Online Writing - The Emotional Craft of Fiction, Chapters 1-2

We are finished with the excellent writing exercises in Ursula K LeGuin's "Steering the Craft". This month, we'll start with "The Emotional Craft of Fiction" by Donald Maas. The exercise is below, but he provides so much more in the book - do what you can to locate the book at the library, on alibris.com or Amazon, etc.

We will also have a discussion session where we share tips on finding time to write, things we may have discovered to help our craft, tools and resources, more about agents and publishing. No matter where you are in the creative process of writing, novice or experienced, please join and share.

Please read chapters 1 and 2, and do the "Emotional Mastery 1" exercise on p 16:
Select a moment in your story when your protagonist is moved, unsettled, or disturbed. This might occur when they're facing a difficult choice, needing something badly, suffering a setback or surprise, having a self-realization, learning something shocking, or feeling in any way overwhelmed. Write down all the emotions inherent in this moment, both obvious and hidden.
Next, considering what they're feeling, write down how your protagonist can act out. What is the biggest thing your protagonist can do? What would be explosive, out of bounds, or offensive? What would be symbolic? What can they say that would cut to the heart of the matter or unite others in understanding? Go sideways, underneath or ahead. How can they show us a feeling that we didn't expect to see?
Add a detail of the setting that only your protagonist would notice, or that everyone notices but your protagonist sees in a unique way.
Finally, go back and delete all the emotions you wrote down at the beginning of this exercise. Let actions and spoken words do the work. Do they feel too big, dangerous, or over-the-top? Use them anyway. Others will tell you if you've gone too far, but more likely you haven't gone far enough.
Have fun with it and we will see you soon!