Lives Interrupted shows how a group of people deal with the aftermath of a tube bombing. In the first draft there was trouble, trauma and tears. However, once I started editing I was determined to remove as many of the tears as possible. Not to get rid of any of the drama, but to deal with it in other ways.
There are occasions when we, or our protagonist will cry, but the strength of a character is shown in how they deal with adversity. If a character cries at everything it gets boring.
Yes, there are tears in Lives Interrupted, but I reserved them for the toughest of experiences when tears could not be stopped. It's a good writing experience, and a test of how well you know your character, to see how they react to stress, pain and/or conflict.
As a writing exercise look at your latest WIP, or a short story that includes tears, and find another way of having your character cope with the disaster.
No comments:
Post a Comment