Passionate love.
Violent hate.
Crushing sorrow.
These are the wood for the fire, the wind through the flute, the beat of the writer’s heart. Without feeling, without passion, the words flowing from the ink-pen are nothing but just that – words. Their essence is lost from the page, swept away by the tide of flowing, bombast language.
Think of good writing as having direction, even ambition. The words must not necessarily know where they are headed, but them must be going somewhere. Write furiously, write stunningly, and do not stop until you are done saying what you wanted to say. Speak your mind, your heart, your arms and legs and toes and fingers. Give yourself to your writing, let it exhaust you. And then, write some more. William Wordsworth said it most poetically: “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
What do you love? An orange, perfect in its uneven, spotted shell? A shoe yearned for in childhood, finally earned, and revered? The saying goes, ‘Write what you know’; I say you should write what you love. “Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens…” These things – beautiful in your eyes – are the fuel.
What do you hate? What stirs you blood, flares your nostrils, stamps your feet? Is it an uncompromising splinter? Or a deceitful friend? Or Republicans? Dust? Scratched glasses! Truculent waiters! Ignorant people! Long lines! Anger and frustration are fuel, as Stephen King knew when he said, “You must not come lightly to the blank page.”
Sorrow you must be careful with. It cannot take over as the others do; do not let it reign free, lest it consume you and emit only the meaningless drivel of a saturnine singer. It is communication, not self-expression, that readers want to read. When carefully controlled, sorrow can act as fuel.
The word ‘emotions’ makes me cringe in total horror. It sounds cheap, tinny, and somehow, clichéd. And yet, emotions are the essence of writing, not exceptional talent, nor a wide vocabulary – feeling, raw and uncut, is the foundation for writing. Sometimes it hides beneath the surface of a rosy cheek, in the drop of a tear. Sometimes you must chop away at it, grab it, and run. Find something you “feel strongly” about, let it inspire you. Let it catch your eye, stay your breath, flex your mind. Remember this too: writing is risking. It risks wasted time, it risks rejection, it risks disappointment. But a writer afraid of these things cannot truly be a writer. Passion is there; it supports you, it comforts you, and it fuels you. Do not let the fear hinder your passion. “Our greatest glory”, said Confucious, “is not in never failing, but it rising up every time we fail.”
Sources:
Zen And The Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury, Random House, Inc.
Oranges picture: http://www.hickerphoto.com/valencia-oranges-spain-12927-photomug.htm
Dog picture: www.dropthatsock.com/content/2005/07/index.php
Wordsworth quote: http://www.quotegarden.com/writing.html
Song lyrics guote: “My Favorite Things”, The Sound of Music, Rogers and Hammerstein
Stephen King Quote: http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/writing/
Confucious quote: http://koti.mbnet.fi/pasenka/quotes/q-writ.htm
