Do Emotions Compel You To Write?
Posted by Vana Roth on June 30, 2008
I’m curious about what motivates other writers to write and how much of their writing if any, is driven by emotion.
As told to Pat Bertram, I’m at my best when totally peeved by some blatant abuse of power or social injustice. Just watching the news, makes me think I’ll have enough writing material to last the next forty years…lol!
I have to feel something deeply, be moved by the subject first, before I can commit word one to paper. When my head and my heart latches onto a subject, this acts as the catalyst that starts my imagination going wild. I embellish upon whatever subject to extreme proportion in order to make what I feel…is an important point or observation.
Love, happiness, passion, anger, hate, fear, betrayal, frustration and empathy (to name a few) are very powerful motivators. My hope is the end product makes readers feel the same emotions in equal intensity as I felt when deciding on the subject and writing the story.
Therefore my questions are, in relation to story telling:
Do you have to feel something first before you can begin to write?
Or, does your emotional bond to the story develop as you go along?
Is it possible to write without any emotional involvement or attachment?
This entry was posted on June 30, 2008 at 5:12 am and is filed under Thoughts. Tagged: A Nation of Expendables, author, emotions, fiction, Lachesis Publishing, thriller, Vana Roth, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Bertram said
Hi, Vana! Followed the link here, and I’m glad I did. These are good question, and my answer to all three is yes. Unless I feel something for the story, I can’t even begin to write it. My emotional bond has to develop even further as I go along, otherwise I lose that feel and the work stalls. Which is where I am now, stalled. And I write without any emotional attachment, because otherwise I couldn’t put my characters through such torment.
Vana Roth said
Hi Pat! I’m glad you found my site. Thank you for commenting. I truly enjoy reading yours, it’s wonderfully informative. I hope you’re able to get past writers block soon, so you can get back to tormenting your characters…lol!
Suzanne Francis said
I often use music to set the mood when I am writing, so I don’t have to be feeling anything in particular when I sit down. I do get very emotionally bonded to my characters–in fact I am madly in love with at least two of them, lol! Sometimes I think it would be easier to write without this attachment, because I get really sad when bad stuff happens to my favorites.
This looks like another great writing blog!
Vana Roth said
Hi Suzanne,
Thanks for your comment. I usually write about topics which have already struck some sort of emotional cord. Since the bond to the topic already exists, I can’t help but get attached to the characters who are embroiled in the subject. As you said you get very emotionally bonded to your characters and it’s understandable you’d feel sad when something bad happens to them. If your readers experience the same emotionally, then I think you’ve done a good job in your story telling.
Good luck with your new book Dawnmaid.
K.S. Clay said
I tend to feel strongly when I begin to write but it’s not necessarily in direct relation to something happening at the moment (like your news example). Sometimes I don’t even know the actual catalyst until I begin to write. I began my current novel with a scene that wouldn’t leave my mind and that I just felt compelled to put down on paper. Once I’d written a few scenes and determined that the story was largely about dealing with grief I realized that it had been propelled in part by my personal experiences. Even if I don’t feel such a strong emotion when I start to write, I quickly develop it as I put myself in the place of the character and I tend to write about subjects that do mean a lot to me. If I don’t feel anything when I’m writing, then I don’t think the reader is going to feel much when reading.
Vana Roth said
Hi K.S.Clay,
“If I don’t feel anything when I’m writing, then I don’t think the reader is going to feel much when reading.”
I feel the same way!
Adina Pelle said
Myself, I am extremely socially aware of social injustices or any flops in the layers of our society. Reading George Bernard Shaw back in college totally opened my mind with a new sense of direction . I see clearly how the change every society needs eventually is unavoidable and is in the hands of writers more often than not to bring it up to surface. Writers write history !