Some things words cannot express?

[ascanius]

Do you think that their are some things, no matter how many times you try, you can never express. I ask this Because I have been trying to write how one such thing, how I feel when I play the piano. I'm not good but it is something I absolutely love. When I play, always classical, Chopin or Beethoven, I turn of the lights, close my eyes and play feeling every resonance of the chords passing through me an into my fingertips, I can do this for hours. This is where I am having trouble there is so much more going on that just that....It's like the music is a part of my vary being. How do you describe something so emotional that I cannot find words for. I feel my descriptions never capture that moment in time, and never will. To say that at times I have had tears welling in my eyes, which I have and something I have never shared with anyone, just sounds dumb when I read it. Does anyone else have this problem with certain emotions?

[Amanita]

I have the same problem and with many different emotional situations. It all seems perfect in my head but it hardly ever translates to the page the way I want it to. For some reason, it always feels riddiculous to me if I go into more detail and if I don't it feels too distant from the characters. This is one of the most severe flaws in my writing if not the worst of all. I'd be glad to see a bit of advice what to do about that.

[Penpilot]

I don't know, sometimes, maybe. My general experience leads me to two conclusions about myself when I encounter this type of problem. This may or may not be true for you, but I find it's true for me. When I can't describe the emotion of a moment, it's either A) I'm trying too hard or B) My writing skills aren't good enough yet to convey what I want.

Not much I can do for B except keep writing, but for A, here are some things I do. One is walk away for a little while and come back to it a few days or a week or so later. Sometimes when I walk away and come back, it just comes to me like it was so obvious, or surprisingly, I find what I wrote is a lot better than I thought. Another thing I do, which is kind of opposite is I think on it as I'm falling asleep or moments after I wake. The brain I find is untethered a those times and a lot of things flow free and come together in ways that I wouldn't have thought of at other times. It's why I keep a scratch pad by the bed. These thoughts tend to fade quickly too.

And finally, my last resort is just state the facts of the experience as plainly and straight forward as possible, no fancy words, or complex sentence structure, just bluntly what my senses feel and what thoughts go through my head. If this doesn't work for me, I know it's B.

[Jon_Chong]

There are things that words can't simply express. That's why we have misunderstandings and miscommunications. Knowing this is half the battle with writing. That being said what I find helps is to remember this: keep it simple and keep it empirical. What does that mean? Describe the physical sensations. Leave the readers to guess on the emotional impact. Hope this helps

[JCFarnham]

It's a ridiculously cheap trick but when this happens to me in my first person stories I say precisely that "words cannot express". Our nature as writers of fiction is to want to write down those emotions precisely and in full, but the fact is I'd say such emotions would resonate better with readers if left vague.

Many people have experienced such a moment, when you love something so much you can't label it, when the action or object and your feelings towards it are what they are and nothing more... and to that end you may find your readership can fill in the blanks. I mean as long as you lead them neatly to that kind of conclusion you don't need to be able to do "the feeling of playing music" justice.

Of course I'd hate myself for such a cop out, but isn't the best writting the kind where your able to ping your readers emotions? Your own don't really matter, as long as they experience a similarly satisfying emotion while reading the passage you've done your job.

[The Din]

This might seem like odd advice, but: Try getting wasted. I find my writing gets a lot more emotive after the tenth beer. I stop worrying so much about punctuation and propriety and instead pour a lot more emotion into the prose. Granted, I have to go over it the next day and make sure I didn't get sidetracked, or get carried away with a sex scene, but I am constantly surprising myself with the imagery I come up with in such a state. And if the grog doesn't help, you could always try hallucinogens...

I'd recommend backing up before hand, and for anyone under the legal drinking age: Stay away from the stuff, it'll rot your brain.

[Benjamin Clayborne]

With rare exception, I think that writers should never write that something defies description or cannot be expressed in words. (Characters can say things like this, but narration shouldn't.) One of the greatest things about writing is its ability to succinctly describe something that someone else might have difficulty coming up with a way to describe. I've lost count of the number of times that I've come across an elegant turn of phrase that explains something in exactly the way I think of it.

[Caged Maiden]

I think you need to get deep inside a reader and give them the benefit of the doubt. By how you described turning off the light and closing your eyes..... well I knew then that it was something more spiritual/ moving than just hammering some keys. I think setting the tone like that will convey what you need it to to a reader.

[The Dark One]

With rare exception, I think that writers should never write that something defies description or cannot be expressed in words. (Characters can say things like this, but narration shouldn't.) One of the greatest things about writing is its ability to succinctly describe something that someone else might have difficulty coming up with a way to describe. I've lost count of the number of times that I've come across an elegant turn of phrase that explains something in exactly the way I think of it.

Bang on! I can think of no worse crime as a writer than admitting you don't have the words to express something and thereby abdicating responsibility for telling the story to the reader. And as Anihow suggests, focus on getting the tone right and the emotive insight will follow.

Try doing an exercise by just imagining any word in your grasp for conveying meaning. That word will somehow be meaningful to the mood/insight, so use it as the centrepiece of a discursive passage that paints a mood rather than describes a thought.

There are any number of ways of finding the words.

[Kelise]

Bang on! I can think of no worse crime as a writer than admitting you don't have the words to express something and thereby abdicating responsibility for telling the story to the reader. And as Anihow suggests, focus on getting the tone right and the emotive insight will follow.

Try doing an exercise by just imagining any word in your grasp for conveying meaning. That word will somehow be meaningful to the mood/insight, so use it as the centrepiece of a discursive passage that paints a mood rather than describes a thought.

There are any number of ways of finding the words.

I have to agree. Keep trying until you get it right, otherwise may as well leave it out. We're there to write, and if you can't do that and get each scene worthwhile, then it's just fodder, really. Make each scene count.

No one ever said writing (well) was easy.