV without using the words death or explaining the circumstances of the bereavement. I didn't even attempt that exercise then, when I was graduating from high school. Now, I might. I remember reading a John Gardner book with this exercise: your character is grieving the death of someone close. She looks at a building. Describe the building from the character’s POV without using the words death or explaining the circumstances of the bereavement.

I didn’t even attempt that exercise then, when I was graduating from high school. Now, I might.

]]> By: Des http://cindiegeddes.com/2010/01/21/emotional-distances/comment-page-1/#comment-188 Des Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:41:15 +0000 http://cindiegeddes.com/?p=154#comment-188 This is a very interesting post. I just finished a novel, which a reviewer declared was about a great love. I had no sense of great love in reading the book, at all. I think you've hit on something, with attentive listeners and attentive readers. We're trying to glean all the clues we can. This also made me think of that billionaire, JK Rowling, whose favorite line is "Harry felt angrier (or sad, or happy, or amused or scared) than he had ever been in his entire life" But I suppose plotting skills go a long way to compensating for characterization ;) This is a very interesting post. I just finished a novel, which a reviewer declared was about a great love. I had no sense of great love in reading the book, at all. I think you’ve hit on something, with attentive listeners and attentive readers. We’re trying to glean all the clues we can.
This also made me think of that billionaire, JK Rowling, whose favorite line is “Harry felt angrier (or sad, or happy, or amused or scared) than he had ever been in his entire life”
But I suppose plotting skills go a long way to compensating for characterization ;)

]]> By: Cindie http://cindiegeddes.com/2010/01/21/emotional-distances/comment-page-1/#comment-187 Cindie Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:59:46 +0000 http://cindiegeddes.com/?p=154#comment-187 Yes! Very much like acting. Good analogy. You don't want an actor to come on stage and say, "I'm sad," with no emotional markers in body language or tone. Nor do you want them to scream their pain to the rooftops if they, say, lost their keys. Balance. Thanks, yes. And that balance needs to be maintained not only between empathy and melodrama but also between dialog/thoughts vs setting, sensory detail, etc. You've really hit on something for me! Yes! Very much like acting. Good analogy. You don’t want an actor to come on stage and say, “I’m sad,” with no emotional markers in body language or tone. Nor do you want them to scream their pain to the rooftops if they, say, lost their keys.

Balance. Thanks, yes. And that balance needs to be maintained not only between empathy and melodrama but also between dialog/thoughts vs setting, sensory detail, etc. You’ve really hit on something for me!

]]> By: Rob ... ert http://cindiegeddes.com/2010/01/21/emotional-distances/comment-page-1/#comment-185 Rob ... ert Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:44:28 +0000 http://cindiegeddes.com/?p=154#comment-185 Makes me wonder if the writer is not a kind of actor. To evoke emotion from a character that is nothing like one's self (in either physicality or circumstance), requires a kind of spiritual channeling that smacks of acting, no? Also, your piece makes me wonder if this issue is one of those points of balance between the work a writer does for their reader and the work the writer makes the reader do for themselves -- as is often done with scene setting. If a character's child dies, does it really require a detailed description of tears and rib-breaking sobs? Makes me wonder if the writer is not a kind of actor. To evoke emotion from a character that is nothing like one’s self (in either physicality or circumstance), requires a kind of spiritual channeling that smacks of acting, no?

Also, your piece makes me wonder if this issue is one of those points of balance between the work a writer does for their reader and the work the writer makes the reader do for themselves — as is often done with scene setting. If a character’s child dies, does it really require a detailed description of tears and rib-breaking sobs?

]]>