First of all, understand this--I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to everybody in general. This has happened to the best of us in some point of our writing lives--our story is utterly depressing, even though the part is about a happy occasion.
I, for one, have a bad habit of making the happiest thing depressing once I've written it down. My main character tends to be a depressing person, and that could totally take part in it, too. But the next part in my story is a wedding. I'm dreading it. My character will have to happy, and I'm so unused to having her being happy. It just isn't..... normal. 8O {That's supposed to be a face}
The question is {and what's the post is really about....}:
How do I make a part happy?
There are actually a few good reasons that your writing may be coming out looking like a pug's face {in other words, squished and slightly weird {and applying only to your writing: ugly}}/ you're making a happy part sad.
1. A lot of it has to do about you. I am not kidding. Please don't tell me that out of all of your characters, you're most like somebody other than the main character. Frankly, I don't quite see how that is possible and I'd deem you a liar if you told me that. Even if it is just a speck, our main characters are based upon us. Now, I am not depressed most of the time. So, Alissa is obviously based a little less than whole upon me. But I can still see character traits we share.
The fact is, if you're not happy, your main character isn't, either. The feeling you have while writing is how your character is, too. So, in order for your character to be happy, you have to, too. Of course, it's easier to get into character with some moods better than others. It's extremely easy for me to write about Alissa's burning anger at person-unknown because it's not hard for me to get into that character mood, while writing about being happy is harder. For some of us, it's extremely easy to write about being happy and hard to write about depressing feelings. That's okay, because we're all different.
2. Smile. Really, smile. For no reason, right now. I'm waiting. Still.... Waiting.... okay. :) Smiling or laughing for no reason will make you happy, as I've just proved my point above. If you need help getting into a happy character mood, just do that.
I hope I've given you some good pointers. :) Now I'm ready to tackle that wedding, because writing about being happy to you has actually made me.... happy. :)
~Madeline
I totally know what you mean. A lot of books now days are depressing. Of course, they can't be happy all the time, but if you have a lot of pain and the some happiness, the happy parts are all that much more happy. And you feel like you've earned it. Hope that made sense!! =D
ReplyDelete-Hadassah
Yes, that makes sense. I think lately the popular books {not necessarily Christian, but popular} have been ''gritty'' if you know what I mean. Or, in other words, they just been ''popular'' from a non-Christian point of view. But I like that female power seems to be coming back into books {Bella from Twilight is excluded from that group.}
Delete~Madeline :)
Exactly! About the girl tough thing, I think about it this way: I need to be able to take care of myself, but I don't have to prove it and show off, especially in front of guys. I'm not going to be a weakling, but I'm going to let the guys do their job. =D But it is so much fun to have a character who isn't afraid and does cool things!! I love those kind! Adventure! So much fun!
DeleteYes, I understand you! We shouldn't have to be dependent on guys but we should still be okay with letting them do small polite things for us like opening doors {which is especially nice when it's a stranger. :)}.
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