Writers are always told to write what you know...but how do you write what your MC feels? My MC is a 14 year old girl...when she's getting into trouble, when she's laughing, and even when she's scared, I can do that...because I was a 14 year old girl (a few years ago...grin), I've been a 14 year old girl getting in trouble, laughing and I can even remember being scared, but...
Here's the scene I'm stuck on:
My MC and her best friend are lost in the woods...the best friend has been bitten by a rattle snake and darkness is coming on...
So, I can relate to being scared and lost...been there done that as a child (not in the woods, but been lost)...but I'm not sure I can bring out the true fear in my MC and in her friend when it comes to the rattle snake bite, and the darkness...
I'm scared to death of snakes, so I can relate to that fear, but the snake isn't really in the scene...it's not like they see it and are trying to get away...it bites the friend before they know what has happened...so I need to find a way to bring out that fear and strength in my MC when she realizes that it was a rattle snake, they are lost and she doesn't have much time before it will be dark...she has to get a fire going, she has to take care of her friend, etc...that's a lot for a 14 year old to deal with...and that is WAY more than I ever had to deal with as a 14 year old...
So my question to you is this...How do you write what your MC is feeling, when you've never really been in that situation?
I mean, I can bring up a picture of a snake and feel my heart flutter and my skin crawl, but I know my MC & her friend are feeling a lot worse than flutter and crawling skin...
Hugs...
4 comments:
Perhaps hearing the snake rattle after it's struck so the characters and the readers know what kind of snake it is, seeing it slither away would bring tension. Then in that moment knowing just how terrible their perdicament is. After which it becomes as issue of what steps to take, what to do; of deciding which of your characters is strong, which is weak. Which becomes hysterical, which stays fairly calm.
Interesting situation. Some people might be oddly calm in emergencies - drawing on strength they didn't know they had. It's a new experience for your character, too, so maybe she is surprised by her own responses.
Adrienne has a good point. My husband is like that. Show him a cat with a broken leg and he falls to pieces. Send him on a scene of a 4 car pile up with multiple fatalies and he just takes over.
You could always have the friend tell a story about a snake bite she heard about, instilling more fear into the mc.
Good luck!
Thanks for the tips...I think this scene is going to be the toughest scene in the book for me to write...Thanks again...
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