What it Feels Like to Write

Since I am currently writing my first novel, there are all types of new things to discover that I’ve never experienced before in writing short stories. I’ve never felt as close to my characters before, I’ve never seen a storyline unfold right in front of my eyes as if it were already written or someone else was writing it and I’ve never felt my story so much, really felt it.

I was talking to my NaNoWriMo mentor the other day about a scene that I had just finished writing and how it actually made me cry as I was writing it. Despite the fact that writing is a very emotional art, I felt a little silly about getting so caught up in it and told her as much. It didn’t take her long to counter me and tell me how much of a good thing it is. She said, “I think that makes a story great. When you put so much emotion into as you are writing you start feeling that emotion. You know that when people read it they will feel the same way.” I know that I’ve cried or laughed aloud while reading a great book and it made me feel happy to know that someday I might do that for my readers.

And last night I wrote the love scene.

And by love scene, you know what I mean. I’ve written many love scenes as short stories and even some flat out erotica but I’ve never felt anything like what I felt last night. Again, I think it stems from the fact that I’m so much more caught up in the characters and their stories than I ever have been before and with all that extra emotion behind the physical act, my heart was actually racing and my fingers started tingling! I almost had to stop and take a break but I didn’t dare quit in the middle of a scene when it was going so well!

I think that all writer’s feel this way and to some extent, that’s why we write–to feel and experience some things that we know we’ll never be able to in reality. Sort of a guilty pleasure. Along the same lines, I think that’s why we enjoy reading so much. And to be able to bring that emotion to whomever will read this story in the future is a dream come true for me.