What were you thinking when you clicked on the link that brought you to this page? Were you internally saying something like, "That sounds interesting," or were you, perhaps, seeing an image or having some kind of emotional response, something that might express a sinking feeling like, "Not another piece of pseudo psychology, please." Perhaps you were having a combination of these reactions or, maybe, you were thinking of yesterday's football game or whether or not your friend still loves you. My guess is that, whatever was going on inside your head, it is now lost forever.
Tricky this, because we writers are often told by teachers, agents or publishers that in order to create believable characters we should get right inside their heads. That's fine. But what exactly is going on inside the head of anybody is almost impossible to say. For example, if you stop reading now and stare at the wall, ask yourself what is going on in your mind. Are you actually "talking" to yourself and almost hearing the words that pass through your consciousness? Are you seeing some kind of mental image? Perhaps you are having some kind of emotional response - anger, happiness, jealousy, for example - or, perhaps, a combination of all these things at the same time. Can you now unravel them?
For the writer, getting inside your character's head, unravelling the inner workings of his/her mind and expressing this on the page can be an enriching experience both for writer and reader. Imagine your hero is dancing with a girl when he has a revelation. Is it enough for our character to think something like, "I think I love her"? Do we really "think" these words on realising that we are in love? What exactly is going on that can reveal something of the character to the reader? Do we really have inner conversations with ourselves, for example, "I think I love her. I wonder if she loves me, too. I do hope so. Thank goodness I used plenty of deodorant before coming out this evening."
Perhaps, instead of words of love, we get inner pictures of related things like houses, marriage, sex and babies. And then, the writer must remember that his/her character is existing in the physical world so how does he or she react to sensory awareness like the cold wind, the sunshine, the carpet under his feet or the music being played or the fact that he has just stepped on his beloved's foot! Does our hero think to himself, "Oh my God, I have just trodden on her foot"? There is no question that awareness of his blunder will be there in our lover's consciousness but how, exactly does this awareness reveal itself?
I am not suggesting that we writers undertake a course in Psychology. I am merely suggesting that we all take the time to "think" about how "thoughts" and feelings reveal themselves and how we might create better writing. An actor can show us what his character is feeling and, perhaps, thinking, through body language. Perhaps, we writers should take a leaf from the actor's script and, in this way, show readers what our love-struck Romeo is thinking and feeling after treading on his beloved's foot!
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