Writing I have one chapter to make my wife cry

[Hads]

I plan to introduce and make my reader care about a character and then kill them off. My wife has challenged me to try and get her to cry.

Any tips on how to get the reader to care about the character in question?

Some things I have gleaned from a bit of research:
- Make the person feel real, e.g. flaws and clear motivations
- Have them have relationships with others and interactions
- Make the character development believable

The challenge is, I have 1 week to achieve this, and about 2000 - 3000 words.

 

[Racosharko]

Any tips on how to get the reader to care about the character in question?

Find out what your wife cares about.

 

[Our_Lady_in_Twilight]

2000 words? Crikey your best bet might be to wait until she's reading and then start chopping a bag of onions. One thing you might consider is prose rhythm, interchange short bursts of pain with sentences that run long and a bit garbly to give the sense of in internal grief spiral. Good luck :)

 

[Eldoria]

It's hard to force a reader to cry. Readers often cry because they're drawn into the psychology of the characters in the story. And it's hard to make a character feel alive and organic.

Having them die tragically — just to make the reader cry will only make the story seem melodramatic.

I once wrote a chapter (not intended to make the reader cry) that made me cry. I reread it, but I still felt sad, feeling the psychological burden of my character. A tragedy born of an unintentional need to cry. I don't know if others will cry like I did, but if you're interested, please click here.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Write about a tragic past, then about the character working to overcome it, only for you to crush every bit of progress in the dust, and end it with the character breaking down while lamenting the uselessness of life and/or hard work. The best way to do this is to make a character have the shittiest life imaginable while still letting them show optimism, dreams, and acceptance of their situation. And then make it worse.

 

[Racosharko]

hard to force a reader to cry.

I literally do not believe a person can set a goal to "make a person cry in 2000 - 3000 words" and be successfully, especially with the person going in thinking that 'this is supposed to make me cry'.

I dont believe there is a formula... a "method", a person can use to do that. One can write about moving or sad things, but one can't make people cry. People are not robot or machines you can't just press the right buttons.

That being said, I am interested in how this plays out.

 

[Eldoria]

That being saidy, I am interested in how this plays out.

Well, you can make them cry with onions. Lol

 

[Hads]

I literally do not believe a person can set a goal to "make a person cry in 2000 - 3000 words" and be successfully, especially with the person going in thinking that 'this is supposed to make me cry'.

I dont believe there is a formula... a "method", a person can use to do that. One can write about moving or sad things, but one can't make people cry. People are not robot or machines you can't just press the right buttons.

That being said, I am interested in how this plays out.

I like to set tall goals, even I make her a little sad, I'd class that is a win to be honest.

 

[Racosharko]

Well, you can make them cry with onions. Lol

Say read attachments, and show her divorce papers.

I like to set tall goals, even I make her a little sad, I'd class that is a win to be honest.

One way is just write what would make you cry or be sad.

 

[Hads]

Say read attachments, and show her divorce papers.

One way is just write what would make you cry or be sad.

She cried when reading the Northern Lights series I believe, and more recently the story Sunrise on the Reaping. So comparing me to those amazing authors is going to be a tall ask.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

If it were me, it would be easier to make me happy cry than sad cry. Make it look like something bad is going to happen and then switcheroo!

 

[Hads]

If it were me, it would be easier to make me happy cry than sad cry. Make it look like something bad is going to happen and then switcheroo!

Unfortunately to provide motivation to a character I need a specific character to die, also to reveal the reader the impact the main character has on the world, without being too explicit about it.

 

[blackcrowcrowd]

Making people cry isn't that easy mate, GLHF!

 

[pangmida]

When in doubt, write about the life of a loyal, adorable puppy accompanying its owner, and then have it die of old age or sickness. ?

 

[Author_Riceball]

I plan to introduce and make my reader care about a character and then kill them off. My wife has challenged me to try and get her to cry.

Let me remind, your target audience is any normal reader but your wife. Don't overthink it. You know her well so you know what type of person she is, so focus on that.

 

[FRWriter]

If you do that purposely, just to get some reaction, the only reaction you'll get, at least IMO, is rage. A high percentage of readers quit after doing something like that. I have done it myself, and I regret it. If you want to do it solely to elicit a strong emotional reaction from your readers and have only 2-3k words, you are bound to fail.

The only way to do that successfully is to include a likeable, lovable character and then have him die after a long time, and then use his death to help your other characters grow.

However, even if you do it the correct way, there is a chance that people will drop your story, so you should really consider if it's a good idea.

 

[Hads]

If you do that purposely, just to get some reaction, the only reaction you'll get, at least IMO, is rage. A high percentage of readers quit after doing something like that. I have done it myself, and I regret it. If you want to do it solely to elicit a strong emotional reaction from your readers and have only 2-3k words, you are bound to fail.

The only way to do that successfully is to include a likeable, lovable character and then have him die after a long time, and then use his death to help your other characters grow.

However, even if you do it the correct way, there is a chance that people will drop your story, so you should really consider if it's a good idea.

I'm using the death as character development for a character that will be the focus for a few chapters, and to help reveal some power that the protagonist has. Later on this will be used as a 'what have I done' moment for the protagonist, initially though they will be unaware that they were the cause.

 

[ElijahRyne]

I plan to introduce and make my reader care about a character and then kill them off. My wife has challenged me to try and get her to cry.

Any tips on how to get the reader to care about the character in question?

Some things I have gleaned from a bit of research:
- Make the person feel real, e.g. flaws and clear motivations
- Have them have relationships with others and interactions
- Make the character development believable

The challenge is, I have 1 week to achieve this, and about 2000 - 3000 words.

Read the When they Cry VN’s if you want better advice. However my advice is have a character trapped in a scenario that they cannot overcome to protect another character. Yet they try their best for the small chance that the person they are protecting can survive. Of course the character doing the protecting must be defeated if not killed, and the protected character must be in actual danger.

 

[Hads]

Read the When they Cry VN’s if you want better advice. However my advice is have a character trapped in a scenario that they cannot overcome to protect another character. Yet they try their best for the small chance that the person they are protecting can survive. Of course the character doing the protecting must be defeated if not killed, and the protected character must be in actual danger.

Spoiler: What the death will be

I plan to have a just pregnant woman marry a man, then follow them through the pregnancy, only for the woman to die in child birth. Leaving both the man happy about having a child, but distraught because his wife has now died. The catch here, the protagonist unwittingly wills it, by thinking, 'Often women in this time period would die during child birth'.

 

[blackcrowcrowd]

Spoiler: What the death will be

I plan to have a just pregnant woman marry a man, then follow them through the pregnancy, only for the woman to die in child birth. Leaving both the man happy about having a child, but distraught because his wife has now died. The catch here, the protagonist unwittingly wills it, by thinking, 'Often women in this time period would die during child birth'.

That's kinda confusing? What do you mean the protagonist wills it, is the man the protagonist?