Writing with Feeling with Author Lee Mandelo
In fiction, we seek to provoke, to compel, to—more than anything else—make the reader feel.
But how? Focusing too much on external action can make a scene land flat, a cardboard cutout of what’s in our mind’s eye. But focus too much on thoughts, feelings and backstory, and the story can drag, lose focus. It’s a delicate balance.
To hone my skills, I recently took a class by author Lee Mandelo, “Writing with Feeling: Affect and the Body in Prose” offered through the Miami Book Fair. Mandelo is the author of the newly-released Southern gothic novel Summer Sons.
Here are my Top Three Takeaways from their inspiring class:
- Slow Down
Because I can be wordy, much of my time editing is spent trying to figure out how to cut length without sacrificing meaning. This class was a good reminder that the most important moments in even a brief story should be savored. This “lingering,” as Mandelo called it, is what allows for emotion depth, silently pointing the reader to what is most important.
2. Go Deep
Outside/Inside
Start with external description (all five senses, physical reactions), but then transition to the feelings, thoughts and desires these external stimuli provoke. If you have trouble with this, write the scene from a different point of view. Try first person if your internal description is weak; try camera view/3rd person if your character is spending the whole scene navel gazing.
Present/Past/Future
Connect present actions and reactions with memories, hopes, dreams.
3. Get specific
Beyond first impulse
If someone’s emotional response to something is obvious, focus on the more subtle emotions that accompany it. For example, if someone is angry, what sort of anger is it? Is it tinged with sadness, excitement or fear? Highlight contradictions, contrasts and “in-betweenness.”
Reveal Character
Anyone can say “I was nervous,” Mandelo pointed out. How would that character express this in a way that reveals more about them – their age, class, state of mind/worldview, etc.
Happy Writing!