Emotional Arcs and Tension

[Dragonlady]

Do you have any good examples of parts of books where characters are all disagreeing and being miserable with each other, or any tips for it? Even if you just ask awkward questions it may help. I'm in one in my work in progress, the tension is set up beautifully, but I'm not sure what to do with it now.

Joseph and his dad work with dragons in the city, caring for domestic ones and moving dragons on when they come into conflict with people. They have been visiting Mirabelle and her mum who have the same profession in the country. The parents are trying to set the kids up, not going to happen. Parents have just had a big argument about the intended marriage. They don't realise they are falling for each other. Joseph and his dad have gone home leaving bad feelings, with Joseph being dragged away from his project in the mountains and feeling very underappreciated.

Joseph and his dad are a bit passive in terms of the investigations of the main plot, waiting for something to arrive, and I think I'm struggling to get into his dad's head. He's determined Joseph will benefit from being married to Mirabelle as they get on well, and because he conflates Joseph too much with himself and doesn't see Joseph's issues (and that Joseph and Mirabelle really are Just Good Friends). Perhaps I need to spell out better why he never remarried previously, perhaps this is what's stopping him realising his attraction . Perhaps he was still grieving his first wife, or too busy with his job.

I'm also not totally sure of if the emotional arcs - the parents realising their feelings for each other and that their kids are human beings who don't need to get married right now, should be moving at the same speed as other arcs. I know, for example, that Joseph needs to stay miserable and unsatisfied in a professional sense until the climax. He's a people pleaser, anxious and self effacing and unlikely to do something violent or drastic because of his unhappiness, but I sort of feel getting some empathy for him now and resolving some of the other conflicts now would be too soon.

The fact the parents are falling for each other has already been referenced when the four were together, so it won't be a big shock to the audience, but the resolution still needs to be realistic.

I'm at about 65% of target word count of draft 0 if it makes any difference. Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[Mon0Zer0]

One of the greatest pieces of advice for emotion is I think Robert McKee's about subtext. Subtext is about either trying to communicate without saying what they actually mean, or trying to conceal something from someone else. People will argue about everything else other than what they actually want to say. A lot of conversation is a desire to manipulate people in some way or another (at least in drama).

The other great piece of advice was of trying to see how concerned people are with how other people see them - and how balances of power are often established through dialogue.

The best book featuring subtext that immediately springs to mind is Hedda Gabler by Ibsen, which is loaded with dialogue dripping with the stuff.

In relation to your book - it may be worth establishing the power dynamics - think, what does Joseph want his dad to think about him and Mirabelle - what is he trying to conceal from him. What is he concealing from himself? Once you've got that, as an exercise, put them in a situation, and let them talk around the subject without actually talking about the subject. Have them talk about the news, or weather or something else - but have in mind what they're really talking about. Maybe the Dad strikes up an argument over something petty, but the ferocity of it is such thatit's masking what the real argument is about - concern for his son, or a feeling he should be striking out on his own - something like that.

 

[Biskit]

The first thing that springs to mind is Lois McMaster-Bujold's "A Civil Campaign", one of her Vorkosigan Saga books. It's really a comedy of errors, bringing together disparate parts of a family that you could describe as unconventional and dysfunctional, and then letting multiple conflicting goals play out against each other.

If you've not come across it, the whole series is a sci-fi adventure/military/space-opera with a layer of humour, but "A Civil Campaign" pretty much steps away from the preceding military/intelligence pattern of the preceding books to present an interlocking family/political conflict all orbiting around the central character's ham-fisted attempts to woo the woman he has decided will be the next Countess Vorkosigan.

 

[Dragonlady]

@Mon0Zer0 thanks, lots to think about!

 

[Dragonlady]

@Biskit sounds fascinating, I'll look it up!

 

[Montero]

I read it the first of all of Bujold's books, even though it is about the 13th or summat and it worked like that. You might want to read Komarr first, as it is how the two people in the romance first meet (she is unhappily married). It is an adventure story and crime mystery as well, but woven through it is the story of an unhappy marriage and the compromises the wife is making.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

@Biskit sounds fascinating, I'll look it up!

It’s also one of the funniest sf books ever - but it works because it is well into a series and we are already rooting very, very hard for the (often intensely annoying, often endearing) main character. But few writers do character arcs better

 

[The Big Peat]

Bujold is a gem and I think I should visit that series next year.

Joseph and his dad are a bit passive in terms of the investigations of the main plot, waiting for something to arrive, and I think I'm struggling to get into his dad's head. He's determined Joseph will benefit from being married to Mirabelle as they get on well, and because he conflates Joseph too much with himself and doesn't see Joseph's issues (and that Joseph and Mirabelle really are Just Good Friends). Perhaps I need to spell out better why he never remarried previously, perhaps this is what's stopping him realising his attraction . Perhaps he was still grieving his first wife, or too busy with his job.

Specific to this plot - would he even see it as an issue? After all, not every culture considers romantic feelings necessary for a marriage - or even friendship. Maybe if he doesn't see romantic feelings as important, it explains why he doesn't realise his feelings are developing.

Just so I'm sure - the main arguments are Joseph and Joe's Dad arguing about the wedding idea, and ditto Mirabelle and Mira's mum? And there's a mystery that they're also concentrating on?

 

[DLCroix]

I wonder if there could be a problem with dragons, so that situation of being Just Good Friends is precisely the healthy one. I don't know how old Mirabelle is, but generally speaking in animal races, which in a way for dragons could work under similar principles, the female question is always a decisive matter. Mirabelle is that for the dragons, especially female dragons, that is, I suppose they recognize her as a female equal to them, not a human woman. Somehow I think that the level of services of Joseph and his father in terms of the dragons they work with is possible that either has a different nature than the task that Mirabelle and her mother do with other dragons, or there are aspects that are not known precisely because the relationship between Joseph and Mirabelle so far has not involved any carnal exchange, of blood specifically (perhaps there is something that the Mirabelle dragons will in no way overlook), and who knows if that is why Joseph is instinctively distressed, he feels that his father is pushing him into a marriage that, if concreted, could be a mistake. Are there draconian hierarchies in this story? Is there by any chance a dragon queen whose existence no one even suspects and that she might get jealous of an impending marriage, and decides so that the villagers need some extra heat, a blowtorch with legs or something like that? Oh, look at that gentleman: he has no way to light his pipe, let's give him some fire. Bah, he was also very pale, he needed to tan, what is he complaining about?

 

[Dragonlady]

Bujold is a gem and I think I should visit that series next year.


Specific to this plot - would he even see it as an issue? After all, not every culture considers romantic feelings necessary for a marriage - or even friendship. Maybe if he doesn't see romantic feelings as important, it explains why he doesn't realise his feelings are developing.

Just so I'm sure - the main arguments are Joseph and Joe's Dad arguing about the wedding idea, and ditto Mirabelle and Mira's mum? And there's a mystery that they're also concentrating on?

It's more like he's so used to her being there and has categorised her in a certain way in his head, as a colleague and friend, that it doesn't occur to him, if that makes sense. At the moment there's sort of 3 layers of story, there's a murder mystery and investigation around the theft of dragon eggs and dragon parts, taking place predominantly in Mirabelle's village, though Joseph's city is where illegal dragons are being sold. Then the initial pretext for the visit was thinly veiled matchmaking. While Joseph and Mirabelle are hard at work on dragon related matters their parents are quietly confident they're growing closer, whilst becoming more entangled themselves. The other layer is it's on one level Joseph's coming of age story. He needs to leave his father's shadow, and prove he has independent worth. He would tell you he isn't rich enough, attractive enough, good enough to be a husband (but he would never be brave enough to tell you). He's not ready, even if he did have the right person. Mirabelle is a good friend and respected colleague who has a steady girlfriend, and he respects that, though many don't.

 

[Dragonlady]

I wonder if there could be a problem with dragons, so that situation of being Just Good Friends is precisely the healthy one. I don't know how old Mirabelle is, but generally speaking in animal races, which in a way for dragons could work under similar principles, the female question is always a decisive matter. Mirabelle is that for the dragons, especially female dragons, that is, I suppose they recognize her as a female equal to them, not a human woman. Somehow I think that the level of services of Joseph and his father in terms of the dragons they work with is possible that either has a different nature than the task that Mirabelle and her mother do with other dragons, or there are aspects that are not known precisely because the relationship between Joseph and Mirabelle so far has not involved any carnal exchange, of blood specifically (perhaps there is something that the Mirabelle dragons will in no way overlook), and who knows if that is why Joseph is instinctively distressed, he feels that his father is pushing him into a marriage that, if concreted, could be a mistake. Are there draconian hierarchies in this story? Is there by any chance a dragon queen whose existence no one even suspects and that she might get jealous of an impending marriage, and decides so that the villagers need some extra heat, a blowtorch with legs or something like that? Oh, look at that gentleman: he has no way to light his pipe, let's give him some fire. Bah, he was also very pale, he needed to tan, what is he complaining about?

The dragons don't have a human level of intelligence/sentience, though they are intelligent for animals. Think part labrador, part apex predator, social value similar to a horse in some ways because of the ways they are made use of. They probably see Mirabelle as 'bringer of meat and trimmer of claws and flying companion'.

 

[The Big Peat]

It's more like he's so used to her being there and has categorised her in a certain way in his head, as a colleague and friend, that it doesn't occur to him, if that makes sense. At the moment there's sort of 3 layers of story, there's a murder mystery and investigation around the theft of dragon eggs and dragon parts, taking place predominantly in Mirabelle's village, though Joseph's city is where illegal dragons are being sold. Then the initial pretext for the visit was thinly veiled matchmaking. While Joseph and Mirabelle are hard at work on dragon related matters their parents are quietly confident they're growing closer, whilst becoming more entangled themselves. The other layer is it's on one level Joseph's coming of age story. He needs to leave his father's shadow, and prove he has independent worth. He would tell you he isn't rich enough, attractive enough, good enough to be a husband (but he would never be brave enough to tell you). He's not ready, even if he did have the right person. Mirabelle is a good friend and respected colleague who has a steady girlfriend, and he respects that, though many don't.

That makes a sense, but what values are the culture setting on an arranged marriage? What do they expect from it? That seems like a huge thing to me.

 

[Dragonlady]

@The Big Peat Matches are expected to be socially and economically appropriate or beneficial. In higher levels of society there will be a lot less choice - a match may be made for political reasons or business reasons. These two families have the social status of tradespeople, like a lower level merchant or a blacksmith. It is strongly encouraged to marry someone within, or adjacent to, the profession - Joseph was previously engaged to someone who was essentially a friend of the family, and in a different magical profession. She was the protagonist of the novel i wrote as a teenager. I never resolved how the engagement was broken off but they were likely very young when they became engaged, then aspirations changed as they grew up. There's a lot more freedom, though, than someone higher in the social scale. If Joseph really wanted to marry a fishmonger's daughter who came with a good dowry and her brother was learning a magical profession, the money and the potential she carried the magical genes that were evident in her brother may be enough to persuade his family.

Unless from a very well off family etc people have choice over their spouse, but would need parental consent (for social and financial reasons if not legal ones), particularly if young and/or female. Dragonhunters often live fairly spread out, unlike a lot of professions where you're living on a whole street of potential prospects, Hence visiting to catch up on news, assist each other and swap tips and things whilst nudging suitable young people in each others' directions.

MIrabelle's younger brother hasn't inherited the magic, so there will be less pressure on him. He will likely marry a farmer's daughter, ideally one without brothers perhaps as he won't be inheriting the family business. He still has valuable skills with dragons, so if he started forming an attachment to a young lady and his mother thought he could do better she would be having words.

 

[Susan Boulton]

I'm also not totally sure of if the emotional arcs - the parents realising their feelings for each other and that their kids are human beings who don't need to get married right now, should be moving at the same speed as other arcs.

Question; why do you think the "emotional arcs", should be moving at the same speed as the other arcs.

Ask yourself, do they do in your life, in other people's? Arcs are really, least to me, a guide, and are more useful in film scripts than novels. And can be straight jacket that can have you writing yourself into corners.

You know where your story begins, you know where you want it to end, you have an idea of where each character will be at the beginning and at the end, work on that.

Allow your story to be messy, as life is messy, allow your characters' emotions to be messy as well, not all wrapped up.

 

[Dragonlady]

@Susan Boulton I don't think that, I'm asking the question. I haven't looked up any guidelines or anything about arcs and how they're supposed to go. I haven't completed a novel draft since I was a teenager, something like 17 years ago, and it didn't have anything like this level of emotional complexity. I'm at a point where other plot threads are sort of on pause for these two characters, and i'm not totally sure what to do with them. There's something like 10-20,000 words before I'm going to need build up to and write the coming of age and action/mystery climax so I am going to have to work out whether the romantic threads reach their climax before (Hooray, this is the way things are supposed to be, now we are ready to sort this thing out), during (characters realise their feelings etc during the climax) or after (we sorted it out, so you are going to get married now, because look, you really need to). Revelations like this need to be done in a believable way, so I was looking ideally for some tips in managing the tension and how to work towards the climax of the romantic arcs if that makes sense.