What The Walking Dead (and Richonne) Taught Me About Writing
Transcript:
Be very quiet, we're hunting rabbits. *uncontrollable laughter*
I do look like I'm hunting rabbits! I do.
Today we're talking about zombies and emotions and writing, and zombie emotions in writing.
Are you ready?
When I was really sick earlier this year, and by sick I mean pretty much bedridden, I spent the better part of a week watching that one episode of The Walking Dead where Rick and Michonne got together and reading articles and blog posts about the same. I had a very very bad headache the the majority of that week but that scene was pretty good pain reliever.
However, when I was searching for fanfiction in the depths of my obsession, I discovered two things: One, there wasn't a lot of fanfiction for that couple, though the number is steadily increasing.
And two, the fan fiction that was there tended to be emotionally biased.
What do I mean by that? Let's look at it this way: the main characters in this couple are a man who once tore out another guy's throat with his bare teeth and a woman who just the week before that slice through thousands zombies like a human lawn mower.
Does it really make sense for these characters to put off serious, life-threatening problems to talk about their feelings?
Unfortunately, no.
This is not a complaint against fanfiction. In fact I love fanfiction. I made a whole video on how much I love fanfiction, but it is an example of a problem that I don't hear talked about enough in writing.
A problem I struggle with myself: How can you tell if the emotions in your story are yours or your characters?
There are a lot of things to consider when writing a story. In a romance or contemporary novel, talking about your relationship and change after romantic encounter makes sense.
In a different genre, emotions can literally be zombies. They can suck the life right out of your story.
I am a very empathetic, emotional person. I've cried over dead zombies on this very show. I get very deeply attached to fictional characters. My main character, however, she's not as emotional as I am. Several times now I've had to completely rewrite scenes because I wrote them the way I would respond to them, instead of how she respond to them.
The interesting thing about television that novel writers aren't as fortunate to have is that sometimes your character, or more technically, the actor playing your character can tell you when you're wrong.
At the end of that episode I was discussing, Rick and Michonne are interrupted from their post Bow-Chicka-Wow-Wow nap by Jesus himself.
Which, you know, that sentence alone should be enough to sell you on the show.
Anyway... They confront him wearing nothing but their favorite weapons. The script actually argued for them to cover up, but both actors campaigned for the nude shot, saying that it wasn't like their characters to be modest in the face of danger.
That isn't to say there's not a time for emotions.
If we continue with the zombie analogy, you can use them as a sort of armor.
Like how Michonne used her dead ex-boyfriend as literal zombie repellent, but also as a metaphor for how she felt she deserved to be surrounded by monsters for letting her baby die. But when she couldn't afford to keep her zombie ex around anymore she killed him, even though it would take much longer story wise her to see herself as anything other than a monster.
That is an excellent use of emotion that fits both the character and the genre.
It's very hard to separate yourself from your characters, especially because I would argue most writers write because of how they feel.
It might hurt and frustrate you to see your character suffer, but I promise they'll be better off for it. That ache will resonate in your readers and will make them want to turn the page.
So kill your emotional zombies or your story will never make it out alive.
Also please pray for me, because I'm not sure I'm going to survive The Walking Dead premiere. I feel like I'm going to cry myself into a dehydrated mummy.
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I hope you have a great day and I will see you next week. *fight noises*
