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Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. – Cyril Connolly (1903-1974)
Write something to suit yourself and many people will like it; write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it. – Jesse Stuart
If we resist our passions, it is more from their weakness than from our strength. – Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld
The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment. – Earl Nightingale
Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion. – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you, and BECAUSE of you. – T. Alan Armstrong |
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I could be a person to bring together many logistics in writing, but that’s not who I am. I could write articles and editorials that we could call “in demand” or “what the market is looking for,” but I find that I have a hard time just writing something for someone who needs a particular type of item to fill their slot for a magazine, e-zine, or website. Until something happens where I feel that excited about the mechanics of writing, I’ll leave it to all of those English teachers and such to explain, lol. Plus, I’m lazy when it comes to research.  Although, I know that if it’s necessary for something that I feel passionate about writing, I’ll do the research needed.
Notice that word in that last sentence? Passionate.
Dictionary.com says passionate is the capability of, having, or dominated by powerful emotions. Also the website says it is, showing or expressing strong emotion.
Being passionate within our writing is also showing enthusiasm towards our topic.
To me, when I started writing, it was for the expression of feelings, ideas, my imagination, and fantasies, in some strange, enthusiastically passionate way.
Allow me to show you what I’m talking about. Have you ever heard of Andrew Wyeth? He’s a phenomenal realist with his art. He uses his life’s surroundings to tell a story, his story, and the stories of the people who surround him. He paints out of exuberance for real life and what impacts him the most. As a young boy, his father taught him how to form his technique with many hours of practice, and he took it a step further and made it mean something. I took Love is a Mommy (no foolin)  to the High Museum in Atlanta a few months ago to see his exhibit. The best thing about examining his art was the ability to have some of the more impactful paintings explained. Some were even explained by Wyeth himself and those explanations were the ones where you could hear the emotion behind that particular painting.
After we came home, Love is a Mommy (no foolin) was inspired greatly. You see, somewhere between the time she won first place in Quinlan’s annual exhibit for young artists and now, painting became a chore. It became nothing more than copying her photographs, painting some kind of plant, or doing commissioned paintings for friends and family. She’s awesome and has a great eye for color. But it was where Wyeth inspired that she was lacking, passion. She wasn’t excited, nor did she have a vision. Now that she is excited, we’re trying to find quality time for her to put into actually creating her visions.
Alright, switch gears. Remember Mozart, or Chopin. When I listen to their compositions, I can visualize these men drawn into their music; feeling their creation, where it came from within their emotions and experiences, and then how the melodies spoke to their soul.
The same thing applies to writing. I think that sometimes we can tell when the author doesn’t feel their own writing. It doesn’t impact them and it doesn’t come from anywhere more than the author’s thoughts. I know I’m guilty for doing this in some of my own stories, however, I think there are ways to reinvest ourselves into our writing and how we feel about it.
So, how can we stay passionate about how and what we write?
Here are some answers from fellow members here at Writing.Com:
Love is a Mommy (no foolin) - Try not to turn it into a job! Keep it fun, get involved with your characters, and write it like you aren't expecting to get paid.
GoCartCherub- St Louis U  - I think to be passionate about writing you need to be passionate about life. Writing isn't about putting pen to paper or even typing on a keyboard. Writing begins with what you see, hear, feel, touch, and taste in the world, it gets processed in your heart and head, and lastly it’s transcribed onto a piece of paper.
Elisa: Snowman Stik  - We need to take breaks and recharge. I use photography to tide me over in between writing spells. Alternating writing with other activities we love helps me stay passionate about writing. It helps my mind stay nimble.
Jedi Moose - I try to read what I like to write. That's what keeps me passionate about what I like, reading what others have written in the same genres to see how they deal with it. Often it gives me a completely different perspective or insight into something I had not put much thought into before and usually it will loosen up my creativity in whatever project I am working on. It's also why I read so many very different genres.
Diane – I've found the best way to stay passionate about writing is to read. It sounds strange, but when I read a high quality story, it encourages me to try to write to that level. When I read something that isn't quality, I'm even more encouraged because I KNOW I can do better! I read a wide variety of material, which at times can spark an interest in a new genre or potential storyline.
Zoo - Salted and Roasted - Write what you know!
If you can't be passionate about writing what you know, you aren't much of a
writer.
Also, I think it depends on what kind of writing you are doing.
If you write a weekly column about a particular topic, for example, gardening,
it might be difficult to keep the topic fresh and smelling sweet after you've
been doing it for a few years. But gardening is a big world, with many
different branches to explore, so I don't think staying passionate and
interested in your work would be very difficult. Obviously, you were passionate
about the subject matter at one time or you wouldn't have been able to land the
job in the first place.
On the other hand, if you are writing a novel, it can become quite a tedious
process. Day after day, trying to find inspiration to write the next chapter,
paragraph, sentence and word will wear on you something fierce. You may feel no
love for your novel after awhile. It may seem like actual work to sit down at
the keyboard. When that happens to me, I just allow it to happen, take it with
a grain of salt and move on to something else. You can't be in a hurry to write
a great novel. Either the words are coming to you, or they're not. You can't
force them, because you know what happens when you force the words. They
sound forced. Get up and walk away if you need to. The passion and
inspiration were once there, they'll come back again.
Understand that like a good stew, sometimes thoughts and ideas just need to
marinate for awhile in order to bring out their best flavors.
As a general rule, I think you either like to write or you don't. You either
have the passion for it, or you don't. It's not something you can turn on and
off at will.
I like hot fudge sundaes. I've always liked them, and I'm pretty sure I won't
wake up tomorrow wondering what I ever saw in them.
I'm passionate about writing. That isn't going to change.
So, write what you know. Don't be afraid to wait for your thoughts to marinate.
And while you wait, go get a hot fudge sundae!
So, you see, there are many ways to stay passionate within our writing; we just have to stay creative and learn what and what doesn’t work for each of us. For me, I’m still learning this whole aspect in my writing. Not because I lack passion or enthusiasm, but because I’m not exactly sure where to draw it from. When we stop dreaming and thinking and being passionate, we leave ourselves speechless.
Have a great week,
archgargoyle |
These are winners from goingpro’s "Invalid Item" . Congrats to these winners!
Poetry:
Erotica:
Non-Fiction:
Children’s:
Short Story:
Novel:
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Last month I spoke about believable characters, here are some of the responses.
For this month, I’d like to ask you the same question I asked the others above.
How can we stay passionate about how and what we write?
Diego Flow says: I was wondering how writers get their inspiration to start a story .. and how they keep writing it until it actually turns into a book. I can never get past chapter one .. it's really annoying for me cos I feel like I'm no good ...
thanx, Ceelo
Well, I had thought about and might still do an editorial on this, but I think Zoo - Salted and Roasted hammered it pretty good in his answer to my question above. If you still feel like something was left out, send me another message and I’ll work to address your question in my next newsletter. Thanks Ceelo!
Breezy-E ~ In College says: How true! In a book I'm writing, the "arch villain" is fighting the heroes because his little sister is held hostage by the real arch villain (ok, he doesn't like the good guys either). The fact is, everyone has both good and bad points. Let's give some flaws to the good guys, too.
Wonderful point Breezy! If you look at all of the ‘good guys’ in comics, they all have flaws. Now, how believable those flaws are is another story, lol. In keeping characters real, we have to understand that they can’t be perfect to be believable.
bazilbob says: I love making 'the bad guy' likeable, but I prefer to do it with 1st person and get into their head, usually by choosing them as my main character.
I know what you mean. I’ve seen and heard of people having a complete conversation with their character to get to know how they think, act, and react. Good point!
Strange Wulf says: You get kudos just for mentioning Terry Goodkind and his work. ^_^ Such wonderful books they are.
'Course, he does get a bit preachy later on, and the use of the main character as a sort of deus ex machina (a walking one no less) gets a bit tiring. When Richard saved himself from the poison by using his magic; that broke it for me. It was obvious that he'd written himself into a corner and the only way out was to either let Richard die or ramrod a conclusion. I hope never to be in that position.
As for the NL, I've heard this a thousand times... and I'm still not sick of it. =D This goes in my Keepers folder. Thanks for the good read!
Lol, thanks! I agree with some of the later works, but he still keeps me involved in the story and what’s happening. There’s a lot of reflection with Richard, so I guess Goodkind is just trying to make sure you know and understand him. |
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For Authors: April 26, 2006 Issue [#1005]
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