I’m a watering pot, I admit it. It’s really, really weird and often embarrassing. I tear up over all kinds of things, some of them completely stupid. My eyes actually well up and I sniffle. Okay, sad movies - well, that’s all right, only to be expected.
But happy endings? Duh! I feel like such a twit.
Then there’s books. What is this? With a movie, yep, I’m getting the visual, the violins on the sound track, the broken voices, the whole acting gig. Pretty powerful stuff, emotionally, so I can see how I’m affected. Movie directors are clever people and manipulating emotions is their business.
But the printed page? Come on!
These are paper people, after all. They aren’t real. How can they make me cry? But they do. Every damned time. Somehow, I’ve developed a relationship with people who don’t exist.
Then there’s animals. Serial murders, done in various grisly ways? No problem. But bring on a big-eyed kitty-cat or a dog with droopy ears and I’m a goner. Have them die and I’m in floods. I only have to think of my dear old Burmese boy who died peacefully in my lap at the grand old age of nineteen and I’m all teary. (Hang on, have to blow my nose.)
For example, there’s a section in Joey W. Hill’s The Vampire Queen’s Servant, about a horse. The horse is perfectly okay, BTW, it’s a lovely horse and very happy. But the scene is beautifully written and incredibly touching. I sniveled my way through the critique. Joey was delighted, of course. Cos she’s a writer and she’d “got” me. Wicked woman. 
I have a quote on my website, Fledge’s words ~
Stories have a power, a magic all their own. Consider the fact that the actions, thoughts and feelings of people who have no existence in reality can make you laugh, make you weep. That’s the art and that’s the magic.
[Extract from the Prologue, Collected Tales of the Fair by Fledge, Story Witch of the Ten Nations Fair, edited by Miriliel the Burnished, 10,362 ATF]
Fledge is a story witch, a professional teller of tales - and she’s speaking for me. It is magic, in my opinion. A kind of amazing telepathy.
We writers are evil creatures. We love to know we made you care enough to shed a tear.
Perhaps you’re a watering pot too. Do you enjoy a bit of a weep or will you avoid a book (or movie) if you think it’s going to put you through the emotional wringer? I won’t see those three tissue-box movies, because I know I’ll be too upset.
Do you close a book with a satisfied sigh because you’ve had your “fix”? I can handle the ole heartstrings getting tugged, but there has to be an HEA, or I’m very VERY upset!
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Denise:
I must confess that I am, too, a watering pot whose emotions can be very easily manipulated.
I’ll read about a beloved pet dying (hold on, I need a tissue too), and I’m brought back to the old aching pain of my long-gone childhood dogs. I read about the death of a loved one - and I’m a goner.
A few years ago, I was on a long layover in some godforsaken airport (Atlanta, I think), and I was flat out of reading material, so I picked up a romance from an author I had never read. Little did I know, the story involved a mother’s death, a child’s death, a dog’s death, child abandonment, cancer and a fatal fire. The book was really rather awful, but it hit a lot of emotional buttons. I wasn’t sobbing, but the tears were streaking down my face. Someone saw me, didn’t realize I was reading, and sent a security guard over to ask me if I needed medical assistance.
There are certain books that I can’t read in public - not because I am ashamed of their content, but because I know I’ll just start crying. But those are the books I love the best - they provide a cathartic punch, an emotional cleansing. I will say, though, I don’t like to be manipulated - and the aforementioned airport novel was so truly awful (despite the good cry), that I left it in the seat pocket on the airplane.
But as much as I love books that give me a good cry, the best books are those (as you’ve said) that make you sigh with satisfaction when you finish the last page. So often, I read a promising novel that starts out well, builds to a nice crescendo of emotion (driven by plot and character) then falls completely flat - a pat, trite ending where all conflict is fixed through some artificial deus ex machina manipulation.
Not to sound fawning and obsequious, but one of the best endings I’ve ever read was “Tailspin”. It would have be simply awful for Jan to have been fully healed by the Mating Flights. As sad as it was, Jan’s temporary departure from Mirry and Fletch was the most perfect ending you could have written. (I had hoped you would write a short story about Jan’s return - the interview with Mirry only whetted my appetite).
I’m definitely a weeper. I always have been too and I don’t know why i am. I know which movies to avoid watching if I don’t want to cry in public and if I’m in a blue mood I avoid certain songs on the radio, but when it comes to books, well, sometimes you never know what’s going to happen. I’ve had some authors throw me for a loop with the plot twists and turns in their books and I end up crying like a baby. LOL! In fact I was reading Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga a couple of weeks ago and I ended up crying within the first few chapters of the second book. I was pitiful, but that was the emotion that was so strong. She was trying to convey the character’s pain and sadness and boy did it work.
I have to agree with Lita about Tailspin’s ending. Of course you already know that I cried at the end because I emailed you to tell you about it and about how I loved the book as well.
My crit group insisted I watch Brokeback Mountain a while ago. I had bought the DVD because I knew it would be good but had avoided watching it because I knew I wouldn’t cope emotionally. Eventually I watched it. I sobbed almost continuously for two days afterwards and spontaneoulsy burst into tears every time I thought about it in the following few weeks. I spent nearly three weeks trying to work out an alternative ending but their time and circumstances were such that nothing else would work. There was no way these two could be together and happy.
What broke my heart was that these two men were soul mates. They were supposed to be together, in fact, couldn’t be truly happy without each other. But their society was so rigid they were made to feel ‘wrong’ and they were forced to live lives that were lies. They only had one summer of shadowed happiness.
Of course I couldn’t find another solution for them. In that time and in that society, they would have butted up against the brick wall of bigotry at every turn. The only solution would have been to take them to a totally different world. And that’s exactly what Strongman does. That story was responsible for helping me pull myself out of the funk caused by Brokeback Mountain. At least Fort and Griff made it. They’re happy. *sigh* There’s hope for every other couple after reading about them. Thank you Denise.
I am hopeless…. and rate books by whether they’re a two-tissue weepie (about standard) or more! If a reviewer says, ‘This one will tug at your heartstrings’ I collect the whole box of tissues. But, what lovely writing, to be so transported that you care about the characters. As to films, same. I even start sniffling in soppy ads on television. Just a big softie.
Oh my goodness, Lita! I’m positively beaming here.
Obsequious? NEVER! But more about that in a minute.
I know exactly what you mean by manipulation. I too loathe the deus ex machina. There’s one popular author who does it book after book. A fabulous storyteller, so I have to keep reading, but I always feel jerked around and insulted at the end. What a pity.
I guess the difference between manipulation and catharsis is in character development. If the reader can connect with well-rounded characters, then the emotion is in keeping and therefore believable. Funny, I always seem to end up preaching about the importance of character. And my books usually have a plot too. Go figure.
Finally, let me say I am SO VERY GLAD you felt that way about the end of TAILSPIN, because I copped a bit of flak for it. Some folk were disappointed and I felt bad. But I knew, I just knew that anyone who had been so deeply traumatised couldn’t just pop back after a bit of hot lurve and say, “I’m all dandy now.” Especially a man as strong and as private as Jan. No way.
I don’t know if you’ve read STRONGMAN, but Jan and Mirry and Fledge have important secondary roles and I made it very VERY clear that Jan is perfectly fine. He’s still one tough, scary alpha dude, but he’s happy.
As for your short story idea… Hmmm… I’m writing an epilogue for STRONGMAN at the moment, which will be my gift to the members of my newsletter group. But I’ll think about the reunion. Do you think it might be…um…spectacular?
heh heh
Dani, I know I’m a beast, but I love that I made you cry. Because that means I got the emotion right, so I did my job. And I love hearing from you. Makes it all worthwhile.
It’s funny, despite being such a watering pot, I don’t cry when I’m writing sad bits. I’m concentrating too hard. Fair warning though, there are some VERY poignant sections in THE FLAME AND THE SHADOW. There’s one bit where I simply hated what I was doing to the hero. By the time I finished it, I was totally wrung out. Poor darling Gray, no wonder he’s a tad angsty.
And duh! He isn’t even real - a paper man. But hell, he is to me. *sigh*
Oh god - I cry at the drop of a hat. In fact I’m sitting here red-eyed cos I’ve just re-watched Torvil and Deans magic in Bolero and had tears running down my face - man they could skate! I cry in movies, at the television news, in stage shows - sobbed (literally, it wasn’t pretty) at the end of Miss Saigon - and yes, in books.
I sucked myself into believing not long ago that just because I’d cried every time I’d read Charlotte’s Web as a child didn’t mean that as a mature adult I would fall into the same trap. So I threw caution to the wind and read it to my daughter and OMG!!! I couldn’t even read the words at the end I was crying so badly.
People have told me they’ve cried in my books and I think it’s the ultimate compliment - to touch someone so deeply. Making someone laugh is easy but to get behind their barriers and needle at their emotions - that’s difficult.
Denise:
I am not a writer (or at least of fiction), so I can’t say whether I’d be weepy when writing emotionally impactful scenes or dialogue, but thinking about it - I wouldn’t think that an author would cry during the writing process. This reminds me of the end of the movie “Something’s Gotta Give,” when Diane Keaton has a 10 minute on screen wailing and weeping fest, and you see her sobbing while she is writing her play. So much desperate, overflowing emotion, but she still managed to write a complex satire, complete with musical comedy interludes!
I have read Strongman (and loved it), and I was delighted at how you cleverly brought in the Tailspin trio, particularly Jan. You deserve very high praise for that alone - so many times authors try to incorporate characters from previous books and fail miserably - either the effort is as forced as stunt casting, or those characters end up taking over.
Do you know if Tailspin and Strongman will ever make it into printed books? I love eBooks - particularly since I got a Kindle, but at the end of the day, I still prefer tree-books for works I want to read again and again.
Oh Elaine, I know exactly how you feel. I was in floods of tears by the end of Brokeback Mountain. That movie made a tremendous impression on me, I thought about it for months after. Still do, occasionally. It made me angry, as well as sad.
I know I’ve said this elsewhere, but STRONGMAN was a direct result of the movie. (Also the story it’s based on, by E. Annie Proulx. Quite brilliant and the movie was very faithful.) Fort is essentially Ennis, the character played by Heath Ledger. Griff turned out to be - well, Griff.
He’s unique.
I so badly wanted an HEA for those two and STRONGMAN was the only way to provide it. Even then, you’ll notice I couldn’t bear to create a world where sexual prejudice was the norm, so it’s only the Straight Church that’s bigoted. Hell’s bells, if I’m God/dess I’ll do as I damn well please.
Anyway, I’m very glad it helped, because I was absolutely driven to write it. Thank you for saying so. I’m very touched. Hmm, perhaps I’d better get back to that epilogue for my newsletter and up the hotness quotient. But on second thoughts, I don’t think that’s possible…
heh heh
Ah, Malvina, it’s when you tear up watching those ads that feature the adorable golden Lab puppies with the big brown eyes and soft mouths that you need to worry. You know, the ones for toilet paper. But that pup is just so damn adorable, he makes me go all squishy. Lord, I’m hopeless.
But I know what a caring, generous person you are, so I’m not surprised you feel things deeply.
And you’ve put your finger right on it. If you care about the characters, you’re in a different world - one where they’re real.
Good heavens, AA, I had no idea! I’d better be careful or you’ll set me off too. And you a nurse! You must find work pretty testing at times. I don’t know how you do it, truly I don’t.
And yes, I think making someone cry shows that you’ve written your way right into their emotions. I just love doing that!
But then, I’m evil. But you know, I’m not so sure about how easy it is to make a reader laugh. Humour can trip a writer up - it takes a deft hand and a bit of self-restraint. Speaking of which, I can’t wait to read your romantic comedy. Fingers crosses you sell it asap! 
Snickering about Diane Keaton, Lita.
I don’t cope well with a series about the same characters - I think I must be easily bored - but I do love a series in the same world, with related characters. And because I only want to write what I like to read (I have my priorities straight, you see) that’s what I do. I relish bringing previous characters back, just a glimpse. Because I love them all to death, I truly do. You have no concept of their “realness” as far as I’m concerned. They’re my friends and my darlings. Even the bad guys. I positively adore the Hssrda. A reader suggested exterminating them once and I was deeply shocked. 
Villains are such fun to write.
As for print copies - Waaaaah… Ellora’s Cave have a printing backlog. It could be a couple of years yet. There’s nothing I can do about this, but if you feel strongly enough, an email to the Ellora’s Cave Customer Service department can’t hurt! service@ellorascave.com
Those toilet paper and vacuum cleaner commercials featuring Golden Retriever puppies just make be want to cry, too - my childhood dogs were Goldens. The sweetest, smartest, most loving dogs in the world. Are you old enough to remember the song “Shannon” by Henry Gross? It came out the summer we lost our first Golden (hell, I’m crying now, good thing my office door is closed) - it was about a pet dog’s passing. Here is a link to the lyrics, if you want a good cry: http://www.henrygross.com/s_lyrics.htm.
I read Brokeback Mountain in the original New Yorker publication, and it blew me away. I loved the writing - the sparseness of the prose was so evocative of the setting and the people, but the ending! I was depressed and teary for days. I have the movie on DVD, but I can’t watch it…it’s just too sad. I have a dear friend who absolutely refuses to read anything with a “bad” (i.e., sad) ending. Which is strange because she absolutely abhors “genre” fiction, which almost always has a positive ending. I’d say it was because she was an English Lit major, and feels that such stuff is “beneath her” - but then I’d have to wonder about my own tastes, which are decidedly and proudly low-brow :mrgreen:.
I think I love the Hssrda too, I know I love Mirry’s entry about them in the Encyclopedia. I love them because they are not demons or some form of underworld creature driven by an irrational hate (i.e., a Orc or Uruk-Hai rip-off), but a science experiement gone bad. They are driven by rational needs, have a culture and a society (that you’ve really only hinted at). I do we’ll get to learn more about them.
OK, I admit it. I too, am a class A watering pot…can’t help it, been this way for as long as I can remember and I hold you and Joey directly responsible for some of my most recent soggy episodes. My hat’s off to the both of you for creating such poignant characters. And yes, I know they’re just “paper” people, but in the hands of a craftsman they become as real to you as any movie or stage performance. You’ve caused the reader to become emotionally invested in your story and that’s what makes it so delicious
. Yes, I’m wrung out, red-nosed, and puffy eyed when its over, but soooo satisfied. So I say !Bravo! and keep’em coming, I’ve got my hanky on stand by.
I too was deeply affected by Brokeback Mountain. Thought about it for a long time. I think this is the difference between a love story and a tragedy. A love story really gets you high and gives you a wonderful glow at the end, an all-is-right-with-the-world feeling. Tragedies stay with us forever. Atonement really upset/disturbed me for days and The Painted Veil - man I wanted to demand a rewrite!
I must say it had been a while since a movie or book had moved me to tears but only last week I was watching a movie whilst on the computer (talk about multi-tasking!) and I got all teary and emotional. Add to that my latest book Lover Enshrined had me so teary I had to put the book down. Must have been a week for it. I think a lot of how I perceive things has to do with where I’m at in my head.
Oh and I must admit to being a HEA girl. But it’s a fine line between being happy for the couple and sad that their story is finished.
Count me into the watering pot club. I am so bad that when I was a new teacher, the class and I were reading Old Yeller out loud. I was crying so hard when we got to the scene where Yeller dies, that my 6th graders were bringing me Klennex and patting my back.
I want to connect with characters like Mirry and Jan. I want them to seem more than paper characters. That’s why I read what you write and Joey Hill and JR Ward etc. You all make it real, make us care. At the end of the day, the fact that you all can do that without manipulation is a tribute to your skill.
I’m getting worse as I get older. People fall in love - I cry. People fight, kill, die - I cry.
I recently saw The Painted Veil and sobbed through that one. I haven’t read the book so not sure how similar it is to the movie, but it was just so devastating and unfair.
D
I’m with you Danielle - I sobbed too. It wasn’t so much the way it ended because given where they were I guess that was a real possibility but it was just so sudden for me
Lita, the lyrics to Shannon don’t ring any bells, though I’m sure I’m old enough. *hollow laughter*
Your friend must find her choice of reading matter somewhat restricted, I fear! But yes, I have friends like that and I belong to a Book Club where we read “real” books. *sigh* Not that there’s anything wrong with that - The Kite Runner, for example, was wonderful. And I don’t think “low brow” has anything to do with it. There’s some element that says entertainment is wrong, that you shouldn’t read for the pure pleasure of it, that books should be “improving” in some way. Bah humbug! It makes me cross!
As for the Hssrda, they’ll keep turning up, like the proverbial bad pennies.
And you’re right, though I hadn’t thought of them quite like that. They just appeared in my head - the way they are. Come to think of it, that’s one of the reasons I like the Phantom. He doesn’t have superpowers, just muscles and wit and Hero and Devil and the pygmy Bandu.
Oooh, Tina, you softie! But I’m so glad it works for you and that you enjoy the emotional journey. Oh dear, in that case, just wait ’til you meet Cenda and Gray from THE FLAME AND THE SHADOW! You’d better lay in a supply of hankies.
Amy, you’re absolutely correct. Brokeback Mountain was a true tragedy. I find stories like that can upset me for days too. I’ve read Atonement and that was enough - don’t want to see the movie. And I won’t be going to The Painted Veil either, thank you very much!
OTOH, I have the DVD of Hairspray to watch, which is more my speed.
Lyn, I haven’t got my greedy little paws on Lover Enshrined yet. I’ll approach with caution.
I think the key to the tension between wanting the HEA and not wanting the pleasure to finish is in the depth of that satisfied sigh as you turn the last page. Because if it’s truly satisfied, then the author has done her job and the book was worth the money.
BTW, everyone, you should see Lyn’s latest book cover. What a tour de force! Wow! http://taylorwade.blogspot.com/2008/06/men-of-tokyo-sudden-surrender.html
Clynax, that’s such a sweet story! I remember the time took my younger sister and her friend to see Bambi. I cried when Bambi’s mother got killed and those two little horrors thought I was sooo funny. Hah!
You can put me in the same sentence as Joey and JR Ward any time, my dear!
But see, as I keep saying - it’s all about the depth of characterisation. No one cares about cardboard cutouts. Why should they? We all remember memorable characters we’ve read, even from years ago - like Yeller, for instance. Because they were their own selves, not cliched stereotypes of dogs or heroes.
But Danielle, you’re the Queen of Horror! The stuff you write gives me the creeps - in the right way, of course. Though I guess good horror writing works on our emotions too, just not the soppy, sentimental ones. I am now most definitely going to avoid The Painted Veil, though that promo photo of them in the boat was gorgeous, so lush, with her hand on his arm. That’s the one isn’t it?
Yes, Denise - that’s the one. The cinephotgraphy was absolute;y beautiful, the whole movie was quite lush.
And I hate to be the one to break this to you but I cried in Hairspray too….There’s quite a bit about the American Civil Rights movement and things like that always make me tear up.
Hi, my name is Amy and I am a watering can.
Ooooh nooooo, Amy! Dammit! But hey, forewarned is forearmed.
I know, but of a contradiction, huh. I love a good romance, a good tear jerker and a good mystery, but the scarier the movie the better, and I’m talking fingernails dug into the couch and jaw clenched open in a silent scream kind of stuff. But in saying that, I have to look under my bed every night before I get in. Just in case…
Nise, I so identify with you and crying at the drop of a hat. I don’t enjoy being a watering pot. Don’t like crying in books, but I almost always do. It’s very embarrassing if I’m on the train at the time.
It’s beyond me, Danielle, enjoying that much terror. It’s why I won’t watch horror movies. I don’t want that stuff in my head. OTOH, I read Silence of the Lambs and survived the experience. And Patricia Cornwell too. Must be the visuals. Go figure.
Know what you mean, Christine. I once burst out laughing reading a book on the bus. It was Auntie Mame. It’s truly very very funny. So were the looks I got!
[…] mullet (an Aussie-ism) staring and staring. In the end, I was so moved, I cried. (You will recall our discussion about being a watering pot.) Photos can’t d it justice, especially my amateur efforts, but I […]
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