The Writer's Comfort Levels ~ PART 12 ~ "Empathy"

The Writer's Comfort Levels

 ~ PART 12 ~

 "Empathy"

BLOG SESSION

February 8th, 2018

Welcome back Writers, Authors, Poets, Novelists, Memoirists, Journalists, Diary Writers, Short Story Writers, Blog Readers, Followers & Visitors!

You are in for a very special session concerning our continuing topic in relation to The Writer's Comfort Levels.  Today's Session will be focused on the emotion of "empathy".

If you are new to our Blog Sessions, we welcome you.  You're in the right place, and you will find information here that you will be able to take notes on and keep for later use to help you with your Book Writing Projects.  We use our Journals when we come here to take notes.  If you do not yet have a blank Journal, be sure to grab one the next time you are out shopping, or you may use any notebook that you have around the house or your office for today's Blog Session . . .

Journal Notes

As you begin to start your note-taking for today, please make a note that we are now on emotion #12 ~ "Empathy".  The first eleven (11) emotions have been covered in our previous Blog Sessions.  Following is the complete list of all of the (21) twenty-one emotions that we are going over during our Blog Sessions connected to The Writer's Comfort Levels. . .

1)  Sadness (Sorrow)

2)  True intensity

3)  Joy

4)  Disappointment

5)  Wonder

6)  Curiosity

7)  Betrayal

8)  Hurt

9)  Grief

10)  Passion

11)  Warmth

12)  Empathy

13)  Fear

14)  Hate

15)  Happiness

16)  Anger

17)  Disgust

18)  Shock

19)  Kindness

20)  introversion (personality)

21)  extroversion (personality)

If you missed any of our Blog Sessions on emotions 1 - 11, you may easily review and read any of those Sessions by scrolling down past this current Blog Session or by clicking on any of the links you are interested in over in the far right-hand column where you see the heading, "Blog Archive".

If you are new, be sure to Bookmark our Blog, and you may also sign up to "Follow by Email" right under my eyeball in the far right-hand column.  Enter your email address, then click on the "Submit" button.  You will then receive each Blog Session in your email box as soon as the Session is published.  You'll find that option to be very convenient.

There is one question that you may want to ask yourself today as we get rolling on our Blog Session, (and be sure to make a note of your answer)....

To start your notes off for today's Session the question is ~ "Do you personally have empathy?" [Please make a note of your answer in your Journal].

As you can see from reading our heading for today's Blog Session, Empathy is the power of understanding and imaginatively entering into another person's feelings; and identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives.

Babies intuitively have the capacity

to empathize with others.

If you really take a moment to think on this one question, you will learn a lot about yourself today.  How tuned in are you to others?  How much to you really care about others and what is going on around you?

To empathize is to understand or relate to someone else's emotional experience.  If you get teary-eyed upon hearing about the death of your friend's family member, you are actually empathizing with your friend and feeling their emotions right along with them.

As a Writer, you must be able to "feel" your characters (and empathize so to speak), and you should also be able to describe their emotional states well in your story.

Empathize is often used interchangeably with the term sympathize, but you'll get no empathy (or sympathy) from usage experts if you confuse the two.  When you sympathize with another person, you feel sad that she is suffering, but you don't necessarily relate to her experience.

It is easiest to empathize when you've been through a similar experience; for example, if your relative recently passed away, your friend's passing relative story will also break your heart due to empathy.

Writer ~ Take a moment to think...

How well can you describe a storyline about something that seeks for the Reader to have empathy for the character?

How good are you at creating characters that are able to empathize with other characters in your story?

Try your hand at writing a simple paragraph  with a descriptive situation involving the emotion of "empathy".

As you reflect on the emotion of empathy, be sure to make notes about what you are discovering so that you will be able to write storylines easily concerning the emotion of empathy.

As always, if you have any questions, suggestions, of if you'd like to have discussions here on the Blog about a certain topic ~ be sure to place your questions, suggestions, or discussion ideas in our "Comments Section" at the bottom of our Blog here.

Writers, Authors & Novelists ~ We'll see you in our next Blog Session!

The Writer's Comfort Levels

PART 13

"Fear"

Peace, Love & Light

By René Allen

©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2018 - All Rights Reserved

"The Writer's Comfort Levels" ~ PART 11 "Warmth"

"The Writer's Comfort Levels"

PART 11

"Warmth"

BLOG SESSION

February 7th, 2018

Welcome back Blog Readers, Writers, Followers & Visitors!  We're here for another fantastic Blog Session on our topic The Writer's Comfort Levels.  The emotion we will discuss today is "Warmth".

If you are new to our Blog Sessions, we welcome you!  Be sure to Bookmark your new Blogspot.  Also, you may opt to "Follow by Email" by placing your email address over in the spot in the far right hand column under my eyeball, and then click the "Submit" button and you will receive each Blog Session promptly as it is published.

Just to fill everyone in on what we have been discussing on the Blog lately: We have been covering emotions as related to The Writer's Comfort Levels ~ as Writers you will need to be versed in all of the emotions when it comes to writing about the feelings and emotions associated with the characters in your stories.

For today's great notes, please grab your Journal . . .

Journal Notes

Warmth is defined as the quality, state, or sensation of being warm.  Also defined as moderate and comfortable heat.  Warmth has also been described as enthusiasm, affection, or kindness.  There is a host of other words that describe the emotion of warmth which will better help you to put a fix on the emotion we are bringing to the forefront...

Friendliness

Affability

Amiability

Geniality

Cordiality

Kindliness

Sympathy

Understanding

Affection

Warm-heartedness

Good-Naturedness

Love

Tenderness

Fondness

Welcomingness

Hospitality

Liberality

Care

Benevolence

Benignity

Charity

Charitableness

Wholeheartedness

Eagerness

Heartiness

Ardor

Vehemence

Passion

Intensity

Fervor

Zeal

Zest

Effusiveness

Spiritedness

As you think on the above words, you can easily get a fix on what warmth would look like in one of your characters in your upcoming book.

All of us have run into a person who has been described as cold, cold-hearted, unfriendly, sour, bitter, off-putting, unpleasant, disconcerting, repellent, unappealing, uninviting, disagreeable, contentious, offensive, distasteful, unsavory, unpalatable, unappetizing, objectionable, nasty, disgusting, obnoxious, discouraging, disheartening, demoralizing, dispiriting, daunting, dismaying, forbidding, intimidating, frightening, formidable, horrid, and/or rebarbative.  All of these descriptions bring to mind a very unhappy person.

As a Writer, words are your world.

Make it a habit to study words and their meanings.

A great vocabulary is just one essential tool in a Writer’s toolbox, along with punctuation, grammar, and many other great tools for the writer.  Vocabulary can make your writing more powerful and more effective and help you say exactly what you mean.  This indispensable tool of studying words will help you choose the best word for every job and avoid vague words that do not give your readers a good sense of your meaning.

Building your vocabulary is one of the easiest ways to improve the power of your writing and make any writing task that much easier, as you will have several synonyms in your repertoire to pull from every time.  Developing your vocabulary need not be difficult or painful.

As you begin to study words on a daily basis, also do the same for emotions, feelings, reactions, and thought patterns.  You'll find that your research will serve you well as you write your next great story!

See you in our next great Blog Session dear Authors!

OUR NEXT BLOG SESSION:

The Writer's Comfort Levels

 ~ PART 12 ~

 "Empathy"

Peace, Love & Light

By René Allen

©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2018 - All Rights Reserved

The Writer's Comfort Levels ~ PART 10 "Passion"

The Writer's Comfort Levels

 ~ PART 10 ~

 "Passion"

BLOG SESSION

February 6th, 2018

Welcome back Writers, Authors, Poets, and all Friends who are interested in writing a book this year.  If you have a Writing Project going on this year, or if you are working on your short stories or poetry then you are in the right place!

We've been discussing The Writer's Comfort Levels and the various emotions associated with writing.  Today's Blog Session will be about our 10th emotion, "Passion".

You'll want to grab your Journal to take notes for today's Session...

      Journal Notes

Passion has been known to be a strong and barely controllable emotion.  However, for the intents and purposes of our Blog Session today, we are going to reign in our ability to control the emotion of passion.  When creating characters that have strong and barely controllable passion, we must learn how to introduce a balance in our story lines to create various openings to showcase some of the other emotions that we've been discussing, such as "disappointment", "grief", and/or "hurt".

Intense Passion

Intense passion about pursuing a goal or something that one loves dearly can possibly get so out of control that the passionate person loses sight of the finer things in life such as paying attention to health, personal well-being, family, loved ones, or other very important things in life.

Strong passion can cause pain to other individuals.  And, depending upon what a person is passionate about makes all the difference in the world.  If one is passionate about a cause that will serve for the good of many people, it is an excellent thing.  However, if a person is passionate about a cause that is destructive, it becomes grievous.  Passion about anything deadly will cause hurt, disappointment and/or grief to those who think better of the overly passionate person.

One other area that passion has been associated with is intense sexual love.  We will not be covering this area of passion here today, although some of our Writers here may want to work on this particular area for the purposes of their Writing Projects or upcoming books.  We have many Writers and Authors here among us who write Romantic Novels, and "passion" will definitely come into play for all such Writers.

As we take a closer look at "passion" when it comes to Writing . . .

Writers ~ Pursue your Passions

Writers one thing you definitely should consider keeping your eye on is your personal passions when it comes to writing.  What genre are you pursuing?  Have you thought about why you are drawn to the genre that you are attracted to?  Are you focusing on more than one genre?  Take a moment to jot down your thoughts about the genre(s) you are attracted to and why.

We'll see you back here for our next Blog Session on our 11th emotion in relation to The Writer's Comfort Levels.  Enjoy your evening . . .

OUR NEXT BLOG SESSION:

"The Writer's Comfort Levels"

PART 11

"Warmth"

Peace, Love & Light

By René Allen

©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2018 - All Rights Reserved

The Writer's Comfort Levels ~ PART 9 "Grief"

"The Writer's Comfort Levels"

PART 9

BLOG SESSION

January 5th, 2018

Welcome back Blog Readers, Writers, Followers & Visitors.  We've got a lot to discuss in today's Blog Session.  You'll need to get your Journal once again to take notes on today's emotional topic.

If you have been following along with us regarding The Writer's Comfort Levels, then you will have taken notes on the following eight (8) emotions that we have already covered...

1)  Sadness (Sorrow)

2)  True intensity

3)  Joy

4)  Disappointment

5)  Wonder

6)  Curiosity

7)  Betrayal

8)  Hurt

9)  Grief

If you happened to have missed any of the eight (8) Blog Sessions, you may always catch up by scrolling down to view them, or you may look over in the far right-hand column here on the Blog to find the Session that you would like to review in our "Blog Archive".

In today's Blog Session we are going to cover the emotion of "Grief".  This is one of the emotions that happens to be a very sensitive and touchy area.

Grief is a multifaceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed.  Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and philosophical dimensions.

As we all know, we all react to grief differently.  Grieving over a loved one who has passed on may be reacted to quite differently from grieving over a home that has been destroyed by a fire with possessions within that can never be replaced -- such as photographs of family members who have passed on.

Grieving over a relationship that has come to an end for any number of reasons may also cause another type of grief for those affected.  Relationships including friendships, marriages, close associations, co-workers, and/or individuals in a person's life who have played a large role in their life, but move on (be it slowly ~ fading out, or suddenly) and are no longer closely associated as before.

As a Writer, you must have an aptitude for writing in such a way that invokes the belief of the Reader.  When you are able to identify with the emotions that you write about, then you are also able to tap into these emotions on such a level that the characters in your story come alive.  The emotions of the characters as they journey through the storyline that you have plotted out for them will vary and change.

Reactions may be vastly differently when it comes to grief.  One person may go into a silent phase for hours, some may be silent for days at a time, others may be silent for what seems like months at a time, and when it comes to deep grief, it may take years for a person to truly grieve.  There may also be sudden outbursts out of nowhere when a person thinks about the death of a loved one or something that was dearly treasured.

 Emotional reactions vary when it comes to grief.

If you have ever experienced grief in your life, then you will have a reference point by which to gage how you will express grief through your writings.

One way to get in touch with the emotion of grief for the purposes of learning how to write about it so that the Readers of your stories actually "feel" the grief you are expressing is to take a moment to write about a time in your life where you actually experienced grief.  Relive the emotions that you went through, and the timeframe -- how long did you grieve?  Do you even remember the period of time that it took for you to go past the stage of grief that most affected you?  Did you have a delayed reaction to grief?  Did you have loved ones who helped you during your time of grieving?

Using your Journal for writing out your own experiences with the emotions that we are covering in our Blog Sessions will serve you well as you write your books, novels, short stories, writing projects, and poetry.

Dear Writers ~ Your Journal awaits you . . .

Use your Journal for both Notes

and

Your own personal internal writings

OUR NEXT BLOG SESSION:

The Writer's Comfort Levels

 ~ PART 10 ~

 "Passion"

Peace, Love & Light

By René Allen

©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2018 - All Rights Reserved