Should you write from the heart?

1. 78

   weestroposted 12 years ago

   I know it sounds cliche, but when I choose to write fiction, not necessarily my views, I worry that I'll be judged.  It is fiction, but does anyone else struggle with this?

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      jenuboukaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I do.  I have not written much fiction, for the fact I fear failure.  And for myself there is a little truth to the fiction part.  When I read an author, (off hp) like let's say Wally Lamb, his writing is awesome, yet there are some pretty rough parts to read for myself, but I think his brilliant of composing his story.
      Perhaps online writing a little different, we can instantly publish, then usually get instant feedback, and then there is that antagonizing score to remind us of our failure or success.
      
      Some extremist may read a conflicting plot and rage against the writer on a personal level in cyber space, this is, I think, the part why I have refrained from writing much fiction, well, that and rejection.

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      PDXKaraokeGuyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      the best writing comes form the heart. if it doesn't move me in some way, it's not worth writing or reading

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      msorenssonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      If fiction always write from the heart. One cannot really weave a great tale without infusing your own personality in it. This is not true when one writes a scientific paper or a grant proposal for research. One must state facts as simply and as shortly as possible.

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2. 59

   rlahaposted 12 years ago

   Honestly I think you should write fiction from wherever you can. If you are writing from the heart, that's even better. If you have to do some research on a specific topic to explain it, that is fine too.  I don't think you should worry about what other people think of you or your work.  You write whatever your heart desires! We will all be backing you up .

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      Pearldiverposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Good Answer..
      
      Writing 'from the heart' is what determines a good writer from average, as average writers struggle to even know their heart, let alone know how to connect with it and project the engagement required from any Reader's perspective.
      
      I write poetry.. which in many respects could, I guess fall into a 'fiction' category. But if I didn't 'write from the heart' then I could not engage my extensive range of readers and if I was unable to connect with it (my heart), then my readers would notice that shortcoming. So write from the deepest perspective you can and if you are any good at it.. then your readers will certainly let you know!
      
      Bon Chance!

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         rlahaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks . Writing from the heart is the best .
         
         I also write poetry. I have recently self published a small collection of short poems on Amazon.com. If you are interested in looking at it, please let me know.

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3. 78

   weestroposted 12 years ago

   Thanks for the feedback guys, all very helpful. I don't mind someone not liking something, but I like to write from perspectives that are far different than mine in everyday life.
   Pearldiver - I agree about not engaging the reader, if it's not heartfelt your just going through the motions.  Thanks!
   Riaha - Great advice, and thanks for the encouragement!
   Jenubouka - Great point about online writing, it can be both great and scary.  Some people believe so strongly on certain things, they can't even entertain an opposing thought.

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   1. 59

      rlahaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You are welcome! I hope it helps you write to your heart's content .

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4. 79

   stclairjackposted 12 years ago

   i get prety passionately wrapped up in what everi write,... so i supose for me there is no other option,... i could probably get excited about writing a menu! ha!
   
   the instant nature of the online vaiety of writing has its +'s & -'s,... you get the instant gratifictaio of publishing at a click,.. and you get the instant rip of some stranger that tears your work apart,... bt remember,... thts a stanger,... its not your mother or your teacheror your BFF trashing your work,.... a total sranger miles awway,... with motives and agendas that have NOTHING to do with you,...
   
   so write it anyway,.... those who needlesly tear others work down,... only do so out of thier own insecurities,... (at least thats what i keep telling myself! ha!)

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5. 68

   sassydeeposted 12 years ago

   sure why not if that's what you feel at the moment

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6. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   If your goal is to express your heart, sure.  But people write for different reasons.

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7. 86

   Cardisaposted 12 years ago

   Writing fiction isn't as easy as just writing from the heart. I am primarily a fiction writer and it also takes research and intelligence to write a great story that is believable and compelling.
   
   For poetry it's different because you can always pen your emotions there.
   
   If your fiction is based on emotional turmoil and you have experienced that then the emotional aspect of the story will he based on how your heart portrays it, but still do your research into your themes and characters to make sure they resonate well with your readers.

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8. 0

   Website Examinerposted 12 years ago

   Write from the heart, but do not permit emotions to control your story.

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9. 58

   Iampankajposted 12 years ago

   I have experienced whatever I write from the heart, I feel very good about it &  it is appreciated by people also.
   Hope this will happen for you also.

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10. 78

    weestroposted 12 years ago

    Thanks for all of the insightful answers, There are so many great writers on this site and I look forward to learning from, and enjoying your work.  Thanks!

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11. 0

    Poetic Foolposted 12 years ago

    What does it mean to write from the heart if it doesn't mean to write from one's experiences and your reaction to them (intellectually and emotionally).  I would suggest that it is nearly impossible not to write from one's heart because all we write is shaded by our own experience. 
    
    The question then becomes how much do we write that way, to what extent?  I too struggle with this.  Especially since I write poetry almost exclusively.  I don't wish to be viewed as an emotional sap but at the same time I know that my experiences, my heartaches and my mountaintops are nothing out of the ordinary but are such that is common to most people.  So, if someone should be touched or helped by me writing about them, great!
    
    I'd also suggest that no one can tell you where that line is.  It can only be drawn by you.  Sometimes you may want to publish a hub that makes you a bit uneasy.  Only you can decide if it makes you too uneasy.  Boldness in writing is often rewarded, though.  I've found that those hubs where I have spoken from the heart have also been my most successful.  People do tend to identify and respond appropriately.  As long as it is genuine, I think you will be fine.  I hope this helps.  Go for it, my friend!

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12. 90

    Polly Cposted 12 years ago

    I like to write fiction, and definitely agree that good writing must be able to reach deeply enough to touch the emotions of the reader. Therefore, writing from the heart is a definite advantage and sometimes a necessity - depending on what you are writing about of course.  However, I think fiction writers have to also be able to transcend their own feelings and reach into the hearts of other people and other circumstances that are not their own.

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       Website Examinerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I agree. But that doesn't have to come from the heart. With an appropriate technique, that can be done. I could touch your heart right now without feeling anything at all. (Cynicism not intended).
       
       "Polly went to the pond one Saturday morning, she was hoping to find a few ducks. Instead, she found only a fox, which appeared to be licking its lips. No ducks could be spotted. Polly was shocked and sad; she wanted to call home, but discovered she had left her cell phone behind. She became teary eyed with frustration, believing that the fox had taken the ducks and their little fledglings.
       
       Suddenly, she heard a quack sound... The entire family of ducks had been taking a nap underneath a large tree. A big smile spread across Polly's face. In the distance, children were laughing as they approached the duck family, which they were eager to feed."

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          Lisa HWposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I tend to agree that one can reach or move people without actually "writing from the heart" (at least as I'm interpreting the meaning of that phrase).  I never EVER write anything "from the heart" (as I'm experiencing it at the present time).  Never.  When I'm in a "heart mode" I'm not in a writing mode.
          
          Where I use "what's mine" (as opposed to what I can only imagine) in writing is to go to the "dusty mental files" where emotion that has been processed in the past are stored.  That's where I can dig up what seems like "from the heart" but is really only personal experience/familiarity, and am then able to take that "raw material" (thoughts or feelings) and craft words based on "writing from my head". 
          
          Basically, I think we need to use what we "have in there" that's most human, but I think it's best to get what we have from somewhere other than present emotion (or even from "straight from the heart").
          
          Here's my sample of writing from the head, rather than from the heart; but using material from one of those "dusty, processed-emotions mental files":  I don't presume that any reaction from a reader is going to be what I was aiming for.  The point is that it's my version of "not writing from the heart"  but trying to incorporate "human-ness" and "real-ness" into it:
          
          
          "She'd never been at her grandfather's house without his being there; and even though much remained the same, the atmosphere was different from the one with which she'd become so comfortable and familiar over the course of her ten years.  The drapes that had once hung with formality and a little accumulation of dust at their tops were had been flung open to let daylight in.  The adult family members, who'd always sat politely at her widowed grandfather's table were bustling around and talking in rooms she'd never seen them enter.  There only because there were no adult family members to sit home with a ten-year-old child and her five-year-old brother, she was an observer of this team with its task and this place that had become alive with activity and light, and yet eerily still, silent, and lifeless.
          
          She was thankful that they - the grown-ups - were neither shedding  tears nor sobbing, the way she'd been so certain  they would be.  Thankful, too, and confused, at her own odd composure which was forlorn but not broken by tears; she felt honored to hold in her hands the small and familiar picture of kittens looking over a fence.  The yellowed picture, which had always hung in her grandfather's kitchen, had been there so seemingly permanently mainly because the grandmother she'd never known had hung it there.
          
          Of all the things the grown-ups had talked about, boxed up, distributed between themselves, and tossed in a pile they called, "trash" (even though most of it didn't seem like trash to her, and even though she couldn't imagine how they could even think about throwing away her grandfather's belongings), the picture would now belong to her (the second-youngest of the seven grandchildren; but a girl, and old enough to appreciate the picture what her little brother could not).   She would keep forever the most important thing among her late grandfather's belongings.  She, the grandchild who reminded him most of the little daughter he'd lost so long ago, would be the one who got to keep that beloved picture from the kitchen wall next to the pantry.
          
          Even with all that had changed in the home that had suddenly changed so much, when the time to leave came she didn't want to leave.  She knew too well that once she did there would be no going back.  She had learned at ten what others sometimes learn much older, and that is that there is never any going back."
          
          
          Some elements (characters, the building, the situation, etc.) could then be switched from those in this story and used in completely different stories and ways - so it's not really "writing from the heart", I don't think.  Maybe it could be called "writing from soul", though.  There's a difference.  Then again, if things are switched around and turned into a whole different story it might just plain be "writing from the head"  (or at least "writing from the head for the most part"). 

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13. 67

    savanahlposted 12 years ago

    The most compelling writing you will ever write comes straight from the heart. I believe that if you are passionate about something and write from the heart then the rest will follow. I'm a poetry writer and when something really touches my heart, that is when I do my best writing.

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14. 76

    Moms-Secretposted 12 years ago

    I know no other way to write...

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    Tusitala Tomposted 12 years ago

    You know the the type of writing which comes from deep, deep down; it takes an awful not of courage to write it.   Over the years I've written many books, fiction, non-fiction, an autobiography, short stories, poem's,film scripts - the lot.  But the hardest yarn I ever put together was supposedly a work of fiction but was really 'about me' in those sensitive years between 18 and 24.  That came from the heart and a very bruised ego.  Took me nearly twenty years to get round to it.

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16. 61

    Night Magicposted 12 years ago

    I think writing from the heart makes it more realistic.

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17. 59

    fornalinaposted 12 years ago

    I think it's individual. I for example can't write for my heart... I mean, I can but shouldn't. When I write from my heart I tend to mix my personal feelings with characters that I've created and that's no good. It's hard sometimes to look at something from a totally different perspective than your own and that's when I switch my hear off and give control to my head.
    When I write I always use my head. Basicaly because that's were all the ideas and stories come from. Sometimes the heart will switch back on and make a reall mess and then I have to rewrite everything.
    But it all depends from the story. If you write about something that is dear to you, something you know really well and the character is like you, I think it is good to use your heart then since it will help to make the whole thing look more realitic. But that's the only exception in which I'd use heart to write.

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18. 69

    Chaunice Bentonposted 9 years ago

    When you make the bold decision to write from the heart, as a writer you are releasing your rights to perception. You are giving that right to your readers and hoping that they interpret your words the way that you intended.

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19. 84

    psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

    That's what pen names are for.

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