Want to hear something I learned from high school theater (thanks Mr. Pollock) that helped me hugely as a writer?

Advice: Don't tell people what they're supposed to be feeling.

How is this writing advice you ask? Well.

Thread:

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I don't remember anyone's name attached to this anecdote, but here it is:

A famous actress was in a movie, where her character is supposed to run in and see the body of her dead husband lying on the floor.

She does the scene, crying.

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No, says the director. Don't cry. Don't do anything. Go in, kneel down beside him. Keep your face completely blank.

She does it that way, that's the take that winds up in the movie, and it's incredibly affecting.

Why?

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Because with her face blank, the audience could project how they would feel in a similar situation. They were being invited to empathize.

As a writer, your job is not to tell people how to feel, but like that actress, to invite people to empathize

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No possible description of ANY emotion can equal the movie in your readers' heads, drawn from their own inner lives.

So don't describe emotions. Say what happens. Say what people do and how they do it.

Readers can create the emotional content for themselves.

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