Writing, Writing, and Writing: Is there a trick to this?

There’s writing short stories and novels and non-fiction books. There’s writing profiles and essays and blogs. There’s writing poetry and lyrics and off-the-wall prose.  It’s all writing, but is there a trick to making it flow?

 

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, online e-books, reviews, and blogs as well as hardcovers, paperbacks, and stories sent by email to be printed and reviewed, edited, and proofed. Some of what I’ve been reading is very good; some of it is very, very bad. Bad stories, bad writing, bad rip-offs of popular books. I won’t name names, but trust me, some of the most popular must-reads on the market today are simply overt copies of other best sellers--with a little sex (or a lot) thrown in to titillate unsuspecting readers. I find that type of writing reprehensible. Call it fan fiction. Call it homage. Call it whatever you want. I call it cheating.

So, how do the best writers do it? How do they string words together, one after another, and end up with gripping tales that keep their readers excited and enchanted? How do they keep us coming back for more? I believe it has to do with heart.

For me, the novels that resonate are those that have a beating heart at the center, an almost audible pulse that thrums in tune with my own. The content, the storyline, the topic of the story doesn’t necessarily have to be slanted toward my likes and dislikes. I don’t look for books that are exactly like all of the other books I’ve read in the past. I like to be surprised. I want to be ripped from my own experience to follow the exploits and adventures of well-rounded characters. I don’t have to know the color of their eyes or hair; I don’t even have to know their last names. I just have to know and feel that they care about their actions, that they act with purpose and conviction—even deliberate apathy—and that the author is as pleased to meet them as I am.

I’m learning that a blog is very similar to writing a novel—only shorter and more directly to the point. Nevertheless, I think there needs to be a little blood on the page or at least a sense that it’s pumping through veins and arteries that lead back to the heart of the writer. No heart, no words, no flow. The same is true for stories and poetry and even book reviews, if I may be so bold. The heart beats and the words flow--right off the page and into the heart of the reader.