Celebrate!
I recently had the opportunity to witness two different responses to an occasion for celebration. These two different responses were drastically different, and they reveal something that is vitally important, but also, sadly, missing from the lives of many people, but are present, in spades, in literature. It is what makes a good story. It's what connects a reader to a story. It's what creates strong characters and drives a strong plot.
The first response was one of blasé. There was an occasion for celebration, but you would never know it from the response. There was no fanfare, no exclamations, no rejoicing, nothing. In fact, there was barely even an acknowledgement.
The second response was one of ecstatic exhilaration. There was an occasion for celebration, and everyone around knew about it. It was talked about. It was planned. It was looked forward to. It was met with exclamations and smiles and dances.
What these two responses reveal is emotion…
Emotion is what makes us human. It forms the bonds that hold us together. Yes, it can also wreak havoc and chaos and cause immense pain and destruction, but a world devoid of emotion is what literature views as a dystopia.
Two books come to mind when I think of a world without emotion.
The first is The Giver by Lois Lowry. This book describes a world in which emotion is removed entirely. People live a life of monotony. They don't feel anything. They don't experience beauty or passion. They are enslaved. It is awful.
The second is Forbidden by Ted Dekker. In this book, almost all emotion is missing, except for fear. It has been said that great is a fantastic way to control people, and that is the case in this world. The main character even witnesses his mother's murder before his eyes and has no grief or sorrow, only fear.
As children, emotion comes easy. Kids scream when they're angry, bawl when they're sad, shriek and jump when they're happy, laugh uncontrollably when something is funny. Emotion is not just something that is felt, but something that is lived.
As we grow older we tend to harness and suppress our emotions more. We cry, but in private. We smile and clap when we're happy. We bottle our anger. Emotions become emojis, meaningless little faces to express what we feel.
But a life, a world, a story without emotion is no life, no world, no story at all. The books I mentioned above are interesting and ending because the lack of emotion is antagonistic. It's part of what needs to be fought against. The hero is the one who feels and fights for others to feel as well.
So, I would encourage you, as you write, fill your story with emotion. Your characters should be passionate. Your plots should be exciting. Imbue your writing with love, joy, celebration, anger, sorrow, revenge, the whole spectrum of emotion. That emotion will build the bridge that connects your story with a reader. They should cry when a character suffers. They should grin from ear to ear when they succeed. Emotional investment is worth more than perfect punctuation and fancy words.
What are the books, the stories that make you feel? Which have caused you to laugh, to cry, to rage, to dance? Share in the comments.
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