Robin William’s suicide was an emotional shock for a lot of people who never met him in real life. 

As a writer and editor, whose main concern is prompting an emotional response from my readers solely through my words, and a long-time appreciator of Robin Williams, I suppose my process for dealing with this terrible news is to ask why it hit us so hard, right in the gut. 

Why did it affect me so personally?

From Robin Williams’s characters, we experienced a mythic joy. He was so good at it, so pitch perfect on multiple levels, on multiple occasions. He gave us laughter, over and over. 

We cling to things that make us laugh.

One of my favorite lines about communication comes from my favorite movie, Singin’ in the Rain: 

Now, you can study Shakespeare and be quite elite 

And you can charm the critics and have nothin to eat

Just slip on a banana peel: The world’s at your feet.

Make ’em laugh. 
Make ’em laugh. 
Make ’em laugh.

“MAKE ‘EM LAUGH”, SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN

Laughter is a drug that hooks people more surely than pretty much any other mode of communication.

If you make people laugh, on the internet and on television and in real life, you will be noticed. 

People will come back. 

People will like you. 

All comedians know this. 

Laughter is a great thing, but it’s also a method of attention, a manipulation, a mask.

The success of a writer or an entertainer is almost solely dependent—96%, I’d say—on whether you can inspire strong, positive emotions in your audience. 

It’s all emotional manipulation. 

The other 4% is actual talent and skill. 

I was just talking to a client in a workshop we did recently, on using emotions in writing. I said, this is why Twilight is so popular. 

It doesn’t matter that it’s crap. It inspires strong emotions in the audience and so it succeeds. 

And honestly, I love Twilight. I laughed the whole way through, and although the hilarity was unintentional on Stephenie Meyers’ part, I still had an awesome time reading it. 

Quality didn’t matter. The emotional response was everything.

It’s why the Korean concept of makjang does so well despite being utterly ridiculous. 

A Dramabeans definition of makjang: “…a sylistic, tonal, or narrative element in dramas that chooses to play up outrageous storylines to keep viewers hooked despite how ridiculous the stories become (adultery, revenge, rape, birth secrets, fatal illnesses, and flirting with incest possibilities are some makjang favorites).” 

Tell the truth: Do you want to maybe watch a makjang show, just reading the definition? In your heart of hearts? You want to be entertained. 

It’s why Lifetime TV original movies also do well, despite being all emotions and almost no sense.

The key to raising the audience’s respect and adoration is to pair these emotions with a higher amount of talent and skill. 

Robin Williams was one of the most gifted entertainers we’ve encountered in our lifetimes. You pair the ability to inspire positive emotional response with intelligence and focus, and you have a gold mine of entertainment. 

Anything that reaches our hearts, whether positive or negative, will stay there a long time, even if not consciously.

I think of Twilight and I have an undeniable urge to smile. Good times. 

But I think of Robin Williams and everything in me lights up. It’s so much more powerful. 

My own experience with Robin Williams is so positive (emotions), and it reaches right to my core with acute accuracy (intelligence). 

It is involuntary. It is addictive. 

That is why we are devastated. 

We lost our drug source. 

We lost someone who had the power to turn our bad days into good days. 

We lost a great man who gave us these quality emotional experiences and we cannot get him back.