Should I get a Degree in Writing?

 "Should I get a Degree in 

Creative Writing?"

----- Original Message -----
I've being toying with the idea of getting a degree in 'Creative Writing' recently and was wondering if this is a good idea or not?

 -- Wanna go Pro

WARNING! RANT Ahead...!

If you want to write professionally, 

Don't Waste your Money on 

Creative writing courses. 

What they teach you in those so-called Creative Writing classes is how to break rules, not how to USE them to write a story a publisher will accept. 

 

In addition, they may RUIN the instincts for storytelling you currently possess and destroy your ability to write publishable fiction.

Instead, take a few cheap writing courses on COPYWRITING because that is how published fiction (and non-fiction) is actually written.

If you don't plan on writing Professionally then knock your socks off and take as many Creative Writing courses as your bank account can handle. I hear they're a lot of fun. Just don't expect any publisher to ever accept your...results.

 

As an author of over 30 published titles, I can tell you from years of experience that:

1) You DON'T need a degree of any kind to write Fiction successfully. 

What you need are Life Experiences to write from.

You can't describe what you don't Know, so pack your back-pack and Go places, See things, and Do things. Join a Living History group or three. Learn how to; shoot a black-powder musket, ride a horse, belly-dance, wield a sword while wearing armor, spin wool, weave cloth, play a musical instrument, train dogs, speak a foreign language...etc. (I've done all of these.)

 

 

2) ANY fiction-writing course that isn't taught by a multi-published Fiction Author is a waste of your time and money.

You need to learn from those who actually DO IT, not from those who wish they could. 

3) Realize and Accept that there is absolutely Nothing CREATIVE about writing for Money. 

The Writing Guidelines posted by publishing houses are NOT Guidelines, they're absolute and unbreakable Rules. If you don't write what they want in the way they want it you WILL be Rejected --no matter how brilliant it is-- simply because it's Not what they asked for in their Guidelines.

"Is Writing Fiction

a good Profession?"

Not really. 

 

The pay sucks ass, especially if you are writing for a New York publisher. If you work for an ePublishing house the pay is better and far more frequent, but it's still not impressive.

For the Dirty Details: $Money Facts$: Ebooks & NY Print Publication

Just so you know, the ONLY ebook genre that actually makes good money these days is Erotic Romance (Women's Adult Pulp Fiction.)

"What sort of job opportunities

are there?"

Lots of people (read: Businesses,) are looking for good writers, but none of them are willing to pay a writer what they're actually worth because they all seem to think Writing is EASY. (We all learned it in grammar school so it must be easy, right?)

For the Dirty Details: How Much Does a Copywriter Actually Make?

"If you have a degree in English and/or something writing orientated, is it worth it?"

It's NOT, especially if you plan to write Fiction.

A degree in English will only teach you how to TEACH English -- not use it, and critique books in ways even the authors don't understand. 

 

Unless you intend to make a living writing essays, teaching school, or as an editor correcting other people's fiction manuscripts, an English degree is a waste of your time and money.

"What are your thoughts on going to University to learn to Write professionally?"

If you want a degree, Get One.

However...! Most universities prepare you for Teaching, Research, and Business -- NOT fiction writing. Be prepared to spend a lot of money learning a ton of crap you will not only never use, but may possibly Damage the fiction-writing skills you've already developed. 

If you're bound and determined to take classes on writing, go to Fiction Writing Workshops. Those are usually hosted by published authors and you'll actually learn things that are useful to your writing like; plotting, character design, pacing, narrative tricks, and the grammar authors actually use.

For the Dirty Details: The Secret to Proper Paragraphing for Fiction. 

If you want to write professionally then simply WRITE then post where your work can be found. Hang out where the authors hang out and Pay Attention when they give advice.  

 

Read as many books on writing as you can get your hands on; but only those written by Published AUTHORS. 

 

Most importantly, Keep Writing until a publisher spots your work and offers you a contract.

That's what worked for me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

How do I write a Novel that will SELL?

"How do I write a Novel

that will SELL?" 

You begin by learning how to write Fiction properly.

Clue-by-four:

Fiction is Not written the same way one writes an essay, or journalism; how one is taught to write in school. Fiction uses a different sentence structure, (Action THEN Reaction,) a different style of paragraph division, (by Character -- not dialog,) and different grammar rules. (Adverbs and adjectives are OK! The word "as" is Not.)

Once you can do that then it gets HARD.

Disclaimer:
This article is NOT for those who do Creative Writing. It's strictly for those who intend to write for Profit; for a reading audience that will not pay for anything less than exactly what they wish to read.

"I've been writing for years, but I can't seem to get more than a few readers to buy my books."

Clearly, you're doing something Right, but just as clearly, you're not doing Enough right to widen your reader base. In other words, you're doing something Wrong.

However, instead of stopping to figure out what's isn't working in their stories, too many writers simply rewrite their story over, and over, and over... The same story with the same types of characters, in the same situations -- just in different arrangements.

STOP DOING THAT! 

Repeating yourself only increases the number of books that flop don't sell as well as you'd like.

The trick to fixing anything is to CHANGE something; a character's personality type, a character's personality issues, add a plot-reversal, add a plot-twist, cut out all the head-hopping, intensify the paranormal influences... If changing something doesn't work, change something Else. Still no good? Change something Else. Still not working? Keep changing things -- don't stop until you figure out what combination of elements Does work to make your stories popular with your readers.

"Is there an easier, faster way to figure out what my readers want in my stories?"

Actually, there is. 

Find it. Own it. Fix it.

Find the Problem.

The fastest way to find the problems in any story is by Asking the Readers. 

• Write a blog post that point-blank Asks what your readers would like to see in their stories, and what they don't like seeing. Ask for Examples from books they've read -- including yours.

• Do a poll with a list of thing you suspect might be problems and ask them: "What annoys you the Most?"  

Pay attention to what your Readers tell you!
Do your readers prefer: 

• More Description? 
• Hotter Action? 
• Less Angst? 
• More Drama? 
• More Character Development? 
• Less Character Introspection...?
• Snarky comments?
• Smart-assed, intelligent Villians?
• Non-passive Heroines?
• Non-abusive Heroes?
• More Consensual bodice-ripping?
• More man-on-man action?
• Werewolves that act like Wolves not dogs?
• Vampires that don't sparkle? 
• Stories that are Less realistic?
• Stories that are More realistic?

Once you know what they like, consider your own work. How much of what you write actually offers what your audience actually wants to read? How much of what they Don't like shows up in your stories?

Clue-by-fours:

• If your readers like your Villain more than the story's Main Character -- you have a Problem. 
• If your Romantic Hero is extremely popular, but your Romantic Heroine is an annoying bitch, or worse; a forgettable doormat -- you have a Problem.  
• If your Secondary Characters are more entertaining than your main characters -- you have a Problem. 
• If your story consists of 50% dialog, 40% character introspection, and only 10% is spent on Action scenes -- you have a Problem.
• If your story has plenty of Action scenes, but the characters are little more than cardboard placeholders -- you have a Problem.
• If your readers can guess the end of your story by the fourth chapter -- you have a Problem.

Own the Problem.

Accept that your sales are suffering because you're not giving enough readers what they want to read, and that your stories need to be adjusted to suit a wider reading audience.

Next, make a Choice: 

• I want to write what I enjoy more than I want money, so I'll just live with pleasing only a select few readers. (Go to: Option A)

OR:

• I want to make a enough money to quit the day job, so I'll find a way to write what my readers want by adjusting it into something I can enjoy writing. (Go To: Option B) 

Option A: 

Continue writing your stories the way you normally do, and Stop Reading this Article because the following advice will probably piss you off. :)

Option B: 

Fix the Problem.

If you want better sales, you'll need adjust your writing to entice a broader range of readers into buying your books. So, how do you do this?

The fastest way to make any story popular is by discovering what elements the readers enjoy then adding them to your stories. 

Just to be clear:

I am NOT telling you to Copy other people's work...!

I'm NOT saying that your vampires should suddenly start sparkling simply because the vampires in an ungodly popular book series has sparkling vampires. (THAT isn't what made that series popular, seriously!) I'm saying take those stories apart and note what that authors did Right -- and what they did Wrong.

Examine each separate component; character types, plot devices, dialog styles, locations, personality issues featured, timing for dramatic scenes, how much angst was used, how often love scenes occur and how detailed they are... What worked? What didn't?

Once you know what elements the readers like, adjust those elements into what you enjoy writing. 

Compare Notes: 
How many stories (movies are stories too!) use these highly popular elements?

• A Wolverine-type romantic Hero? 
• A Frodo-type nice-guy Hero? 
• A smart-assed Captain Jack Sparrow-type of Anti-Hero?
• A Princess Buttercup 'suffering behind her smile' style of romantic Heroine?
• A Trinity-type kick-ass Heroine?
• A smiling, psychopathic Moriarity-type Villain?
• A 'Hero's Journey' adventure plot-line?
• A 'Beauty and the Beast' romantic plot-line? 
• A Great Escape scene?
• A Plot Twist that changes everything you thought you knew about what was going on in the story? 
• A Self-Sacrifice scene that allows a character to redeem themselves?
• A Wedding at the End?
• An Ironic Ending?

What do You use in Your stories? 

More to the point; what can you change, adjust, or remove altogether to make your stories suit a wider range of readers? 
.

In Conclusion:
Pay attention to what your Readers tell you then Use what they tell you to write a story they already Want to Read.
 

THAT'S how you create books that will SELL.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Morgan Hawke

The Difference between SHOWING & TELLING

"Don't say 'the old lady screamed'.
Bring her on and let her scream!"
Mark Twain

From an exercise in writing Action Scenes...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angel bent over, groaning in pain. "Damn Buffy, why in the Hell did you do that?"

The next thing she knew, he had his hands around her ankles and she was dangling over the edge of the railing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oopsie ~ we’re TELLING! I can see why you did it. You would have had to have added a few paragraphs just to describe what happened, but Action is Showing, not Telling. 

-----Original Message-----
I see that advice a lot, and the odd time I understand it, but not often enough, or how it’s actually done. How do you SHOW that scene above, not tell it? I get the two confused – to my addled brain sometimes showing seems to be telling…and vice versa. Not sure if you understand that, but you seem to get most of what I’ve thrown at you, so I leave that in your capable hands. Could you give us an idea of how it could look if shown, not told?

-- Thanks!!! Sue* 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reason this was TELLING was the fact that she didn’t SHOW us step by step, HOW Buffy got into that position, she simply Told us that it happened.

When a writer is pressed for word-count and time, Telling happens. 

 

TELLING is perfectly okay in a repeated action, but its good manners to detail the action at least once so the reader has a nice clear picture in their mind of what that happening looks like.

SHOWING is about Mind Pictures...

 

When you write a story, you are making a Mental MOVIE for the reader. Telling is when you plant a CUE rather than fully illustrate the scene. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angel bent over, groaning in pain. "Damn Buffy, why in the Hell did you do that?"

The next thing she knew, (This is a cue!) he had his hands around her ankles and she was dangling over the edge of the railing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You have to GUESS how Angel went from being bent over and groaning in pain to dangling Buffy over the railing.

If you have to GUESS how a Character did something
– you’ve been TOLD, not Shown.

Many writers don’t realize that they are writing CUES instead of illustrating Pictures, because that's what they see in a lot of published mainstream books: CUES. 

 

"Monkey See - Monkey Do".

"Well if they can do it - why is it Wrong?"

 

A LOT of published authors get away with TELLING through Cues, because they are making up for it in some other way: Drama, Dialogue, Atmosphere, Science, Magic...  

 

Unfortunately a lot of new authors miss this.

Case in point: Most Romances TELL – a lot. They don't bother with detailed Action of any kind. 

 

WHY? 

 

Romances are Not being read for their ACTION, 

 they’re being read for their EMOTION, their Drama. 

 

Romances as a rule, make up for their lack of Action with detailed Emotional Drama, and the  emotional drama in a Romance is Very Detailed.

On the flipside: 

 

Readers of Vampire Horror or Vampire Erotica won't touch a mainstream Vampire Romance with a ten-foot pole - because there's too much Drama and no real Action in it.

ACTION

is the Difference between

Romance and Erotic Romance

 

Unlike a typical Romance, you won't see pages and pages, and pages, of dramatic narrative in an Erotic Romance, because the Erotic Romance Reader won't put up with it.

ACTION rules Erotic Romance – NOT Drama.

 

Erotic Romances are being read for their Sexual ACTION more than anything else, but these Readers are also reading for the Action-packed Adventure story that sex is set in. The Emotions of love and angst have to be there or it’s not Romantic, but the Drama is not nearly as detailed as in a common ordinary Romance because:

 

Drama bogs down Action.

 

All that Sexual Action needs that Adventure Action to balance the story out, or the Reader will just skip everything in between "to get to the good parts." 

A lot of successful mainstream Romance authors flounder when they try to write Erotic Romance because they read: Erotic Romance and think Romantic Erotica. 

The truth is, Erotic Romance is Women's Adult Adventure Fiction. 

 

Adding hotter sex scenes to an ordinary Romance

 will NOT satisfy the Erotic Romance Reader. 

 

Erotic Romance Readers expect detailed Action-heavy Detailed sex scenes PLUS Action-heavy Detailed Adventure sequences with an actual PLOT. They expect SHOWING in their narrative, Not Telling. 

In Erotic Romance the real difference between Showing and Telling is: SALES or NO SALES.

If the above scene had been SHOWN instead of Told, 

it might have looked something like this:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angel bent over, groaning in pain. "Damn Buffy, why in the Hell did you do that?"

Buffy grinned and spoke in her sweetest voice. “Maybe because you deserved it?”

Angel looked up with his eyes narrowed. “I deserved it?” His lip curled. “Is that so?” His entire body tensed, straining the seams of his jacket.

She took a half-step back. Uh oh…

Angel exploded from his crouch. In a rush of hard hot muscle, he barreled into her and bear-hugged her in an iron grip around the waist as though she’d been a football player on the opposing team. At full speed, he shoved her backwards toward the wall.

Buffy’s heels skidded unpleasantly on the stone flags until the back of her knees hit the wall. She tipped backwards. “Oh shit!” She grabbed onto his coat’s lapels and stared into his face from less than a kiss away.

Angel grinned, showing the curving length of his long fangs. “I deserved it huh?” He shoved.

Buffy tipped back into open space, and squealed in surprised. She knew the fall wouldn’t kill her. She’d survived far worse, but God, it was embarrassing.

With faster than human reflexes, Angel caught her around the ankles holding her dangling over the edge of the railing with her skirt slipping down toward her waist.

Buffy groaned. She just knew his eyes were on her pink cotton panties. She just knew it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

See?

Morgan Hawke
www.darkerotica.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Posted with Permission

Reposted from older blog entry 'cuz blogspot crapped out on me. 

Where do you put Character Flaws?

-----Original Message -----

Characters have to have flaws, but sometimes it's a bit hard to add those flaws in.
 -- Concerned About Characters

First of all...
What is a character Flaw?

Well, a character's Flaw is a crack in their personality and/or talent. Something that both helps them AND harms them. Kind of the way true artists (and brilliant nerds) tend to also be serious flakes, and really socially awkward. 'K?

Now then...

Where do you Put a Character's Flaws?

A character's greatest strength should appear in the first scene that character occupies. The character's Flaw makes its first appearance at the end of that scene -- but only a hint of it.

Scene One: If the opening scene features the main character, I show that character In Action showing off their greatest strength. To close that scene I show a small portion of that same strength's crippling weakness, but without exposing that it's a weakness.

In The Hobbit:

 -- Bilbo Baggins's greatest Flaw is that's he's 'nice' and 'polite'. In other words, he has Good Character. Not something one would generally think of as being a weakness.

Scene Two: As the story progresses that strength (and their dependence on it,) devolves openly into a crippling weakness that nearly destroys what's most important to them. 

In The Hobbit:

 -- Bilbo Baggins's  Good Character is what allows Gandalf and the dwarves to take advantage of his home to get a free dinner -- for 14 people!-- and take advantage of his person. He is quite literally managed into signing a contract to go on an Adventure he doesn't want, and in fact something Hobbits do not do. 

Later in the story, Bilbo Baggins's Flaw of Good Character nearly gets him eaten by trolls because he's too polite to attack them.

Scene Three: At the center of the story The Worst Thing That Could Possibly Happen occurs. The character becomes utterly helpless and sunk deep in depression. That weakness they'd originally depended on as their strength is what they must overcome to find a new source of strength to proceed.

In The Hobbit:
 -- At the center of the story, Bilbo falls into a deep, dark pit. Faced with Gollum, who tells Bilbo point-blank that he intends to Eat Bilbo, Bilbo once again is too polite. He refuses to see Gollum as a the deadly threat he is, and bargains with Gollum, fully expecting the creature to keep his word and let him go should Bilbo win their little contest.

Once Gollum reveals that he has no intention of honoring his word, what saves Bilbo isn't Bilbo's sword, but a single moment of Bad Character; Theft. Bilbo keeps a gold ring that he knows belongs to Gollum. This one act of Bad Character ends up being his salvation against Gollum because the ring is Magical.

Scene Four: Validation; when the Flaw proves to be an actual strength.

In The Hobbit:
-- The ring that Bilbo stole allows Bilbo to save the dwarves when they're attacked by Spiders, then again when the dwarves are captured by the wood elves, then Bilbo himself when he is faced with a fire-breathing dragon, and so on and so forth... 

By the end of the story, Bilbo has finally learned that Not being Polite has it's uses too, such as when demanding back all his belonging that had been stolen from his home during his long absence -- and actually getting them all back because everyone else is too polite to refuse him. 

How to use this in Writing.

Example: A Romance Story

The Main Character's (MC) greatest strength is he's The Perfect Gentleman; he knows exactly the right thing to do and say no matter the circumstances. He's honest, trustworthy, and kind.

The flaw that comes with this talent is that Everyone Knows exactly what kind of man he is. (It's not like he can hide it.)

Scene One: MC interacts with 3 females; an office lady, his childhood playmate, and the girl he actually likes. To each of them he is The Perfect Gentleman; he says and does exactly the right thing each time.

Scene Two: He becomes the guy to go to when their heart is broken because he always knows what to say to make a someone feel better. The guys envy him, and the girls adore him.

During this time, he begins to court the girl he likes: flowers, gifts, dates... At the end of the scene, he finally gets up the courage to confess his love. She smiles and Refuses to take him seriously. Why? Because he ALWAYS says and does the right thing, no matter who they are; he treats Every girl the same way. She doesn't feel special; she doesn't feel loved.

Scene Three: He continues to pursue her, and confess his feelings, but the more he talks, the less she believes him. Even worse, none of the girls believe that he's even capable of having feelings for only one girl -- after all, he's the Perfect Gentleman to everyone he meets.

Scene Four: Deep in despair, he sees her one more time only this time he's unprepared and a total mess; his appearance has gone to crap from depression, he hasn't eaten, he hasn't slept. He weeps angry tears while shouting in anger that no one believes him. In short: He's not a gentleman at all. This time she believes him because for the first time she can see the man hiding under the mask of 'Perfect Gentleman'.

The End

Enjoy!

Making Ideas into Stories

Moonfish by SnowSkadi

----- Original Message -----
How do you develop an idea? How do you come up with the details behind stories? Do you get them from reading books? Do you get them from modern concepts? Or do they just come to you (if so, lucky you XD)? How do you develop the world in which it takes place? People or settings first? Do you include cults/religions/mass groups? How do you come up with these groups?
 -- Thoughtful Game-maker

In other words, what you want to know is:

How do you build a Story

from an Idea? 

Let's begin by breaking this huge pile of questions down to smaller, bite-sized pieces...

"How do you develop an Idea?"

I start with a Climactic Event.

My ideas may originate from anything at all; from a piece of music to a picture I saw on the 'net, but to make a Story from those ideas I start with What I want to Happen at the very heart of my story -- a central Climactic/Crisis Event. I then create a Plot Concept around it to make that event happen, and tie up loose ends after the event. 

Plot concept:

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Act 1: What caused the Event.
Act 2: Climactic/Crises Event.
Act 3: What happened after.

Example: What I want to Happen.

• I want the central climactic/crisis event to be an epic space battle between a Galactic Empire and a tribe of Space Privateers, and I want the characters to carry Swords. 

"How do you come up with

the Details behind stories?"

"Do you get them from reading books? Do you get them from modern concepts? Or do they just come to you (if so, lucky you XD)?"

RESEARCH. 

The Details I come up with are mainly generated by reading stories similar to what I want to write, and researching what I need to know to make such an event plausible. This tends to reveal unexpected facts which often give me MORE ideas to add to the story.

How do you make something in a story Plausible? 

You use Facts to give its existence a Good Excuse.

Examples: Facts

• Did you know that privateers had Written Permission from their home country to attack the ships of the countries their country didn't like --especially if there was a war going on-- as long as they turned over a certain percentage of 'booty' to their home country? (Ah ha! I now have a 'good excuse' to make the privateers the Good Guys!)

• Did you know that Empires (the British Empire in particular,) routinely hired Merchants to be Privateers when they didn't have enough ships in their fleets BECAUSE Merchant ships were extremely well-armed specifically to fight off Pirates (other Privateers)? (Ah-HA! Now I have a good excuse to have a Privateers vs. Pirates battle!)

• Did you know that those same empires that hired Privateers would also systematically destroy their Privateers once a treaty was signed with the country they had gone to war with, mainly because this was often a condition for a treaty to be signed? (Ah-HA! Now I have a 'good excuse' for Privateers to become pissed off at an empire!)

• Did you know that using a projectile weapon of any sort on a spaceship spelled Instant Death should that projectile shoot through the outer hull? (Ah-AH! I know have a 'good excuse' to have all my characters carry Swords!) 

"How do you develop

The World in which it takes place?"

"People or Settings first? Do you include cults/religions/mass groups? How do you come up with these groups?"

.

I begin with the World.

I always start with the SETTING, the World my characters will inhabit. I research everything to look for clues about what kind of cultures, politics, employment, social positions, religions, etc. would come into play in such a story because a character's culture and civilization will be what makes each character who they are -- the same way that your culture and civilization made you who you are.

Examples: Space, Empires, and Privateers.

• How do Empires happen, and how are they governed?
• Why would Privateers would be hired?
• Under what conditions would Privateers be attacked by an Empire?
• What are the conditions for living in space?
• What kinds of space travel would I need, (Faster-than-light? Folding space? Jump-gates...?) and can they be adapted to what I want to do?
• What kind of weapons would a spaceship have?
• How would a space battle be conducted?

Then Characters.
Once I have a good grasp of the cultures my characters would inhabit, then I decide what kind of characteristics and backgrounds the Characters would need to make my Event happen -- or Not happen.

Examples: Characters.

• Why would people (or a whole family) become privateers?
• Why would someone hate the empire?
• Why would someone hate privateers?
• What kind of training would be needed to fight in space?
• If I make the main character a neutral party, where would such a character come from, and why would they have such a mindset?

And that's how I build a Story from an Idea.

 

Enjoy! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

BDSM Chat on GoodReads!

The BDSM Chat
on GoodReads!

April 23rd 2014

 Read the
Question and Answer Session
HERE!

Books I recommend for writing BDSM:

Screw the Roses, Send me the Thorns

Miller & Devon

SM101

  Jay Wiseman 

The Topping Book 

The Bottoming Book

Easton & Liszt

The Sexually Dominant Woman, a workbook for nervous beginners

Lady Green

The Fine Art of Erotic Talk

Bonnie Gabriel

 Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

John Grey, PHD.

For writing BDSM, I can't recommend these books highly enough.

A Note on Internal Monologues

Art by Kaori Yuki

A Note on

Internal Monologues

“I was just wondering what you think about interior monologues, long passages of reflection?” -- Curious Kitty

Whether you are considering adding a lengthy monologue to a story, or intend the monologue to be the story itself; where the focus of the entire story is on one character’s thoughts and feelings with very little action, from my observations and experimentation, the readers either love them or hate them. There's no in-between.

However, it is notable that the internal monologue stories that are sought out most frequently usually focus on a profound emotion of some kind: grief, loneliness, heartache, loss... Usually by those seeking to deal with such an emotion as a kind of therapy, or by those that have never felt such emotions. (Strong emotional stories are extremely popular in the Young Adult genre.)

In both cases, not only does the reader seek to submerge themselves in these profound emotions, they are also looking for a solution, a way back out from under these feelings.

In short...

Don’t write about Emotional Trauma 
without a Solution already in mind. 

Don't leave your readers hanging. You don’t want the hate mail that will come. Really.

I'm an escapist by nature, so I fall into the other category -- those that can only handle internal monologues in extremely tiny doses. I've actually had to deal with these sorts of emotions; death, grief, heartache, loss... on a far too personal basis, so dwelling on them (reading long emotional passages,) isn't something I'm comfortable with. I prefer my emotional deep thoughts mixed in with the character doing something; an action scene flavored by internal narration, rather than a monologue.

In Conclusion…

When deciding whether or not your monologue is appropriate for what you are writing, consider your target reading audience.

If you’re writing a story steeped in emotional upswings such as a romance, a monologue or two will probably fit right in.

However, if you’re writing something with lots of action such as an adventure, you just might want to consider sprinkling bits of light action among your passages of deep thought to keep it from dragging down the pace you’ve already set for your story.