Emotions: Fuels a smooth ride

I remember a friend who sat in front of his computer for hours and stared at the blinking cursor. There were only a few words typed on the screen. I watched him switch the words, trying to make the sentence as perfect as it could be. He was trying to write a convincing proposal for the company to grant his program another year of funding. He was a college graduate with years of experience working for the advocacy program. But he couldn’t convey his message, what he wanted to say. Why? Because all his attention was diverted to his empty words. He didn’t tap into his emotions and in the process faced the trouble of rules. The grammar rules.

 

Of course, when writing a memo, report, resume, etc. you must have clean, free of error sentences. But there comes a time when one should free himself of the restrictions of rules. Especially when writing a story. Now, where am I going with this blog? Let me tell you. Someone said that I write my draft so fast. Perhaps. But if you look at my draft, it is not without flaws. When I write, I write what my own feelings dictate. I immerse myself with the character’s emotion without bothering with the tags or whether I wrote the sentences the right way. There is no formula that I follow. Yes, you must have the skill to write. But for me, that is just the tool to help express my feelings. Without emotions, there is nothing to write. Start with your feelings. Perfection comes later.

If you disagree, please feel free to jump in. Leave your comments.

 

I write about people falling in love (I’m addicted to the idea :) ). Each time I write a book, my hope is for the readers to feel the characters strong emotions, to see them as more than fictional, to be able to relate to the turmoil, love, frustration or whatever the hero and heroine is facing at the time.

 

 

I am aware that every person sees the world differently. Care to share your view?

 

Tierney O’Malley

http://tierneyomalley.com