Go Ahead - Get Emotional

I can't believe my character just did that!

My niece has watery eyes, and sometimes looks like she is crying when she isn't. Not long ago she was about to go on stage to play her violin when she began tearing up. "Great," she said. "People are going to think I'm being moved by my own playing."

Maybe it's not good for a violinist to cry at the sound of their music, but writers should get emotional over their work. Have your characters surprised you? Have they brought you to tears? Good.

"No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader." - Robert Frost