Friday Workshop in Melbourne

So, on Friday I spent the day with Margie Lawson doing her workshop on empowering characters emotions. It was long, it was bamboozling, and if you'd asked me what I learned when I walked out of the room I'd have muttered, "nuthin," and then tottered off to find the nearest source of caffeine to get my fried brain to, yanno, do something.

But, on reflection, I got a lot out of the workshop. The principal point being that my characters Have No Emotion. Nope. They smile, they act out cliches, they frown, and then they barrel along to the next paragraph of action or dialogue. I realised that my readers don't own the characters emotions. I tell the reader how the character feels and they take note and move along. They are not there feeling the emotion with my character. But Margie has given me some brilliant tips on how to fix this, and whilst last nights attempt was fundamentally awful...

Ice, sharp and jagged stuck in the base of her throat, stopping the words with furious dismay, and silence, as cutting as the ice split the room like a searing bolt of lightening.

Hell, I'd had three glasses of red wine. But I can see what Margie was saying about 'freshing' your writing and adding more to the emotion. I still can't believe I was missing it so completely.

DUH!