We have said many times in these blogs that the purpose of a novel is to provide a positive emotional experience for the reader. But, how do we do this? The story is conveyed by the characters. They are the road over which the story runs. A novel’s powerful message is carried though powerful, emotional characters. Without this, our characters look and act like robots, responding dispassionately to any kind of challenge they face.
Emotion and motivation are different, but related, and commonly contested among experts. I think of them in the following sequence. First is motivation, e.g. “I am hungry” or “I want a new car”. This motivation produces emotion, which generates the energy for action (“I need to eat,” or “I need money”) to an action (eating breakfast, robbing somebody.). These examples are simple enough, although others are more complicated (e.g., love).
Our characters must be full of motivation and energy. Motivation combined with emotion generates the energy for action. The feelings come first, then the action. We should preserve this directionality in our writing. Our writing should begin with motivation, then link to emotion, followed by action. However, commonly, a new novelist, not having thought this through, can jumble these leaving the reader with an important disconnect that they themselves have to resolve. Look at the following example.
McQueen punched the doctor in the face. He was angry because the doctor touched his sister. McQueen never trusted doctors and therefore had no choice but to come to his fifteen year old sister’s aid.
This is an example of complete reversal of the emotion-action flow. In this example, we are confronted with a powerful action, but are perplexed. Why a punch? And to a doctor? Then we learn why the action was carried out, and finally understand, although the author made us unnecessarily work to appreciate the context. Now look at a rewrite
Doctors spoke much, said little, and charged a ton McQueen, the caring brother of his little sister thought. He watched the doctor touch her breast. As she recoiled, his anger swelled at her violation, and he punched the doctor in the face.
In this version, we are first exposed to motivation, then emotion, then action. It is a smooth flow. We understand the sequence, and we can react to the entire emotion-action complex, whether we agree with McQueen or not. We can react to it. An example of this is in Catching Cold Judgment . Look at the reaction of the CEO to several pages of insults delivered by a sadistic lawyer.
Meredith walked down the side of the long conference past all of the murmuring lawyers. She saw Clayton leaning over her chair, digging through his box of papers. “You know, Clay, I thought you were the kind of man who loved sniffing seats.” He started to stand up. “Wha—” When he reached her height, her right hand lashed out, catching his larynx in the web between her thumb and index finger. He staggered back into the corner of the conference table from the blow’s force, hands going to his throat. A brutal right cross caught him under his left eye, and he went sprawling over his chair onto the floor, face up. She took the glasses from his face and placed them on the floor, grinding them with her heel until they were twisted plastic and shattered lenses. “This is what petty officers, second class do,” she said, “look at me.” He tried to twist his head up to bring her face into view. She helped him, grabbing and pinching his fat chin, lifting the drooping skin. “I am and will always be Ms. Doucette to you. Don’t dare address me common again.” She stepped over him and returned to her seat.
The reader after having just read pages where the lawyer makes fun of Meredith Doucette, ex-CEO of SSS Pharmaceuticals, abusing and insulting her, is prepared for the outburst. They in fact are hoping for it, waiting for it. When it occurs the reader may be surprised but is relieved. The emotion and motivation is set and the powerful emotional experienced delivered
We make it easy for the reader to follow and appreciate the actions of characters if they first understand these characters’ motivations and emotions. Try to keep the sequence intact so much that it becomes second nature for you as you write.
