Share Your Heart and Soul When You Write

 

How do you achieve the last part of this quote? The act of writing is to share a part of your soul with the world. It's not easy for many writers. As humans, we tend to keep our deepest feelings within rather than share with others. 

If you want to reach your readers and let them react with emotion, you must write in the same manner. One elicits the other. You have to spring the trap door and let what you really feel emerge. Memoir writers must learn to share from the depths of their souls. If they don't, all they are doing is reporting, and their readers will not relate nearly as well.

If you're writing fiction and want to let your readers know that a woman is trying to change her life after a divorce which still left her feeling unsure of herself, angry, sad, and disappointed, you've got a big job ahead. To write a scene showing that (because you certainly do not want to tell the reader how she feels), you need to dig into your own experiences, or those of others, and into your soul to see how all those feelings affect the woman. Then, your job is to write the scene with some emotion, some deep feeling coming from your soul. It's the way you bring your character to life.

The greatest writers have the ability to make their readers feel what is happening in a story or the writer's experience told in a personal essay. They can do this because they dig deep down and let their own feelings direct the writing. A tv commercial for how to do this might shout: Let it out! Let it out! Let it out! 

Do an honest assessment. Do you tend to hide your true feelings when you write? If you can let those feelings surface, your writing will be stronger and more effective. If you answered yes about hiding your true feelings, be comforted in knowing that you have lots of company. 

Not only will your writing benefit if you learn to share part of your soul with your readers, but you may feel better with the release instead of keeping so much tamped down inside. Try to do this in small steps. The more you do it, the easier it will become. There's an old song titled Heart and Soul. Try using some of both when you write.