I'm Crying

[Bisky]

Well, not now.

But I wrote a childrens book outline with kittens that was so happy at the end I got the sniffles.

JK Rowling cried when she killed off her characters. Can't imagine stephen king or George RR Martin reacting that way.

Do the characters/endings in your writing make you cry?

[Dionne]

Yes. I cried when I killed of one of my characters in my last book. I also cried when I realised I had to kill off a couple more at the end of the series. It's emotionally difficult! lol

[Bisky]

I just remembered I cried when I realised I would make two characters break up. Buuuuuuut they love each other! Why?!

Why do we torture ourselves :p

[Carl]

Post-battle scene in which heroine threw her father's dagger into a river because of her revulsion for war. I was listening to Solas's version of "Reasonland" when I wrote the scene. Check out song on YouTube. Btw, heroine won the battle and the war.

[Annalisa]

I kill off so many of my characters, if I cried every time I'd never get any writing done! I even went as far as to kill off my very favourite character ever - that was tough, but there wasn't any other way.

@Carl - I have a couple of songs/albums which are fused with certain stories I've written. Music is amazing for getting the right mood.

[Dionne]

Yes, I think it's safe to say we're all a bit nuts lol. After writing one scary scene for my book, I couldn't sleep because I was too scared. I had to watch tv until I calmed down lol.

[Carry]

I have this very flawed character that has a lot of emotional issues due to trauma and he goes through a lot in the series I'm writing. he end up being tortured (wrongfully). And while I haven't really cried for him, I feel very very sad for him. I want to hug him and make everything okay again (which will happen, after quite some time). But I have the feeling that tears might still follow at some point. So far he is the only character with who I really seem to have a close bond. But that might be because I've been working with him the longest because he is so difficult to get to know.

[Bisky]

@Carl I do that too! I have a whole playlist for each chapter I make while I write. Really helps when I go back and edit and want to remember the emotion of first writing it.

@Annalisa I do too, I think my saddest scenes are where characters almost die. As they are lingering in pain but I only tend to cry in love scenes haha

@Dionne omg I did that after I wrote a scene recently with a new monster. Ended up giving myself the willies thinking about it haha

@Carry there are always characters we bond with and i think its because they reflect us in lots of ways, even if we dont realise it. I have a similar situation with the MC of the novel im trying to get published traditionally :3

[Deb]

My characters attend a funeral in my current WIP. After I first wrote that scene I was heavy-hearted for a good long while after.

[Deb]

Annalisa wrote: "@Carl - I have a couple of songs/albums which are fused with certain stories I've written. Music is amazing for getting the right mood. "

Me, too. I love music for digging a little deeper.

[Michael]

I didn't cry when I killed people in my first novel, but I did feel bad, both for them and for the protagonist. The one that might yet make me cry is in the upcoming 'The Gray Man's Journal.' He's the MC, so I can't kill him off but for all of his sense of humor he is BLEAK. He's a werewolf hunter who views himself as a serial killer, and knows sooner or later he'll be caught, tried, sentenced and probably executed for all of the 'people' that he's killed. His life genuinely sucks...

[Bisky]

I think its not just the killing its the build up. Some characters just end up suffering as much as possible. But they often end up as favourites and ones we sympathise with the most :3

[Heidi]

I have one character I ended up doing a backstory on because I just couldn't get the feeling right. What he went through *shudders*. It was hard to write.

I do cry when I kill off someone, but mostly that is because I have to dig up and event that I've had to bury somewhat in order to survive. It still comes up and knocks me to my knees, but I have to say writing about the emotion grief has helped me work through my own.

[J]

When I finished my first draft of my current story, I was sad when my antagonist died (well, goes bye-bye) because her evilness sparked from a fallacy. :( I hate myself for making her hate herself. :(

I guess that happens when your characters tap into dark 'stuff.' :3

[Bisky]

I agree! We search the darkest parts of ourselves sometimes in writing. But atleast it makes good stories :3 Its a great therapy for old pain but can also help us prepare for new turmoils :3

[Carry]

Ooh this is hard... we have problems of making a character fit in the story and he's my favourite character and well... I'm discussing with my co-writer if we maybe should throw him out of the story.... never thought just considering it could be so painful :/

[Bisky]

Spin off? :o

[Bisky]

Oooor make the content for him on a blog? As a promotion tool as hes sidelined in the story?

[Nicole]

I have made a few people cry with my novella A PRECISE MOMENT (shameless plug) but I don't cry myself. Hmm, and I have never killed anyone. Maybe I should get on that. LOL

Usually, I will come across a line that I had forgotten about and laugh or say "ZOMG THAT LINE IS AWESOME!" and be very proud.

[Carry]

Spin off... that sounds interesting... but right now I don't see how since he is actually a protagonist, well more like an anti-hero. But he actually came to life through someone I admire a lot and he inspired me so much to write (he's a famous singer... I don't know him personally) and somehow it feels like I'm betraying him or something... It's weird because awful things happen to this character but he is to me, the coolest and most inspiring character in the story :/

[Bisky]

"Usually, I will come across a line that I had forgotten about and laugh or say "ZOMG THAT LINE IS AWESOME!" and be very proud."

I cackle to myself usually in a "I am a genius" sort of way.

@Carry I kinda understand what you mean. Afterall we wouldnt devote a piece of our lives to them if we didn't feel for them.

[Carry]

Well I shouldn't panic... I'm going to spit through the story as soon as I'm done with my exams and see if I can somehow fit him in without forcing things

[Bisky]

One of my background characters in my first novel has become pivotal in the plan for the second. I never expected it :x Now I want to get it published just to talk to people about him :p

[Carl]

Annalisa, I often have songs I'm thinking of if I can't play them. In fact, I typically setup an iPod playlist when I write a novel. Latest contains lots of Pink Floyd and NIN. It's inspirational.

[Annalisa]

Carl, I once wrote a story based on a song. Every time I heard it I knew there was a story lurking - it took about four years for it to rise to the surface. Ah Pink Floyd... good choice!

[Bisky]

My first novel is named after a song that I loved during a really dark patch in my teens :] Its nice to make something positive out of bad times I think :3

[Carl]

Story set on a space station needs mechanical music. I think I'll add some Philip Glass to the playlist. Bisky, Annalisa: I like how you talk about music's emotive power.

[Bisky]

@Carl Wall-E has an amazing soundtrack :3

My next project after Fury is a YA SciFi I'm sitting thinking about what I want to listen to while I write it. After all the budgies are still here -.-*

[[deleted user]]

I cried a lot when I killed one of my characters. Although I knew from the beginning that I would kill him and that it was necessary for the evolution of the story, I felt like it was me (instead of my hero) who was losing a friend. Afterwards, it took me a lot of time and courage to get back to writing and finishing the novel. And now, a bit more than a year after writing that chapter, I still cry when I read it. Guess that means I love my characters as much as my friends ^^

[Bisky]

I know what you mean. I'm not writing the sequel to my first novel until I get it published, I havent cried over a characters physical pain yet. But I know I probably will when I write that book. I'm so mean :'(

[Ken]

Of course, sequels have their own effect on tears. A few years back I noted that "writers are multiple murderers because we create people in such detail, all the while knowing that at "The End" they'll all disappear."

(That was back when I was a purist about never repeating my characters; something about them having earned their freedom from my meddlings. :) )

[Bisky]

I bet George RR Martin is really going to regret his stories if we find out that after we die, we get transported into our fictional worlds. :p

Imagine the characters that will be waiting for him :p

[Ken]

Judged by his own characters? Joffrey himself would call that overkill.

[Carl]

Bisky: poor George! lol

[Bisky]

>:D

[Carry]

Yeaaah! My character survived and I do not need to toss him out of the story :D It feels so great that he can stay without having to bend the whole story around him :D

[Bisky]

yay! :D