Creating Character Emotions

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Customer Reviews:

Like Nasty Cough Syrup [Posted on 2005-12-11]
The last few books I bought and read on writing from Amazon.com were excellent and I started this with high hopes. Unfortunately, I started skimming about three-fourths of the way through and ended up skipping the last couple chapters.

This book has a fault I have noticed with others. When they quote another work, it always falls flat. The quotes are taken out of context, we are missing all the author had to say about the character in the previous hundred pages or so. What this means, is the "good" examples she gives us seem, well, so so. Of course the bad examples stand on their own and are bad, something anyone would do with little thought.

Rather than so many chapters on each individual emotion, I would rather see more extensive general work. I would like to see many, many examples of good emotions written by the author herself, and not a quote from a book, but a paragraph written that stands on its own. Hood tries to set up the "good" examples, but it can only be done imperfectly.

Bad emotion writing are cliches (mad has a hatter, hungry as a horse, etc.) and miss identifying the emotion, anger instead of fear.

Good emotion writing accuratly and freshly describes the emotions the character feels.

In conclusion, like cough syrup, you have to take this, but could it just taste better? Worth reading, perhaps, but put it down in your priority list.

PS My short list of must reads:

The First Five Pages, Noah Lukeman
Writing the Breakout Novel, Donald Mass
45 Master CHaracters, Victoria Lynn Schmidt
Dialogue, Gloria Kempton
Description & Setting, Ron Rozelle
Scene & Structure, Jack M. Bickham
You Can Write a Novel, James V. Smith Jr.

PPS My short list of stinkers that slipped through:

Creating Character Emotions, Ann Hood
Writing Dialogue, Tom Chiarella
Theme & Strategy, Ronald B. Tobias

Specific and helpful [Posted on 2006-02-19]
Imagine my surprise when I recognized my own writing mistakes in the examples of bad writing. This immediately helped me take my writing to the next level. I have many cherished writing books, and this one holds up well in comparison. It is helpful because it's specific and focused. I couldn't wait to get to the computer and apply the things I learned in this book. I'm happy to add it to my bookcase.

The Complexity of the human condition. [Posted on 2007-08-01]
I'm disappointed in most of the other reviews of this book and the low rankings other readers gave it. Maybe they just don't get it. Maybe they have trouble seeing how complex we humans are. Most men, like myself, tend to be reluctant to show emotion in public. We tend to hide all but anger so we don't give away our weaknesses. I taught English grammar and literature for thirty years and although Ann Hood does not spend a lot of time on any one emotion, she manages to convey just how complex we humans are by quickly glossing over the thirty-six emotions she shows us in her book. I appreciate the way she organized her little book on creating character emotions. I wish I had read it soon after it came out in print. I would have added some of what she wrote into my lessons on characterization. Although I haven't read some of the other books out there about creating emotions, like the one by Orson Scott Card, which I plan to read next, I can not discount the fact that she has provided me with some valuable seeds for thought. As a teacher, I've learned that there are many ways to teach one thing and one method will not reach everyone. I have three books on this subject and Hood's is the first one I've read and I like her approach. I recommend this book to anyone who seriously wants to improve his or her writing and do not stop with just this one book. Read others so that you will really learn how to write. I'm also a writer. My wife has written national and international bestsellers. One book my wife wrote was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. I've edited my wife's work, and nothing woke me to the complexity of developing the characters I write about in my stories like this book did. I hope the other books I will read after this one add more to my growing knowledge. Reading this book was like opening a door and walking into a well-lit room. I get it. I finally get it. Maybe I'm just dense and it took someone like Ann Hood to wake me up so I understand what emotion is all about.

Deserves a Read at the Library [Posted on 2008-02-19]
The book's intention is about Creating Character Emotions, however it's method of executing that purpose is flawed. The first chapter is an extremely good and helpful read and then you are left with X amount of chapters showing good and bad examples of emotions. The problem with this is that creating emotions are subjective to one's personal experiences and therefore reading and learning from someone else's literature might infuse the writer with cliche's or disconnect because that emotion conveyed in the example is not true to the prospective writer but the writer who wrote it. I think the book would have benefited with a deeper treatment of exploring the "Senses" in writing and then using specific examples like metaphors, similies and the such to evoke sensory impressions of the emotions that are being described. You might learn more about creating emotions with a book on writing poetry, creative free writing on your personal experiences that have impacted in your life emotionally and then try to describe how you felt through the actions you took.

I read this book once and it is one that is not going to be used or kept as a reference. The author introduces each chapter of emotion with a page or two of a personal experience that highlights a particular emotion but nothing else. So if you want to create character emotions, utilize "what-if" scenarios and put yourself in similar situations and then write down how you would react through the character's actions without telling the reader. Remember, if a character in your story cries and is explicit in their "telling" of their emotion, then your reader will not have to empathasize, react, or connect with the emotion because it has been told to them already.

Decent Read // Helpful Tool if You Have Writer's Block [Posted on 2008-04-21]
The Point of the Book. Ann Hood, noticing a gap in her fiction writing teaching syllabus, decided that a book on writing convincing character emotions was in order. The goal of the book is tied up in that very subhead: wanting to get writers to understand their character's true feelings and express those feelings in a compelling manner.

The Good. The book is divided by alphabetical emotional groupings which makes the book an excellent resource. You want to write about fear? Turn to page 54 under FEAR. Extremely clear in that respect. She also makes sure to divide each section into four helpful categories. First she defines the emotion, usually using an author's definition and her own personal retelling of a life-event; secondly she gives three bad examples of the emotion; thirdly she offers three good examples (chosen from various authors); fourthly she closes with a brief work exercise to provoke personal exploration of the emotion.

The Bad. There's really nothing bad about the book. A couple of sections came close to being repetitive but Ann Hood was extremely smart in cross referencing sections when she had to to round off the picture. I would also say that sometimes some of the GOOD examples she chose to portray a character emotion didn't quite achieve the goal they were going for without the context of the larger story. True, she tries to encapsulate as much of that broader context as she can in the small space, but it really doesn't fully pan out the way she would want in some of those sections.

The Ugly. Nothing. The book binding is good, the size is great, the typeface is easy to read and the writing is clear.

Conclusion. The book won't make you an Emotion Writing Jedi: that's outside of its scope. What it will do is provoke you to think about the character emotions (a task that can be further accomplished by tons of reading (a task the author recommends). The book is worth a library read but if you're a serious writer it should have a spot on your shelf as a reference tool and thought-provoker whenever your writing is stumbling. 3 Star with a should-buy for a writer and a should-read for aspiring writers.

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