Emotion | A. W. Downer

Fine-tuning Revision

Posted on August 22, 2020 Leave a Comment

I’ve been working on revisions for my contemporary middle grade novel. I’ve never gotten into quite so much fine-tuning before. It’s a whole different thing. I had the scenes in order and the character arc pretty well figured out. But now, I had to go through and make sure all the emotions remained consistent. I […]

Intense Emotional Climax

Posted on June 9, 2014 Leave a Comment

Why are the intense emotional scenes such a challenge to write? I’m talking about climaxes. I spend the whole manuscript just trying to get to those intense scenes, but when I finally arrive, I find myself floundering around. The writing is often surface and too quick. A scene that should probably take several pages (since […]

Operation: Cut the Internal Monologue

Posted on June 29, 2012 1 Comment

Not too long ago, a friend of mine commented on the differences between men and women (these are generalizations, not rules). Many women–I think all the women I’ve ever known–are constantly thinking of something. Personally, I have a constant internal monologue going on (on a side note, its usually in third person: “She wondered what […]

Physical Manifestations of Emotion

Posted on June 22, 2012 Leave a Comment

I have known for a couple of years now that I have difficulty including sensory detail in my stories. I experience the world through thoughts and thought processes. I don’t necessarily remember how things smell or taste or sound–I remember specific images, dates, and numerical or logical details. I remember what I thought at the […]