Bring the Pain
In a clear sign that I’ve been unmotivated this week, I’ve read a couple books, both by Teresa Medeiros, who I adore. The first one was Nobody’s Darling (an old favorite) and another I read for the first time, Yours Until Dawn.
Ms. Medeiros has an amazing knack for wringing emotion out of her readers. In Yours Until Dawn, there were numerous times when my throat choked up and I felt that rush. You know, the rush I mean. The rush where you want to cry out, “No!” as in “No, don’t leave him/her” or “No, can’t you see he/she loves you?!” or “No, he/she didn’t really mean that!”
Yet, of course, in these instances you do your best to remain silent with the denial echoing through your mind. ‘Cause, honestly, it is just a book for crying out loud. Sane, rational people don’t speak to books.
Yeah, I know, I do too.
I must admit that I keep reading for those moments “No!” moments.
Writing manuals call this the “black moment.” I feel like that just doesn’t cover it. Black moment? Like they’re in the dark? That’s not so scary. Hand them a flashlight, a candle, whatever, and let them be on their way.
Watching someone have everything they ever wanted ripped away from them and witnessing their heartbreak when they realize it is gone forever? That’s not black, that’s not even conflict; that’s pain. I guess the pain moment just doesn’t sound as literary.
But all this hurting is bittersweet, of course. This is romance; they’re bound to be happy in the end.
How do you bring the pain in your stories? Any good painful moment that really moved you recently?
Books by the Crew
39 comments:
Ooh, I love pain.
I mean if I were a stripper my song would be--
Pain by Three Days Grace.
I think the most painful thing I've read recently was the beginning of New Moon (the first read through). There is something about being left behind cruelly and without reason that really stung me good. I haven't had much time for reading lately. I am rereading The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison right now. No painful scenes in that book. It's all about how far you can bend the rules until the ruler gives and smacks you in the forehead.
Oh, that's a good one. The beginning of New Moon was heartbreaking. :( Even the end of it was a little heartbreaking.
*sigh*
And how I bring pain-- Hm.
I'm really not sure.
I don't write the tradional romance. I suppose I bring it with the life or death issue towards the end.
I need to ponder this. I'm not good about analyzing my own writing unless we're talking about procrastination.
Life and Death issues help intensify it, I'm sure. I love scenes where the h/h think the other one is dead or could have died and have to deal with being without them, even if they do, obviously live.
Nice visual, Sin. On the ruler, not the stripping. Though I'm sure you'd make a lovely stripper. And I love that song too.
I love that moment in a book that breaks my heart. No idea why. And for me it's when the characters' hearts are broken. Cried two hours after reading the black moment in an SEP book. For such a tiny, sweet women, SEP sure can rip your heart out.
I know the black moment in my WIP is going to tear me apart when I have to write it. And there are actually a couple of minor ones coming too. I wrote the dialogue for one of them already (because it came to me while driving one day...grrrr) and I cried the entire time I typed. Why DO we do this to ourselves? LOL!
I think I do it because these moments reaffirm love/happiness for me. No matter how bad it gets, I know things will work out for the best. I can't say that about RL.
And they're my favorite parts too, Ter. It's ok; I'm right there with you.
I remember writing my black moment. I managed not to cry outright, but I choked up and I had two (three?) glasses of wine.
Drinking to get through the black moment? LOL! That's not a bad idea. Too bad I don't like wine.
But I figure if I cry, then the reader will cry. Which sadist that I am, I want to happen. LOL!
LOL! I think you could probably substitute in any libation you require. I'm not a huge beer enthusiast. Dark ones I can do sometimes, with the right food.
I have to agree about New Moon. The beginning was very rough--and I really felt for Bella. I think I liked New Moon best (though there was stuff in the 3rd one that was pretty funny...I know, I know, I can't believe I like Jake (a.k.a. Morelli) either.)
Clearly I can't go a post without mentioning POTC--when Will Turner is killed (though brought back as the Flying Dutchman). Seriously. You just married hte love of your life, and he's now cursed to spend only one day with you every 10 years? Hello!
And I can't go a Black Moment post without mentioning Harry Potter too, esp the last book. Though that book seemed LITTERED with black moments. Within hte first 40 pages, I wondered, How in the Hell is anyone going to survive to the end? It was a freaking miracle. And I sobbed all over the Forest scene.
I loved the black moments in Nobody's Darling and Yours Until Dawn--those are two of my favorites of TM...and I love Whisper of Roses for the the NO factor.
Recently I read Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon, but that book was one long Black Moment from beginning to end. No escape, nothing very happy in it, even when they had the happily ever after. Acheron's life and character wasn't happy... (It didn't make me cry like Harry though.)
Sugar Daddy and Blue Eyed Devil both were emotional wringers for me. Lots of black moments and emotional pulls.
I don't know if I cried with my black moment in GOGU. I got a little choked, but I wasn't near as wrung out as when I wrote my first draft of Lucy's story, way back when, and killed Elizabeth. It's was a perfect Lifetime Channel movie moment. He's holding her broken body, and her spirit is telling him it'll be okay...and Gabriel sneers and says, "Go to hell." Then Luc says, "I'm already there." Drama, drama, drama. Actually it was the funeral scene and the bit after that killed me more. Lucy was a WRECK.
Then again, I was probably channeling similar emotions that I felt when my mother died, so that was probably it.
Ahh, I love that moment too, when your heart just aches for the characters. You know, I read a book last night by a new author (my MIL just handed me a romance and I thought I'd give the author a try). Toward the end, I knew where the "black moment" should have been. It was there. But there was no emotion to it. She lied to the hero, told him she didn't love him though she did, and walked away. But there was no real emotion in either him or her - more just a description of what transpired - so I felt nothing. Bizarre. So now I'm paranoid this is what happened in the black moment in my WIP, so I'm trying to figure out how to make it more angsty, just in case *g*
Marnee - I agree - I love angst best because no matter how heartbreaking it gets, love always wins in the end (in a romance novel, at least). And the more angst, the sweeter the happy ending.
Terri - which SEP book was it? I love her angst!
POTC, HP, and New Moon... all some of my favorite black moments.
I haven't read Whispers of Roses or Acheron yet. And I haven't read Sugar Daddy or Blue Eyed Devil yet. I need to get with the program.
And the forest scene in the last book.... I think I balled and balled. That book was a big black moment. The part where Ron has to stab the necklace and the horcrux is all, you can't compare to your friend. *sob*
That does sound horrible. :( I want to read more Lucy for crying outloud. Get that book written, I can't take the suspense....
That draft is completely different than the book I'd have for him now. Of course, Luc is a bit different than he was in the first draft. *LOL* He's a lot funnier for one. He was more "LOST SOUL" in the first incarnation. I'm not sure if I'll have an Elizabeth death scene in the new book...I'm not sure I could make it work...but it's possible.
I still think I'm going to love him.
What does that say for my immortal soul?
Oh wait, this is fiction. I'm clearly fine.
How could I have forgotten about Sugar Daddy and BED? Talk about ripping your heart out. Kleypas is a master. Master!
Hal - It was It Had To Be You. I was sitting in my truck in Knoxville waiting for me ex to show up with my kiddo and they were running really late. I was emotionally strung out and facing driving through snow in the Smokies. Lets just say it wasn't the smartest time to be reading that scene. LOL!
I wonder if I would have cried that much had I been a bit more *stable*. Hmmmm....probably. That was a good scene and a fantastic book.
Terri - oh no, that was just one of those books. Or maybe I'm just similarly unstable *g* I thought that might be the one you were talking about - that's my favorite of hers too. Talk about ripping your heart out!!
I love the way author's will put something in the first or second chapter, just a line or two, but that line will intensify the black moment all the more.
I've experienced plenty of black moments in my life, I think as we all have. Really getting into deep pov and adding some dialogue, so that their actions contradict their thoughts. letting go because you feel you have to, or believing there is no hope, I think those things add to the black moment.
I use to think of the black moment as red moments, a moment hazed in anger. That was before I began writing.
Renee
Crumbs, Everyone is cheerful today, revelling in black moments.
My favourite story about black moments involves two Welsh ladies. On leaving the cinema they were overheard to say "I know dear, wasn't it wonderful, I cried all the way through!" I can embroider it but you get the gist!
You will never get me admitting to sobs over a book, but I might just say that the level in the scotch bottle has dropped quite rapidly on occasion! This seems to correlate with the heroine, through various devilish designs of the author, being thwarted in love.
Mary Ballogh's 'Secret Pearl' is a good example. The wounded hero didn't move me at all but the fugitive heroine hiding deep wounds....sigh. I got through a couple of bottles reading that.
Trouble is I keep falling in love with the heroine or *lovingly stroking the half empty bottle*, perhaps its a side effect of that delicious amber liquid....
Q - I balled during The Secret Pearl. That was gut wrenching, I tell ya. I could have used some of that scotch. LOL!
Hal - You're right, I would have cried no matter what.
Renee - I think having real black moments in life - not that I wish them on anyone - can help write a better one on paper. I can certainly channel some low moments. I would hope that emotion helps me write a better scene.
That should be "bawled" shouldn't it? Man, that looks wrong.
Yeah, it's bawled.
Balled is a completely different connotation.
I know, I know! *blushes*
I've been re-reading a favorite of mine, This Rake of Mine by Elizabeth Boyle and it is chock full of those painful moments. When they collide on the stairs and she knows who he is but he has no clue but there's that chemistry that sizzles through the air. When he re-counts what happened to him to her charges and she can't tell him that she's that woman. I could go on and on! Oh, when she finds out her parents told everyone she was dead when they banished her to the country. DEAD! And I think I'm giving too much I away.
That whole book puts me through the wringer again and again! I LOVE IT!
As for my own writing, I put my hero through the wringer. Hey, I love a tortured hero, so 'natch I have to make mine one as well.
Not that I’d ever tease you or anything… But Gosh Terrio, “I balled during The Secret Pearl. That was gut wrenching” sounds like you are describing what happened when you tried out a position from the Karma Sutra.
Now Sin… I would tease… Did you read what she wrote?
“Ooh, I love pain” No shit, she loves Pain. The woman wears 5’ inch stilettos?! WTH. Can there be Any Thing more Painful than High high heels? I mean not only are they painful to walk in. They are painful to stand in. And all that extra height can be Really dangerous to your health. Seriously. The last time I wore 5’ heels I got so dizzy and disoriented from the high altitude…I ended up saying… “I do!”
Hal! I swear, my computer skims over posts sometimes.
I worry about my black moment not having the right amount of angst too. I keep thinking it must because it's not just a miscommunication. I always feel like books that hinge their black moment on a miscommunication fall flat. There needs to be more, I think. I just worry that my "more" isn't "more enough."
Renee - I think hope is a key element (or rather lack of hope).
Q - I suspect scotch is as soothing as a good cry. And I haven't read Mary Balogh, but I should, it seems.
Santa - I love a tortured hero too! What's not to love?!
Julie - LOL about the five inch heels = wedding vows!! :)
Julie - tease away. I typed it, I can take it. LOL! And I'd be more apt to believe Sin likes to *inflict* pain on others. Seriously...
You know
Not that I’m trying to insinuate that my DH is a Pain. No. A Pain is much to gentle of a term for what I am feeling right now. My husband just called me on the phone. To remind me that I should call his mum and wish her a happy birthday. The man was all chipper… and stoic… and all I can say is…
Damn the man and his stiff British upper lip.
I hope that you don’t take offense at my rant, Q. Go to Romance Vagabonds and read my post under Jangas blog “Falling Like Rain”. You will get a little insight into my feelings. And a little enlightenment into how I handle today’s subject… “How do you bring the pain in your stories? “
Q, I second you assertion that the Brits are tuff guys. So let me raise my right hand is I swear “I have never met an Englishman who sobbed at a sad story… even if that story is about …” Well read the old post.
And may I say "Happy birthday, Mom!"
Oh… and Sin… can I borrow one of your stilettos? I wanna throw it at my husband’s head! Damn Man!
Terri, You once advised me to read my comments before posting. We are all human! *g*
Marnee, So true about the scotch, and if the odd tear should escape, it will blend with the ice so no-one will know. :wink:
Julie, A strict British Nannie does wonders for the upper lip!
I did look up your post in vagabonds....amazingly a simple google search took me there first go.
Yes the pain of the death of a loved one can be excruciating. Nursing someone approaching death as you did seems to me to show extraordinary courage. I'll bet your DH recognised that.
Don't be too hard on him, Men have a thing about caring for their mum! :roll:
I like how I'm gone most of the afternoon and this turns into a debate over whether I like to inflict pain or take it.
High heels are NOT painful as long as you have the right ones. My five inch heels are mary jane wingtips in patent leather. I LOVE those heels and they look good with almost anything.
And I'm pretty sure something happens to your brain right before you say yes to any question from a guy. It's like the air is suddenly turned to pot and you're too high to remember that you should say NO and run away.
And Jules, I've got a baseball bat with your DH's name on it if you prefer that.
Happy birthday to Julie's mom.
Bartender! Break out your best bottle of scotch. I’m buying a round… or two for the house.
Sin, thanks for the offer of the bat. That is the sweetest thing anybody has done for me all week. *sniff* Quantum, it is so nice of you to share a mans point of view. Once again you remind us that men have feelings too. You just… sometimes… show them a bit differently from us females. And of course… thank you for Q reminding me to be nice. And that really, this wasn’t really about me.
When my DH said “Hey, did you call up my mom & wish her a happy birthday?” I was lost for words. My jaw dropped… and… silence… I … I just didn’t know what to say. Which never happens to me. I always saaaaay something. Maybe not the right thing. But something. Even when my MIL was dying, or my FIL was asking why, or when that guy was trying to jack my car… I had something to say. But not this time.
No.
So maybe there is a lesson here, Marnee? Maybe when an author writes “a good painful moment” it should be less about what the characters say verbally. And more about what they don’t say verbally. Show their pain through gestures… actions… and maybe you have a more accurate portrait of how life really is…
Julie - I'm sorry about the DH. They aren't always good at that stuff....
And all the good stuff doesn't happen through words, I agree.
To be honest, I never know what to say in painful moments either. When my father was dying, I remember trying to think of what to say to him in his last coherent moments and I didn't do a good job. I know now that there wasn't anything that would have been good enough. But, I'm supposed to be the one that's good at words. And I wasn't then. Weird, huh?
It's easier to know what to say when you're writing a black moment than living the black moment. What do you say to someone in those last seconds? You just never know what to say when the time comes and then even if they come to you, you can't choke them out. Marnee, don't be so hard on yourself. You were there with him. Being by his side spoke more words than you could've ever thought to speak.
Sin is right, Marnee. You were there for him. And your presance was all that he needed to "hear".
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