Emotional Reactions

The emotional reaction is the first part of the sequel, which I introduced here. I want to go over some good questions to ask yourself about this part as you are revising. I would suggest that you avoid thinking about these questions until you start revising, because there are few ways of derailing your writing faster than getting ahead of yourself and allowing your critic to come out too soon.

How emotionally invested was the main character in the previous scene? – The answer to this question affects not only the type of emotion your character feels, but also how long you will spend on their emotions in general. It is possible to skip over a character’s emotional reaction entirely, but beware: if you ignore your character’s emotions without good reason, you risk readers believing that your character is a heartless bastard. Most characters will feel something, even those not directly involved in a scene. Just a mention of exhaustion of some kind is often enough. However, what doesn’t make sense is for a character with little at risk in a scene to then respond with some incredibly powerful emotion, like grief or fury. If you want to get your character that worked up, you have to invest them emotionally in the outcome.