For me the
best writing is writing that conveys strong emotion. But how do you do it? How do you get that glorious intensity into
words on the page?
First, of course, you
need to feel the emotion yourself. You
can try reading poetry. Listening to
music. Wandering through a gallery or
the hills above Moffat. And FEELING –
then describing the feeling. That’s the
hard thing – not just the feeling but the saying how you feel. Finding those exact words to express it. Maybe that’s how it is for painters, looking
for that exact colour? Or composers, for
the right note, the right instrument and tone?
But we writers
only have words and word in my hands are such poor, sad things. So often I want to go and quote from someone
else, to show how words can really be made to count. But that is cheating, so I have to try and
capture that passion myself.
It isn’t
easy.
Sometimes it
helps if you take a picture and try to express that one moment in words: not
the things you see but the things you feel, so the reader is there in the
moment too. Like this -
The silver snake of the slide. The impossibly distant perfect houses. The vicious crash and clack of the
skateboards. Green grass, even in
winter. And the grey grey sky, enough to
make you cry. That’s Kelvingrove
Park on a grey day in February.
Or you can listen
to music as you write. I know many
people do that, but I find I can’t. I
can listen to music before I write, but then I have to have silence to delve
into my own deep, recalcitrant feelings.
And then,
sometimes, when you do get into that moment, the emotion is there carrying you
forward like a tidal wave and you just ride it and then look back afterwards to
see if it has worked. Riding the wave –
maybe that’s the best analogy for me.
You can edit out what is unnecessary, but first you need to get the
flood of words on the page to edit.
When I can’t
quite find the wave, I make myself keep on trying. I think that’s what all writers do. You don’t believe you have ever quite got
there – remember the brilliance of the story when it formed in your head? the amazing
image? the feeling? But we keep on trying.
Excellent post, Gill, which I'm sure will resonate with most writers. It can be so frustrating when what appears on the paper (or screen) doesn't capture what was in your head. When you feel you've got it right (or nearly right as we're never totally satisfied are we?) it's magical.
ReplyDeleteYes it is magical - but it happens all to rarely (for me!).
DeleteYes, you've described the challenge perfectly, Gill, thank you.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can't listen to music as I write either, sadly.
Keep trying, keep writing.
And you. We will keep going...
DeleteI do listen to music as I write - but I don't hear it. (In fact I don't hear anything, as many poepl will testify.)
ReplyDeleteYou have summed up the difficulty so well...how tdo you tap into those feelings - the ones we all have at times - when we need them?
I wish I didn't hear things when I was writing! Or even be aware of them. Sometimes I can escape totally, but I remember all too well the experience of younger son standing just inside the doorway of the room where I was writing.
DeleteMe - 'Go away, you're disturbing me.'
Him - 'But I'm not doing anything.'
The point he couldn't grasp was that just being there, looking at me, was enough to interrupt my train of thought!
Interesting post......not the least the music issue....as I don't have enough frequencies in my cochlear implant to interpret music it's a no-go area for me. I could, if I wanted to, write in complete silence by simply switching off my implant but that terrifies me....I would be so unconnected with the world. All my writing starts with a feeling - short stories and novels, and even the features I've written - and the characters then take on those feelings. We all, I'm sure, have felt hatred towards something or someone and it is so much safer to put that feeling into fiction than act on it in real life....:)
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea about hatred Linda. I think I'm nervous about expressing it in real life and that comes over in my writing. I need to learn to let myself go and feel the hate...
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post, Gill. When I tried to write for M&B I apparently lacked emotion - good job I gave up, then. I have to have music on when I write, but as Jennifer says, I don't hear it. It has to be there as a background, most frequently it's my classical "folder" on itunes.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lesley. I like the idea of a specific 'folder' of music to write to. Now i just need to get organised to arrange that.
DeleteGlad to learn other people find this area so difficult. I've been told by a playwriting judge, that my work lacks emotion. The editor I was working with at MuseItUp pulled me up once or twice, so it's not quite sorted yet, although, as someone else said, we keep trying. Don't have music on. Lots of street noise filtering in though. Like Linda, I need to be connected at some level.
ReplyDeleteI don't think your play that i saw lacked emotion Anne. On the contrary, it was v. moving (but I have to say I'm quite pleased so many other people have the same problem as me!).
DeleteGreat post, Gill, and you're so right - it's really difficult to capture the exact feelings you want to describe! I think just closing your eyes and trying to remember how it felt, then just riding the wave as you say is the best.
ReplyDeleteClosing my eyes sometimes works. As does going for a walk - but that then adds another difficulty of: Do i take a note book and try and write the ideas as they occur to me, or do i rush back once I've got a specific 'feeling'?
DeleteThe dogs really hate it when I do the latter x
I agree - it's the hardest part of writing, to find the words to reflect what we feel and then to evoke the same emotion in the reader. Music does help but I can't listen to music and my own thoughts at the same time!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Gill.
Janice xx
Thanks Janice. Looking forward to you launch party!
DeleteGill, your post expresses so well the challenge so many of us face when we struggle to put into words the feelings we want to describe. For me, music intersifies the emotion, but doesn't necessarily help to produce the words. It's important to keep trying, though.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you differentiate between 'intensifying the emotion' and putting that into words. You're right, thre are two stages to this process, if not more. No wonder it is so hard!
DeleteYou express what most of us feel Gill. I often wish I could paint but I can't so do my best to paint with words and they are so inadequate to describe what I feel and see with a beautiful dawn or sunset, or the perfection of newly fallen snow - and so many more scenes which move me but which I find impossible to convey to the reader. We keep on trying.I do not write to music but sometimes music gets me in the mood to write.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gwen. Personally, I think you do a pretty good job of describing things!
ReplyDelete