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Lv 7
? asked in Arts & HumanitiesBooks & Authors · 4 weeks ago

Can you help me describe a "sorrow" that one has when the one they love dies?

I\m about to kill off a character in my story and i want express a sorrow as sorrow is.......the hurt so deep that can only be eased by tears.... 

4 Answers

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  • .
    Lv 6
    4 weeks ago

    She’s been gone for almost eight years now and I still have no words.

    Tears are useless. It should’ve been me, because she was always the better half.  But it wasn’t.  And all I can do is wait until I’m blessed with my last breath so I can see her again.

  • 4 weeks ago

    Tears are a reaction,  not the easing of grief. 

  • 4 weeks ago

    While I could, I won't.

    Not because I'm unhelpful, but because the reaction is going to be different for every person hit by an enormous loss.

    As the writer, you know the character affected better than anyone. You know their background which shaped how they face adversity, you crafted whatever support system they have, you invented their hopes and dreams and how much they involved the dead person, you created the relationship right down to its depth and duration, you birthed the character's inner strengths and hidden weaknesses.

    Nobody can write it and get it right except you.

    So take the time to get inside that character's skin. Presumably the loss is enormous, but what, exactly, is their sorrow like? Are they tearing out their hair and clawing at their face and eyes? Then it's your job to explain to the reader why that's their reaction. Numb inside, unable to feel? Refusing to dwell on it? Throwing themself into it like it was a volcano? No appetite, not caring if they live? Actively suicidal?

    Coming up with a metaphor or simile won't get the job done, even if it's brilliant.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    4 weeks ago

    Read Wuthering Heights and see what Heathcliff goes through after Cathy dies

    or listen to the lyrics of the song My Immortal by Evanesence .. to be inspired.

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