Reaction in Action

Last week we examined the unexpected ways people can react to a variety of situations. Today, we’re going to look at how reactions play out. More importantly, we will look at how to capture those reactions in fiction. This is a lot trickier than it might seem. Many of us have seen the same phrases used so often to describe various reactions and that makes it challenging to capture the truth in new and powerful ways. It helps to see the behaviours that go with reactions.

People aren’t always very good at identifying their own emotions. It can take time to sort through what they feel about a given situation, especially when there are conflicting emotions at play. Take, for instance, a man learning that his wife is pregnant. His reaction may depend on a number of things: is his wife healthy; do they both want a baby; can they afford a child, and so forth. If the answer to even one of these elements is no, then joy may be muted. In that moment, the moment that he learns she’s pregnant, he may not be able to untangle his feelings. He may also be guided by her reaction, and fake happiness if he thinks that’s what she wants.

You may also find that many people’s initial reactions can intensify, weaken, or even change completely as time goes by. Many writers make the mistake of giving a character one clear response to a situation, and that holds steady for the rest of the story. But sometimes, when a person has time to think things over, initial resistance may turn to acceptance, or vice versa. Acceptance can turn to anger, joy to hate, and so on. People are very good at talking themselves into or out of sometimes bizarre behaviour. The man who scarcely exchanges two words with a woman can convince himself that she’s his soul mate. ln real life, this is frightening and immoral behaviour — but it makes for great fiction.

The Point of View Element

When it comes to writing these scenes, much will depend on the point of view you use. If your story is written from one of the character’s POV, you can explore the conflicts within them, but be careful to avoid clichés. If you find yourself writing, “his heart skipped a beat,” “joy tinged with fear,” or any other such hackneyed phrases, some serious rewriting is in order. The same pitfalls apply when you’re approaching the scene from the woman’s point of view. Alternatively, if you go with the omniscient point of view you can step back and dispassionately examine reactions of various characters, the hopes and fears of one, and the doomed-to-failure expectations of one another. That said, in writing, as in much else, less is more. Don’t flat out state what the characters are thinking or feeling, let the reader deduce it, preferably from their behaviour.

Another approach is to have a secondary character witness the reaction. Perhaps they are an unreliable narrator and either lie about reactions, or don’t properly understand what they think they are seeing. Imagine a child seeing her parent’s discussing the mother’s pregnancy. The child’s emotions are coloured by their own hopes and expectations. A new baby, lovely! Or… awful. Perhaps the father knows the baby isn’t his. Perhaps the woman has had two miscarriages in a row. What initially looked like a fairly straightforward scene is now revealed as complex.

Reaction in Action

Giving advice to the players, Hamlet cautioned, “suit the action to the word, the
word to the action” (Hamlet III, ii). That’s fine if your character always says what they mean, and behaves accordingly. However, that is often not the case. People frequently lie, even to themselves. They claim to be happy when they’re actually furious. They talk like heroes but act like cowards. It’s important to reveal the disconnect between speech and behaviour, and let the reader decide which more accurately reflects the character’s feelings.

Whichever approach you take, make sure your language is fresh and clear. No one wants sentences that stink of mold.

Language

People tend to be better, in general, at saying the right thing than they are at doing the right thing. Of course, some folks are bad at both.

Even in language, the truth can seep out. You can probably think of any number of examples of this. The would-be father we mentioned above may say something like, “Oh, I’m so proud of you!” which doesn’t say anything about he feels about the pregnancy at all, but when you think about it, it’s hardly unmitigated joy, is it? What about a woman who is told her father has died. She says, “At last.” Is this because she hated him, or because she couldn’t stand to see her beloved dad suffering?

Then there are Freudian slips. Remember that episode of Friends when Ross was marrying Emily, but accidentally called her Rachel? Oops. Truth will out, eventually.

Listen when people are talking. Notice when they use favourite words. A politician who proclaims that he is, “honest” probably isn’t. If a member of the schoolboard relies on the mantra, “We’re just thinking of the children,” well, let’s just say such words deserve a certain scepticism. Years ago, I had a boss who’s pet phrase was, “I’m listening.” The joke in the office was when she said that, she really wasn’t.

Behaviour

The general believe is that while words lie, behaviour doesn’t. That’s often true. But then you meet the love-bomber. This is (usually) a man who gives the girl he just met flowers, gifts, showers her with praise and endearments, and tells her he loves her in nano-seconds of just meeting. But within a few weeks, he gets bored, or finds a new girl to fawn over, and girl number one is wondering what happened.

Why do people love-bomb? I’ve no idea. Maybe they’re in love with the idea of being in love. Maybe they feel it gives them power. Whatever the reason, it’s not as rare as you may like to think.

Then again, who can say what behaviour is normal? All we can really know is if the behaviour and the speech fit together. If not, why not? And what will the reader make of such a character?

Tells

As any poker play knows, there are certain behaviours that can tell a lot about what a person is really thinking. Perhaps the man chinking the ice in his glass is secretly revealing that his cards are worthless. Or the woman who pats her hair when she has a good hand.

Even in ordinary circumstances, people signal their true feelings. This is to behaviour what Freudian slips are to language. I once knew someone who was a consummate liar. Then I realised that she would hold my gaze steadily when she was spinning her most outrageous yarns. In the film, The American President, Syd, the president’s girlfriend, played by Annette Bening, notes that he has a certain face that he makes when he’s lying. We all have tells. Look out for them, and use them.

Putting it on Paper

To be a good writer, you need to be a student of human psychology. Knowing how people behave when they’re stressed, or lying, or excited, and being able to distill that behaviour into fresh sentences is far from easy, but it’s immensely rewarding when you manage to do it.

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