Informal Writers Workshop #5 – Writing With Emotion

At the end of the August session, each participant wrote down one emotion on a piece of paper, then we drew lots. Those who attended were charged with the task of depicting that emotion in a short fictional story (approximately 250-400 words) for the next workshop, which will be held at 2 PM on September 24, 2015.

Out of all the possible emotions available, we came up with these : despair, excitement, nostalgic longing, lost love, resentment, pity and fury. (More may be added as other writers express interest in attending.) This promises to be an intense, challenging and maybe cathartic workshop.

Anyone who was not present at the August workshop but is interested in attending this one – please select any other emotion than the ones already assigned. We aim to explore as many different emotions as possible during the meeting.  Please DO NOT use the emotion-word in your story!   In other words, if you were writing about sadness, don't tell us "I'm sad, he's sad...find a way to SHOW us what sadness is like. (Continued below)

Photo credit: willbrattcounselling.com

Writing with emotion can set us to squirming in our seats (even if we’re good at doing so - as some of our writers certainly are). One reason for this is that most of us keep our true feelings under wraps. We take our emotions very seriously and personally. By setting them down on paper, it may feel as if we’re baring our souls to the world. We then feel exposed and vulnerable to all manner of repercussions.

If this is the way you feel when expressing emotion in prose, it would probably be helpful to write your story in the 3^rd person point of view instead of the 1^st. In other words, invent a character and use the words “he” or “she” as they express whatever they’re feeling.  This technique distances you the writer from the emotion and helps you achieve a measure of objectivity.

The best writers are able to observe human nature and translate the fluid, nebulous and virtually UNCONTROLLABLE emotional arena into an engaging story that readers will be able to relate to. This ability comes naturally to some, to others it’s a skill that must be developed over time. We hope all of you will be intrigued enough to do this exercise on your own, even if you choose not to attend the workshop, or submit your story for publication on the blog. Practice makes better…you don’t have to do it perfectly, just sincerely.

Good luck, and keep writing.