Readers and writers, what makes a scene truly heart-breaking or emotional?

[Undertaildoof34]

Like I just want to ask this. Does even the writer know it's sad when the sense makes them cry? Readers what is like the most beautiful sene you ever read it makes you cry. Or saddest sene.

[DualDragons]

For me it's scenes about selfless sacrifice that brings tears in my eyes. When a character is determined to give up their life to save the ones they love, even if they have a choice.

[ar-ninetysix]

Hm.. A lot of the sad scenes that come to mind for me are the ones where characters you're attached to have some awfully unfair stuff happen to them, within reason of course. Usually it's in relation to their goals or morals. That idea of wanting what you can't have even if it's impulsive or reckless makes for some pretty strong scenes imo

[cherrystark]

I've learned for high emotional impact, you have to set the stage for the emotion you're playing with and make your cast react appropriately. Basically, if an important character is going to die, amp up the emotional connections. Tell us of dreams they had, what they did with their free time, how they treated the rest of the cast, etc. We can learn more about them after the death, but if you show us glimpses of their real self before they die, readers will feel it.

The other way I know to bump up emotional impact is to play on your characters' fears. In theatre, this is called raising the stakes. One of my character's is a father. He is a gruff, overprotective Papa Bear who makes it clear, he loves his daughter more than the rest of them. She was taken from him as a kid and now, he is terrified of losing her again. So, in one scene, his daughter is found unconscious and not breathing. He is terrified she won't wake up. The scene hits me in the feels every time. When I workshopped the scene - parents who read the scene related to my character's fear. Like theatre, emotional impact is simply knowing cause and effect or action and reaction.

[Undertaildoof34]

So like if in a story you gave the readers knowledge that an adorable character's mother is dead but the kid hasn't found out and the dad is too heartbroken to tell. Then going through the whole part where the dad still doesn't say anything when the kid finds out. Does that count as bumping emotional impact?

[Phantomlight]

One of my episodes I made tugged at my heartstrings while making it. It was an episode in remembrance to my grandmother, so that also attributed to my personal emotions towards it, but I found that some of my subscribers also felt similarly towards it when I read their comments.

Not all scenes might affect others the same way though and that's what's interesting. It might have to do with how a person relates to the subject. I always cry at scenes about losing a loved one because I have experiences with that kind of scene, but I also cry at moments that are happy or heartfelt like a person sharing beautiful memories with people they love (without there being a sad ending). It's just the kind of person I am and what I have gone through does contribute in that. But not everyone cries at the latter kind of scenes because they're happy moments.

I think Pixar does really well with sad scenes as a lot of people already know xD It's the happy scenes before the sad ones that really drive that sadness home (for example, the famous UP sad scene). @cherrystark touches on this:

We can learn more about them after the death, but if you show us glimpses of their real self before they die, readers will feel it.

[sistergirl88]

It’s not heartbreaking until somebody dies.

[cherrystark]

Yeah, it definitely could. The biggest thing would be the dad's behavior. If the kid notices their dad acting abnormally and THEN finds out mom died and dad was basically lying -- the kid's heartbreak is going to double.

[ar-ninetysix]

I mean.. It can always be overdone to the point of losing its effect even if you build it up properly. That's one of those ideas that get tricky to work with depending on the genre. Like.. I'd find it hard to believe fans thinking it's heartbreaking when Goku or Sam and Dean have died for the fourth time in their respective series lol

[therosesword]

Sometimes it's something really simple that you don't expect.

When I was writing plays one was produced about a woman who was dying. In one scene she was teasing her husband about what he would miss more, her cooking or abysmal housekeeping.

She fell asleep and he took her rosary out of her hand and sat center stage and one by one went through some of the beads recounting things that he would miss. But I kept the list to the very simplest of things that hit close to our own hearts. It's been a long time but I believe a couple of them were (because they had children) the smell of baby powder, coffee in bed on a Sunday, walking the dog at twilight. All those simple things that many of us experience in a lifetime with someone we love.

Of course, the scene was helped by some very fine acting. I'm rather proud to say there were very few dry eyes in the theatre.

[therosesword]

Or leaves. I just watched a major snurffler the other night of two people being separated.

And then, course, when the dog is killed. sigh

[therosesword]

That would. I'm an old fart now but I still remember with incredible clarity right down to the light in the room when my dad told me my mother had died. I was five. I can even still hear his voice.

[Jenny-Toons]

For myself, I create these scenes based on vulnerability. A lot of my stories involve whether someone's efforts have been in vain or not in vain: bonus points when it's a character that generally tries to keep up a strong appearance and not show their emotions. How that happens can depend on the situation:

• The parental guardian who goes above and beyond for those they love -- especially in dire situations.

• People who try to bottle up their feelings in order to "look strong", but you can tell it wears away at them.

• Children who mourn but are confused about why they're mourning. The heart hurts, and they're scared because they don't know why and don't know how long it'll last.

When they make it, it hits the heart. Because at this point, we know how hard the character has worked: what they've given up and gained to get to this point. If it's done well, it's not completely self-sacrificing, but the character still has to make some tough decisions. Seeing them make it hits my heart and I tear up. Especially if they end up crying and haven't really cried throughout the story before -- because now? Now they're relieved. They can be vulnerable because everything is ok.

When they don't make it, it hurts. Because again -- we know how hard the character worked and what they went through. So seeing them NOT make it, despite that effort, breaks my heart. It hits a bit closer to reality, seeing this strong character -- who tried hard to stay strong -- finally shed those tears they tried to hide. I mourn for them.

For a scene to be emotional, you kinda have to work with things we don't really want to talk about sometimes. That sense of vulnerability with others and ourselves that feels accepted when we see it in media. When we see a character go through what we endure, regardless if they fail or succeed, it just invokes a sense of "you're not alone".

To write like that, you have to work with understanding what it means to be vulnerable. And that might mean diving into your own heart and seeing what lies there.

[AmysGames]

I guess for me, a lot of it has to do with contrast. In order for a character to be sad, there must be something that makes them happy. When you can see the loss of that happiness—or perhaps even more poignantly, when they're never able to attain that happiness at all—then you can feel how important it is to them, and how much they're hurting because of it.

It also tends to hit harder for me when the conflict involves something I have personal experience with, though that's obviously not something you can predict as a writer. I guess on the opposite extreme, if the conflict is so unrelatable that no human being has ever experienced it, it might be hard to get people to sympathize with it.

[potatogirl]

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[thel3tterm]

For me, it's when the objective or goal is SO CLOSE but the characters fail anyway. Maybe they were just seconds too late, or it wasn't enough, or they were wrong in some way, or the objective was impossible to begin with.

For instance, a story where characters fought and suffered and struggled to get a cure for a dying friend but get there right after they've passed. You don't need gushing tears or a body wracked with sobs to get the point across then. The buildup is enough of a gut punch.

There's something about wasted or misguided efforts that get me. Seeing a character literally give their all and it's all for seemingly nothing. It's like Orpheus and Euridice failing right before they leave the underworld, or Marlin crossing the ocean for Nemo but he's (seemingly) already dead. Edward and Alphonse literally give everything to resurrect their mother, but it was impossible from the start. Icarus and Daedelus escape the labyrinth but fail anyway.

That's tragedy to me. That's a story that'll keep me awake at night.

[Namiar]

Totally the scenes later into the story, when you're really invested in the characters and then something absolutely heart-wrenching happens. Always gets me.

As a writer I really love to write some grand conflicts... but as a reader I don't really even like them that much bc I'm such a wuss and emotional reader lol

[Legendofgenii]

Usually scenes/topics that are closer to reality and human - especially concerning mortality and the beauty of a life lived.

I don't know if anyone has seen the Movie 'Maquia'? In a nutshell an immortal girl finds a baby and brings the child up as her own. It's about motherhood and explores all the ups and downs of their life together - and eventually (in the final scene) the child gets old and passes away. It's so beautiful but painful at the same time.

[MeltingCORE]

For me, scenes that actually make me emotional are scenes that contain both love and pain. Things that must happen for the sake of the greater good. Either for a character for the entire world. Or both! Good examples (without giving spoilers) are in the animes "Air" and "Made In Abyss". Same with the visual novel "Saya no Uta". Also, I do have to say that the first time I got to the end of the LOTR books, I burst into tears because it was like I had been on this epic journey myself and while everything ended up pretty ok for most involved, it was like I was leaving an entire world behind. (I might just be a nerd though lmaoooo.)

[arbiterswake]

This is a tough one, because if done poorly or for the sake of reaction, it doesn't really cause an emotional reaction in the reader. Instead it causes a " Uhg..Really?...I could care less about this as you haven't done a good enough job as the creator to make me feel attached to this character" situation..

This happens SO much.

My recommendation:

If you're going for emotional impact, make sure that the characters you're acting out the scene with have a highly relatable situation they are going through that's a legitimate struggle for them and not just used as a plot device or shock factor. Also make sure that the viewers have had enough time and experience with this character to form a connection so that an emotional situation feels more organic.