Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Empathy

I've been suffering from an unusual amount of anxiety lately, so much so that it's kept me awake at night. I thought I knew the causes. There were plenty of external influences to choose from, and I alternately blamed them as I struggled to sleep. Monday night, I slept for less than an hour. I kept getting up and doing things, reasoning that if I had one less task to worry about I'd be able to sleep easier. Writing crossed my mind, but it wasn't something that had to be done immediately, and I thought I was too tired to write coherently. 

Last night, when I couldn't sleep, I sat down and wrote. I'd left my character in a stressful situation on Saturday, and I wrote all the way through it's climax. As soon as my character neutralized the antagonist, the tension left my body. I slept better than I have in a long time.

It made me wonder how well Suzanne Collins slept while writing THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy.

Do you empathize with your characters?  

13 comments:

  1. I'm glad you had a good sleep last night. Nothing worse when you toss and turn and your thoughts are spinning. I'm on my last assignment for the writing course yay! :o)

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  2. Ah... the mind is such a funny thing, isn't it? I find that I have to resolve things to sleep too, even if it is something mundane in my every day life, like dishes.

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  3. Currently, I'm not very emotionally invested in my fiction (darn schoolwork). When I am, though, I do find myself feeling distressed or happy or confused when characters do. Usually it's subconscious, just like what you explained. Fortunately for me, I don't lose sleep about it!

    I actually think about my writing as I'm falling asleep every night. I've been doing it for so long that I think it's now what cues my brain to go to sleep--though when I started doing it, it was because it prevented me from staying up worrying about real life. Rather, I replaced life with a world I had complete control over.

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  4. That's a great time but a bad time to resolve plot and character issues.

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  5. So glad you got it resolved. One hour?? That's tough! I think you are amazing!

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  6. Oh wow. That's a lot of empathy for your characters. I don't think I've lost sleep over them. Glad you figured that out!

    One hour! I would be crying, I think.

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  7. Yes, Kayeleen, but I can let dishes slide sometimes.

    That sounds like a great idea, Q, and I'm glad it's not just me.

    I probably wrote it faster than I should have, Holly. I've been thinking of things I'll need to add when I revise.

    Thanks, Em. You ARE amazing.

    Kelly, this is the first time I've had a climax hit me like this, but I've never stopped writing one in the middle before.

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  8. Can't answer this one, because I don't HAVE characters.

    ;)

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  9. No, I guess I don't really have empathy for my characters because I've never lost sleep over it. I'm an outliner though, so I know every scene before I start writing the rough draft, so maybe it's just enough to know how it's going to turn out in the end.

    I'm glad you got some good sleep!

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  10. Ugh, insomnia stinks. I'm so sorry, Myrna. I'm glad you found a solution, though. Empathy is a good thing -- it will come out in your writing, and will make those missed nights of sleep worth it.

    Amy

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  11. Sue, you have some in your poetry, but you're probably not losing sleep over those.

    Susan, maybe Collins is an outliner as well.

    I hope so, Amy. That would totally make it worth the lost sleep.

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  12. I haven't had any character-induced insomnia...yet. However, I stay up late writing when I should be sleeping. Like right now.I should be sleeping.

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