While most writers feel emotion, as most writers are human, one of the most acute struggles of writing is determining how best to convey emotion that is powerful and poignant without yielding to the cold comforts of cliché or melodrama. One of my favorite exercises asks those feeling humans to consider an unfeeling zombie threat in order to combat our hesitancy or overenthusiasm in expressing emotion through writing.
Below is an exercise (adapted from an ethos, pathos, logos exercise given to me by Craig Biddy) that I use in my classes.
The zombie apocalypse is upon us! The hordes of the undead are making their way from the outskirts of the city to where we sit right now. Luckily, I have a helicopter that can take us out of the hot zone, along with all of the skills and equipment necessary to keep the survivors safe. But I only have room for three more people in the helicopter. Tearfully, with only thirty minutes to go before the zombie hordes descend, you (or a character of your creation) sit down to write me a letter explaining why you (or your character) should be one of the lucky few survivors.
Sometimes I show clips from the deeply upsetting film I Am Legend as a way to illustrate the depth of emotion in that situation and the subtlety that can be involved in expressing those emotions. Some students tend toward the soap operatic, but most of the students do a great job of choosing verbiage that lends itself well to the emotional complexity of the situation.
The creativity that students display when they explore this activity is outstanding. I have had students claim that they are pregnant with the baby whose DNA holds the key to curing the zombie virus. I have had students create characters who nail tender hopelessness as they admit that they don’t believe that they are worth saving. I have had students defiantly write that I am their long-lost mother, and I owe them a chance to bond with me.
After exploring the exercise, we read our responses out loud, laughing when we hear phrases that, out loud, sound melodramatic. The students celebrate the characters who sound the most passionate and note when two or more writers veered into similar territory of cliché. We analyze which phrases and wording made us empathize the most with the characters. At the end of the discussion, the writers choose a paragraph to revise.
You can adapt this exercise according to your needs and time constraints, but I have found it to be a great way to begin discussing tone and the expression of emotion. I have used this exercise with students from the age of 14-30, but it’s a versatile exercise, and I believe with small tweaks, it could appeal to students under the age of 10—perhaps they instead hear a tickle monster approaching?
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Kristen Figgins studied English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, from which she received her M.A. in creative writing. Kristen has published her fiction in Puerto del Sol, The Gateway Review, Sleet Magazine, and more. Her first chapbook, A Narrow Line of Light, is available for purchase from Boneset Books.