Maya Angelou's quote above can be summed up in one word--Emotion! But she's a poet and words were her specialty, both in poems and prose. Her quote is far more eloquent than me telling you to write with emotion.
Even so, whether you prefer the word or the quote, it's a very important point in what we write, whether it is fiction, a personal essay or poetry. We want our reader to react with emotion when they read what we've written.
One good way to accomplish that is to write with emotion. If it's not there in your writing, the reader is not going to feel it. It sounds so easy to advise a writer to use emotion. In their mind, they accept it and even agree wholeheartedly but that does not always connect with the actual words they write.
Why? We're human and we can have a difficult time exposing our own emotions to others, even when that is one of the tools of writing that we need. If we pour it all out onto paper or the screen, our subconscious wonders what people will think. They'll know the real me, not the public figure I want to show others. They might also know what a fine writer you are.
There's nothing wrong with being able to expose our feelings. It's a form of release and it lets people know who we are as writers. Maya Angelou's poetry is loved and one of the reasons is that she could transfer her own emotions into the words of a poem. She could reach out and touch the reader.
Next comes the way you should put emotion into your writing. If you tell the reader that someone is heartbroken, it's not gonna work. If you show that person feeling heartbroken, the reader could very well feel it, as well. I cannot tell you the number of times I have cried in a book,usually in the final chapter when something a character has done touches me deeply. It could be a loss or a great achievement but some authors are skilled in making the reader feel what the character is feeling.
In summary:
- Allow your own emotions to come through your writing
- Don't lock your own emotions inside
- Show emotions in what you write
- Don't tell the reader what emotion you're writing about
Maya Angelou knew how to laugh and cry and more and she knew how to make her readers do the same.
