A Writer's Heart

If the post title sounds like a sappy analysis of what is near and dear to a writer…well, maybe it will be. But right now as I sit here surrounded by old (kind of stuffed) notebooks and some stories I made bindings and covers for myself as a kid, a lot of emotions are welling up in me, emotions I can’t really explain. Memories keep popping into my brain and then swirling, making more emotions. And – well, I couldn’t help but suddenly sit back and realize just how much a writer takes on when he or she starts creating worlds.

Now, I am a bit on the nostalgic side. So maybe it’s just me. But all other writers I’ve met seem to feel the same way. They all feel a connection with the worlds they have made up (whether the worlds resembled New York City, the Alps, or even a far off world that nobody else has ever seen except the mind’s eye of the author). And they feel that same connection to the characters they invented.

Maybe world creating isn’t just make believe that you detach from ‘the real world’. Maybe it’s something that affects us far deeper than people who aren’t writers could possibly get. Something, perhaps, that stays with us for the rest of our lives. Sound crazy? Overthought? Definitely sentimental and far too cheesy?

Think about it: when you create a world, you’re not writing an essay on some foreign culture you were required to study about in college for extra credit. You’re using your imagination (something that, for the writer, is highly sensitive and easily stimulated) to invent a personal fantasy – a fantasy where you basically play the part of God in deciding what happens to who, where, when and how – and you also play the individual parts of the various characters from the hero to the villain, from the sidekick to the lackey. In essence, you take up residence in your world; you take an active role in the events that transpire; you become the people you are writing about.

It doesn’t matter what genre you are writing. Historical fiction, science fiction, mystery, suspense, high fantasy, low fantasy – it all comes back to you as the writer. It’s your world. You invented it; you will inevitably care about it. You will feel the pull on the heartstrings of every character required to make a deep sacrifice. You will feel their rage as they watch the villain get away one more time. You will feel the sweet sensation of relief when another character barely makes it through a critical condition. You feel everything they feel as you write about them.

Other factors come into play here, as well. Images, songs, emotions, ideas. All of these are a part of what inspires a writer to write creatively. They are what give depth to our characters, bring our worlds to life, provide perspective and insight, knowledge about how things would be and wouldn’t be. Our own lives are so deeply connected with our stories that in the end our realities and our fantasies become one. Not in the weird, creepy way that makes for looneys and perverts. But in the strange, amazing way that makes our realities that much richer – because we see stories everywhere.

I will always feel a strange sensation, a pull at my heartstrings when I see the backyard of the parsonage I grew up in from certain pictures because that scenery (the pictures I took in my mind) were part of what inspired me to write certain stories; stories that became a part of me as I created a world and the characters that inhabited it. I’ll feel that same sensation when I pull out my old notebooks and read through pages I printed out years ago – because I didn’t just invent those stories; I lived them.

People who aren’t writers will read this post and think that I am some sort of weirdo. But people who are fiction writers (at least a good percentage of them) will understand all of what I’ve just said. They’ll agree with the statements, probably even have stories of their own to tell about how they get the same feelings from remembering certain scenery, people, music they heard, just about anything. It’s because God created us in His image – creative; full of ideas; capable of inventing; drawn toward that which is beautiful and deep. It’s as if the stories we write are a symbol from Him of how deeply connected He felt when He created our world, when He created us.

Maybe a sappy post, but if it makes you think then my goal is accomplished.

Sincerely,

            Yours Truly