I'm just curious, whats do you think.

[roda havet]

I'm writing what is probably going to turn out and be a short story. It already has a word count of about 5,500 words. In this story the father takes his son and daughter out for a ride while their mom stays home. The ride turns out a tragedy, where the family of three get in a car crash. There's a part where everyone is at the hospital and the boy is in moderate condition where the daughter is in critical. Well as the story goes the dad was the worst of the three needing surgery but he never made it out.

Here is the part where the eighteen year old son Nat found out about his dad:

“I’m sorry Nat. I can’t let your sister hear me.” Then Jess leaned down very close to her son. She got close to his ear and whispered, “I’m sorry, so sorry. Please don’t let your sister know at least not yet. She is too fragile right now and won't be able to take the news. I’m sorry your dad didn’t make it out of surgery.”

“Oh, god no! Please mom tell me this is all a dream and I’ll wake up soon. Please, please mom! I don’t want to live without dad, I still need him. We still need him, all of us.”, Nat cried out.

I'm going to skip to the part where he told his sister Kate; keep in mind this all is happening at the hospital right after the crash:

Then he said, “Kate we need to talk. Please don’t be upset. You know dad loved us right? Well I’m sorry sis but… Dad don’t make it out of surgery. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry Kate. Please don’t get upset it’s not good right now.”

Kate screamed, “Dad, dad! No you can’t leave me dad not now or ever. I need you! Please come back dad, please.”

My question to everyone is: Have you ever wrote a scene that made you feel as if your the character going through the emotions? Does feel like you are there?

I'm asking this because after writing what I did above it was like I could feel their pain, sympathize with the brother and sister. I hope that doesn't sound crazy but it almost made me cry. I'll try to post the story in the critique forum but I'll have to break it up into two post. So whats your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[Loren Killdeer]

Well, its kind of hard because its a quite sensible subject, especially if you have lost someone important in your life.
From my experience, when I lost my grandparents, I didn't cry and I didn't hear any shouts from other people. I guess that sometimes the worst pain goes silently.

Anyway, yes, when you write you get with the characters emotions. There was one day I got all upset from something I wrote and I couldn't stop thinking 'Poor guy!'.

[JohnatWrM]

If you've found yourself sympathizing with your characters there's not too much to be said other than well done! It's an excellent sign if you're sharing your characters' emotions as, hopefully, this means others will be able to sympathize with them, too.

[roda havet]

[Quoyle]

I wrote a children's short story that made me cry every time I read it. Tears of relief that the girl in trouble (stuck and up to her neck in river water) was rescued in time, thanks to her quick-thinking friend. If writing evokes emotion in the writer, I think it will in the reader too. I sold the story to New Moon, a magazine edited and published by teenage girls. It was about a girl who disregarded DANGER KEEP OFF signs. If writing makes just one person think about an issue, or think twice about ignoring safety rules, then the writing has done its job.

[roda havet]

[Quoyle]

I thought every piece of writing had to have a premise, a reason for being. Some take-away point for the reader. Maybe a medical issue the writer wants others sufferers to know about, or how to deal with bullying or low self-esteem, or, if its nonfiction, how it's possible to be partially pregnant. Like songs the early minstrels sang to raise social awareness, the "newspapers" of the poor and uneducated. I have just read THE INVENTION OF WINGS, by Sue Monk Kidd. It's about two rich white American sisters in the early 1800s, their horror at the treatment of slaves (including their own), and their brave involvement and fight not only for the abolition of slavery, but women's rights too. It's a novel, but it's based on the lives of real people and I learned much about that time in history. I don't know about sci-fi and fantasy, if they have a premise, but even kid's animated movies appear to have some sort of message--what forces are trying to destroy the world, good triumphs over bad, how to deal with conflicting feelings (INSIDE OUT) etc.

[cynicalwanderer]

[James A. Ritchie]

If a story doesn't have a premise, a moral, something for the reader to take away, it's not a story at all, and isn't likely to sell. This doesn't mean the premise/moral/lesson/ etc. has to be blatant, such as in a fable, but if it isn't there at all, the story is dead.