I think one of the reasons that people get such a glow from holiday songs is that they use a lot of sensory imagery.
When it snows, ain’t it thrilling, though your nose, get’s a chilling…
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…
Put on your yalmulka, here comes Hanukkah…
(Okay, that last one is a little weak, but I was trying to be ecumenical.)
From the smell of lit candles to the taste of gingerbread, the holidays are full of sensations that resonate with emotional memory. (Good or bad.) On one hand, I can call up the sound of bells and carols in church, and on the other, the blare of canned holiday music and the screams of weary children in the mall.
Give that last one a try: Close your eyes (after you get done reading this) and call up the memory of the mall in December. Concentrate on the sounds– the holiday music, the echo of voices in the high roof of the central mall–and the sensations– the weight of the packages in your hands, the jostle of the hurrying crowd, the ache of your feet as you stand in line. The terror you feel knowing Santa is lurking at the other end of the mall… Oh. That’s just me.*
You’re probably having a pretty strong emotional memory right now. Maybe your neck has tensed up into knots and your stomach is a ball of anxiety and stress, and your heart is thumping. Or maybe you’re doing deep breathing to keep your cool, and finding your happy place in the middle of the chaos. Whatever it is, think about THOSE sensations, too.
Try doing this the next time you’re writing a scene, and your character should be feeling harried and stressed and tense–even if he’s trying to get to somewhere to diffuse a bomb, or save the president, or whatever–remember the sensations of being at the mall on a bad day (there are good days, too, but everyone has probably had the experience of needing to get something done in a mad crush). Translate some of those internal sensations into your scene, and put those emotions to good use.
This is something we as writers can apply to any season. It’s drilled into us from Writing 101: Show don’t tell. Surround your characters by sensations drawn from your own experience. Just like acting, where your goal is to show real emotion in fake situations, writing should do the same thing. Giving your characters sensory experiences in their moments make them real and emotional, and can resonate with your reader.
What physical sensations–touch, taste, sounds, smells, sights–evoke emotions in you? They don’t have to be holiday related. I have certain things I recall when I need to feel scared or angry or nostalgic. (The smell of dirt and cut wood makes me think of building fences on the ranch with my dad. I use it when I need to feel exhaustion and satisfaction of a doing a hard job myself.)
And in YOUR busy December– whatever you celebrate, or don’t–I hope you collect more good sensations than bad!
–Rosemary
*To those who just met me. I’m not a fan of Santa. Sort of ironic, given my last name. But seriously, when I was growing up, we could not go to the mall from Thanksgiving to New Year’s without my pitching a screaming fit because Santa was there. Waiting. Watching. Judging. *shudder*
