In my last post about Don, I found myself jumping moment to moment, speeding along towards an end, stating one thing after another without expressing anything internally with Don.

Don visits Anna. He hears from her niece that Anna has cancer and the family decided not to tell her. Don says to tell her or he will. Anna’s sister says no. “Don, you have no choice in what happens within my family.”

This is a tendency of mine. It’s lazy thinking. It’s going from one to the next to the next until a whole post is written. But good writing slows down, and within each sentence, takes into account the character’s emotions, motivations, and misreadings.

While Don visits Anna, he hears from her niece that Anna has cancer and that the family decided not to tell her. Don, angry and hurt, demands that someone tells her or else he will. Besides his kids, Anna is the one person Don cares about.

“Besides his kids, Anna is the one person Don cares about.” This line shows us why Don is so motivated to be with Anna and to do what’s best for her and shows why this will be so painful for Don.


Previously I posted about a rant by Mike Tyson that affected me and I think this is how he evoked so much emotion. In his rant, he uses words that express internal turmoil and emotion, in his case one of death, revenge, and war. He’s not saying they feared him because he knocked everyone out he faced. No. That’s not what he tried to do every time he entered the ring. He says, “That’s why they feared me when I was in the ring because I was an annihilator.” He’s trying to kill the other man.