Passionate Writing

Passion is defined as an intense emotion, a compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for, or to pursue something.

Almost by definition, writers are a passionate bunch. Through financial and creative blockages, writers shape words into expressions which have the power to inspire and add fulfilment and joy to their readers.

Deeper than the need to make money or gain fame, the driving need to write for many encompasses their passion to educate, inform, share, uncover or discover things or to entertain through their words.

Passion fuels the long hours writers spend exploring and researching characters, plots and setting. It provides the writer confidence when faced with the endless editing and criticism their work attracts. Without passion, authors are liable to face writers block, or paralysis, resentment and boredom.

For the most, every moment in a writers everyday life offers the opportunity to explore characters, settings or plot diversions. Finding passion in everyday life requires the writer to think about the things that make them sing with joy and the things that makes their blood boil and for them to then communicate this to their readers so that they too can share the outrage or delight in an event. As with any lifetime pursuit, if you don’t love it, don’t do it as the negative aspects will sour the outlook regardless of any success one may enjoy.

What is Passionate Writing?

Passionate writing engages the reader in the first few sentences. Whilst an actor or speaker can engage their audience through tone, eye contact and body language, writers must influence though their choice of words.

Passionate writing doesn’t mean you have to write about romance or erotica. Writing with passion is to write authentically and from the heart. Readers very quickly ascertain if they connect with the text or not, they can sense if a writer is passionate about a project, character or plot line and can be carried past substandard grammar or structure.

How do I write passionately?

Writing passionately demands that you write authentically, without the veneer and excuses in order to reach the audience at a heart level. In almost every advice column for writers, the statement, ‘write what you know’ will pop up. Perhaps to be more specific, it ought to be ‘ true to yourself’ and ‘write in the manner you are comfortable without trying to emulate another’s voice’.

Flavour your writing with your sense of humour; if that is part of your personality. If you like to talk about ideas, ensure they are liberally sprinkled in your writing. Anything less will not only be unsustainable along your journey as a writer, but will drain your passion to continue to write.

When I write, I come alive. Energy zaps about me as characters whisper in my ear. I delight in their humour, their sub plots and deviousness. My passion for writing focuses on character driven plotlines and the eternal question, “What if?” If anything, I am the eternal seeker or treasure hunter within the human condition, constantly on a discovery trail uncovered through my writing.

---

Annie can’t imagine a day now without writing. People tend to avoid her now–she suspects it’s the scribbling of notes and weird questions she asks them about their motivations behind their comments. Follow Annie here on Twitter and begin your escape into her worlds here.