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| Tips & Advice Share your tips, tricks and advice. |
12-01-2005, 05:02 PM
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#1
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Writer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Massachusetts, US
Gender: Female
Posts: 32
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Tips needed for writing shock/surprise/horror
My title basically says it all, haha, but I will expand: I would like some other peoples' opinions on good, believable, non-melodramatic ways to portray a character's shock, horror, and/or surprise. I'm finding it a little difficult to do this in a way which doesn't seem fake or forced. I try to put myself in the character, and imagine how I feel when I am experiencing these emotions, but when recealling times I have felt shocked, I honestly don't remember what I was thinking/feeling at the time. (Well, that was quite a run-on!  ) Probably because I was in shock, and I believe your brain really does go into a different mode then...
Anyway. I'm eager for ideas.
Peace, love
Shadowa |
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12-01-2005, 06:24 PM
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#2
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Scribe
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 86
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One example for portraying something - try physical description? How someone actually looks or acts?
Another idea, how they do something differently - usually they might wake up in the morning, stretch and yawn - but today they jump out, stare about, eyes wide open, crawl slowly out...
And so on...
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12-01-2005, 08:28 PM
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#3
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Addict
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Boston, MA
Gender: Male
Posts: 188
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Check out H.P. Lovecraft's "Notes On Writing Weird Fiction", especially near the end of the essay.
He recommends instilling the story with the right ambience, getting the reader to sympathize with the protagonist, then having the protagonist react as you want the reader to. The reader at that point will follow along.
I'm coincidentally using this point to explain the same effect in non-horror stories, in my podcast next Monday.
-TimK |
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12-03-2005, 02:05 PM
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#4
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Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,527
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i dont know. hp is fly and all that, but having such a structured approach doesnt particularly sit well with me. not that i dont agree with what hes saying in principle, but in execution i dont think i could successfully write like that.
__________________
His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.
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12-03-2005, 04:36 PM
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#5
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Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 9
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Depends on the mood of the piece. I like to get silly in most of my work, at least with the use of metaphors and weird visuals, so I tend to go with things like 'his composure dribbled out through his ass and went to wait in the car'...
I also like to utilize as many of the five senses as possible, making the reader experience the shock too. This can include bad smells, sensations, posture alterations, thoughts, comments, all kinds of stuff.
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