It’s Okay To Cry

I wrote a sad scene in my erotica/romance novel.  It was the big moment where they need to decide what they really want, and will they risk it all for love?  What does love even mean?  

I journey with my characters as I write.  I feel the happy scenes sitting with them in the park.  I almost can feel it as they do a workout together, as I know what it feels like to sweat and move and love every moment of it.   I can taste the ice cream they share, knowing they each have a favourite flavour.

I admit it, I’m primarily a character driven author.  I find something compelling about my characters, and then allow life to happen to them.  I know what life can be like in all it’s messy, suddenly changing, and harsh reality.  They won’t be shielded from that.  It’s who they are that makes a book happen.  If nothing interesting happens, how can they react to it?

It also means I feel what they feel, if not exactly, then enough to know what’s going on for them.  If something happens, or someone gets lost, or things go badly, I may cry my way through the scene with them.  It’s okay.  It makes it real.  What would the scene be like if I felt nothing?  Would it be the same?  I don’t think so.

After all, the point is to let the reader journey along as well.  If I can’t get swept up in the story, how can they?  If I can’t taste, smell, feel, and see what I’m writing, then share that, how can they know what the character is feeling?  An imaginative reader will be there, but everyone else?  Yeah, didn’t think so.

That’s why I know it’s okay to cry.  It’s great to be happy for them and celebrate their wins.  Those little moments of relaxation are important, too, and give everyone a break.  Life is an emotional roller coaster.  If we’re not riding it with the characters, are the characters really living?

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