I go to Rich Kid School. That is, at least one lunchtime a year, we all gather round a table in the cafeteria and tell how glorious our parents are. It's a competition, really, to see who's the most glamorous. Like this:
"My dad owns the Fairbury Hot Dog brand."
"My mom owns Runza." [you have no idea how unbelievably cool that is here]
"My dad's the Governor."
And then, they'll all turn to me and go, "Well, what does your family do?"
I'll go, "My mom is a hypnotherapist." And then the Fairbury kid will throw a piece of bratwurst at me.
...as you can see, I have major 'Street Cred' problems. But I don't have major writing problems! Why?
All that hand-me-down knowledge that I get helps out quite a bit- and it's not quite as complicated as you think! You can get obscure and cool descriptions in that have factual basis- and have people go, "Oh, I've felt that before!"
So, without further adieu: "How To Write About Deep Psychological Stuff...And Have Your Readers Connect"
Let the freaky brain talk begin.
EMOTIONAL STAINS:
Ever walked into a room a bit after an argument and find that the air still feels heavy and sort of 'angry'?
Fact is, intense emotions (anger, sadness/grief) leave little traces behind that human beings can pick up on. And people can give off traces too- stressed/mad/devastated people can 'feel' like that, even from a distance.
For example, a (slightly obvious) bit from Hourglass:
The snow made my father upset- not in a sobbing, crying sort of way, but in the way that he usually displayed emotion- by making everything around him feel the way he did. When I walked in step with him, the air felt tense and angry and on the verge of crying, yet when I looked up at his face, he seemed expressionless.
My reader at the time- Misty- said, "Yeah! I know what that's like..."
And you probably do, even if you don't actively notice it.
So! Have a particularly angry situation happen in a room before your characters come in to it? Got a totally stressed character?
Describe the feeling around it all!
It's...FUN FACT TIME!:
Know the clichèd expression 'smelled like death'?
Rot has a smell. Bodily fluids have a smell. But Death doesn't have a smell- so why do we say that?
Sad/lonely/frightened emotions give off a stain, too.
But why 'smell'? The human memory notices smell the most, so you're most likely to connect the feeling with a smell, even if it doesn't really make sense.
INSTINCT, SEEING THE FUTURE- ALL THAT PSYCHIC STUFF:
Unfortunately, most people can't see full visions like in 'That's So Raven'. (Most people don't wear orange tassels on their sleeves, either.)
But! You do have intuition.
What's intuition? Well...ever get that nagging sense you're supposed to do something?
For instance: a long time ago (I mentioned this in my blog, I think) we had the contemporary composer Maslanka come to our house. My mom was doing some pre-party shopping at WalMart and noticed the candies called Rollos on the shelf.
My mom hates Rollos and had gotten loads of candy already...but she bought them anyway, just because it bothered her so much.
Turns out, Maslanka wrote a piece called 'Rollo Takes a Walk'.
...cool, yeah?
Intuition's a little harder to write for, just because you get people going "Wait! Why is he doing that? There's no reason..."
Convince 'em there is a reason (and please, don't be blatant). Say that Shelley has a nagging 'feeling' that she should move the car, and then have a giant snowball come rolling down the hill a few minutes after it's been moved out of the way.
Also, characters with more prominent intuition usually means that they're a little more comfortable with themselves and how their mind works (they trust themselves, in essence). So- if you want to convince us that they're a confident person, add in a scene where it shows us their intuition, if the situation is right.
IMAGINARY FRIENDS AND CREEPY KIDS:
Before the age of 6 or so, you've really no idea what society thinks is freaky or not...so, you're going to naturally say what you see.
Truth is: we get little paranormal/energy cues from everything. And, most of us have had past experiences.
What are past experiences? Well- ever heard the expression 'you're an old soul'?
In some contemporary thought circles, it's believed that souls (or your equivalent) are 'recycled'- that is- used over and over again, but in different packages. Sort of like the Hindu concept of 'karma', except there's no threat of coming back as a bug.
Now, you don't have to go along with this train of thought, but what's true is this- the subconscious mind (the part that's harder to access) is recording everything you've ever experienced- even in the womb!
And when you're three years old, it's not all weird to you yet.
If a little kid comes up to you and says, "I saw Uncle Tom sitting on the counter!" you're likely to go, "You silly goose! Uncle Tom lives in Canada!"
But...er...maybe they did see Uncle Tom. Remember that whole thing about 'paranormal cues'?
Yeah, little kids are more in touch with the whole 'dark matter' stuff- that is, the stuff that the rest of us don't pick up on because it's 'stupid' or 'made up'. Kids don't think that way, though! They're still learning about what's going to earn them a 'you're right' or a 'you silly goose!'
People don't write about this sort of thing, though, because they dismiss it as 'Baby Talk'.
For instance (the quote is so terribly unedited that I'm not going to post it
) in Hourglass, there's a scene between Matthias and a little girl that basically consists of Matthias meeting her doll, and having her tell him all about 'the skinny man who holds Tucker'- Tucker being a doll.
In a perfect world, Matthias would be unfazed. But for now...he's just taking it for what he thinks it is, 'babble'. But you've gotta admit- it is a cool touch.
So! Add in a Creepy Kid...and you'll have your parents telling you all about your old invisible friends when they read your draft.
Gender:
Points: 6090
Reviews: 1258