in·tro·spec·tion – a reflective looking inward : an examination of one’s own thoughts and feelings
I had a thought having nothing to do with writing, but having everything to do with writing. It flew into my head the other day as thoughts tend to do when I’m supposed to be writing. And here it is: infusing introspection (that is show and not tell) has a significant role in writing good, emotionally gripping books with characters that leap off the page, but this ain’t easy.
By the way, this is a writer’s post. Readers of romance, fiction, literary or popular, may be interested only if you buy the DVD of a favorite film or TV show specifically to listen to the director’s voice over analysis (as you rewatch the episode or film) to get his/her opinion on the process of filming the story/episode (and yes, I’ve done this). Now I don’t have a published book (I am an aspiring author), yet alone one that is so freaking popular readers cull the Internet to find my blog posts to get a hint of the why and why not of the characters in my story. (Although wouldn’t that be fun).
But here’s the point…(And yes, there is a point!)…
There’s a certain amount of introspection about life that as an adult who has lived through her share of embarrassing, devastating, funny, cruel, joyful, inexplainable and why-in-the-hell moments–I choose to avoid reflecting upon. But this weekend, for the 100th time, I realized my characters cannot avoid introspection (they aren’t moi:)–and besides introspection is the best window for the reader to connect with these people who exist on the page in real situations. If as a writer I don’t buy-in to the reality of these characters and their world – the book won’t work. And introspection via internalization or third person deep POV is the way to the promised land.
So how do I get from being gun shy about ‘digging deeper’ to finding that spot in my voice where character meets world believably, emotionally, sensually, and in an interesting way?
I’m working on it.
And by the way, wasn’t this very introspecting of me to note this (and yeah, I made up a word, too:).
Denny, interesting post. And don’t we all sometimes wish for the day when people want to look us all up – it’s coming, I swear. 🙂 It’s funny, because for me, I can go too far into introspective. As with most things, it seems to be all about the balance and being able to do it in our own way, which is what will make readers search out our books rather than someone else’s.
How do you get from being gunshy about digging deeper? Keep on pushing. Use those experiences, maybe in interesting ways that differentiate them from your actual experience where the emotion / reaction still works. Your character isn’t you, but a large part of you will always define them. It’ll come – look how far you’ve come already, and there are marvelous things in your future, I’m certain. 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by! I get introspective response but it has to be handled well or its just a character ‘talking to themselves’. And the balance is when the reader can ‘see’ the growth, change, adjustments, fears, lusts, etc., infused in the character’s reaction response to stimuli, etc., etc. It’s fun seeing where you can go and how far as a writer and still get to sharing a story with meat and good writing.
And yeah, let’s toast the Golden Heart class of 2014 – may we all be the tip-of-the-finger go-to Google for readers of NYT romances:)…let’s dream big – DREAMWEAVERS!!!
Hey Denny,
Loved your post! Maybe because I have the same problem. I tend to rush through the hard, heart-breaking stuff and get to the fun stuff, the quips. My CP calls me on it though and I’m working on deepening my emotional scenes with more introspection. If you discover a silver bullet, let me know:)
Hi Laura!
Thank you for dropping by and commenting…and yeah, I totally have a CP who calls me on it – each and every time, and I’m working on it, too. But I guess we’re also getting it a bit, huh? Congrats on GH final and your sale – can’t wait to meet in person in San Antonio (you are coming, right?) – so many people to meet!