I heard a great quote on an old episode of Dr Who the other day and it said, ‘Sad is the happy for deep people.’ I don’t know about ‘deep’, but it’s certainly true for me. (Those of you who have read my stories can confirm.) I immediately connected with this and started to think about it.
I, personally, love a story that makes me cry. My family not infrequently walk in to the room to find me blubbing over all sorts of things. It could be one line in a whole book. It could be MY books (pitiful and something I should never admit to), an advert, once a cartoon, but films are the big one. Too many to count, The Notebook (every time), Truly, Madly, Deeply, About Time, Up Close and Personal and Shadowlands, are a few I could mention; I could easily go on. They hear the words, ‘That was so lovely’, or, ‘Oh, it was beautiful’ ,and roll their eyes in dismay and walk out again. But for me that is what works. Why? Good question.
Why do I like something that makes me cry? I think the answer is that it makes me cry, but in a good way. A bit like the pain of childbirth, as long as the final result is healthy, it's a good one. In my opinion, a good story is something that makes you feel; something that touches your heart and moves you with the pain of another, but there is always the understanding that it will have been worth it. It’s not the same as watching something devastatingly bad. In fact I think it is the opposite. I think it is allowing yourself to feel the pain with the knowledge that the writer will bring you some kind of relief in the end. Whether it's a happily ever after, justice, or just a sense of hope, you can never know, but the unwritten promise is there. And if it’s not, and you’re left feeling tortured for no reason, you feel let down, angry almost. How dare they put you through all that and offer no sense of happiness at the end?
So am I deep? I wouldn’t have said so, but maybe I am; or maybe I’m just a soppy sod who loves a good cry. What do you think?
Like to party? Hop along the Hump Day Blog Hop on Julie Valerie’s Book Blog. Click here to return to the Hump Day Blog Hop.
I, personally, love a story that makes me cry. My family not infrequently walk in to the room to find me blubbing over all sorts of things. It could be one line in a whole book. It could be MY books (pitiful and something I should never admit to), an advert, once a cartoon, but films are the big one. Too many to count, The Notebook (every time), Truly, Madly, Deeply, About Time, Up Close and Personal and Shadowlands, are a few I could mention; I could easily go on. They hear the words, ‘That was so lovely’, or, ‘Oh, it was beautiful’ ,and roll their eyes in dismay and walk out again. But for me that is what works. Why? Good question.
Why do I like something that makes me cry? I think the answer is that it makes me cry, but in a good way. A bit like the pain of childbirth, as long as the final result is healthy, it's a good one. In my opinion, a good story is something that makes you feel; something that touches your heart and moves you with the pain of another, but there is always the understanding that it will have been worth it. It’s not the same as watching something devastatingly bad. In fact I think it is the opposite. I think it is allowing yourself to feel the pain with the knowledge that the writer will bring you some kind of relief in the end. Whether it's a happily ever after, justice, or just a sense of hope, you can never know, but the unwritten promise is there. And if it’s not, and you’re left feeling tortured for no reason, you feel let down, angry almost. How dare they put you through all that and offer no sense of happiness at the end?
So am I deep? I wouldn’t have said so, but maybe I am; or maybe I’m just a soppy sod who loves a good cry. What do you think?
Like to party? Hop along the Hump Day Blog Hop on Julie Valerie’s Book Blog. Click here to return to the Hump Day Blog Hop.
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