by Marie Wells Coutu, @mwcoutu
What is a writer’s heart? Is it the desire to tell a story, the drive to be famous, or the longing to change lives through the power of words?
It’s been famously said that to make a reader care, the novelist must “bleed on the page.” This means opening your heart and letting your deepest emotions show through your characters.
Bringing the feelings to the surface is hard. Perhaps the story we’re writing reminds us of an experience that is still raw and painful. Or maybe our family doesn’t express deep, difficult feelings. Certain backgrounds are simply more reserved and can make it challenging to delve into the feelings of our characters.
How do we move past these barriers and write stories that resonate with readers? How can we help them to explore their own emotions and experiences in ways that can change their lives?
First, if writing a scene triggers an unhealthy memory, consider setting that project aside for a while. Beth Vogt advises keeping an emotions diary—writing down how you feel at the time so you can refer to it later. The situation may be totally different, but recalling the emotion can help when you need to write a scene where your character may have a similar response.
If you’ve worked through your emotions, you can use them to bring the scene to life. However, your novel should do more than rehash your own feelings or regurgitate the experience you had.
Try recasting the experience and emotions through the lens of your characters. Don’t worry. It takes practice.
Novel Academy has several excellent lessons related to this, especially the recent Peptalks on Showing vs. Telling for Emotional Impact.
Another resource for finding ways to tell the inner story is Donald Maass’ The Emotional Craft of Fiction. Maass not only describes methods for deepening the emotion of your story, but also provides exercises to practice his techniques. These often fit right into my book, strengthening and deepening the characters.
Of course, not all fiction is intended to be life-changing. And that’s okay. But even a rom-com becomes more believable and engaging when the writer is willing to let the characters share from their hearts.
Whatever your reason for writing, whatever story you’re telling, it will be stronger if you “write from your heart.”
Truth is messy. But will their shared secret destroy his political career—or sabotage their marriage?
After a whirlwind romance, beautiful Shawna Moore marries Hunter Wilson, the governor of Tennessee. Now, she wonders if the governor ever loved her or only hoped to avoid a scandal.
In this modern re-imagining of the biblical story of Bathsheba and King David, an investigative reporter is asking questions—the wedding took place only six weeks following the death of Shawna’s first husband in Iraq. If he discovers the truth about Shawna’s baby, Hunter’s chances for reelection, as well as Shawna’s reputation, will be ruined.
But keeping their secret is destroying their marriage.
Will Hunter’s choice mean the end of his political career or his family?
Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. Marie began making up stories soon after she learned to talk. At age seven, she convinced neighborhood kids to perform a play she had written. After a career writing for newspapers, magazines, state and local governments, and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, she returned to her first love—writing fiction—at the age of fifty-five. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s. You can find more about Marie and her novels at her website, MarieWellsCoutu.com.