Emotional Scenes

How do you write emotional scenes without becoming hammy and overdramatic?

There are several emotional scenes, including a poignant death scene, in my novel.

However, I’m struggling with writing the emotions of my characters without it sounding hammy or overdramatic. I also want to try to avoid falling into a pit of clichés. I suspect I’m not the only writer who has struggled with this.

I could take an easy route and either remove the scenes or write them in a very removed manner. However, this would remove aspects that I feel are core to the plot and the development of some of the characters. I would also be denying myself a chance to learn and improve.

Of all the scenes, it is the death scene that is giving me the biggest concern, as I feel that this is the one that is likely to veer in the wrong direction if I am not careful.

If anyone has suggestions, tips, or advice they’d like to share, it would be very much appreciated.