Can it already be Wednesday? Where did the week go? I woke up thinking today was actually Thursday, so maybe that's part of why the week feels like it's gone by so fast. I also have had tons of stress dreams about my wedding. It's a bit more than a month away; time to start stressing, right? Right.
That aside, today I want to discuss art from the heart and the gut. More specifically--since this is a writing blog--writing from the heart and editing from the stomach. What does it mean to write from the heart? This answer should honestly be different for everyone. Every writer should have a response that doesn't mesh with the next person's--why? Because each of us wants something different from our writing. We want to write and produce something unique from everyone around us.
Some people may consider writing from the heart to mean writing about love; others, it could be writing what you know; and still more people may think that writing from the heart means writing whatever you want, no matter the topic or genre. All of these answers are right in their own way.
So what does it mean to me? And what about that whole editing from the stomach bit?
To me, writing from the heart represents staying true to my characters, to their actions and decisions, and maintaining an overall consistency within The Amüli Chronicles, and also making decisions quickly, even if they aren't always the right ones for the story. It means listening to my heart and my stomach and knowing the difference between what my heart wants me to write and what my stomach says is the right direction for the tale I want to tell. In most cases, I usually trust gut intuition instead of my heart. If I write something and my heart thinks, "Well, that was a bad choice," I usually ponder over what my stomach thinks. This may sound silly, but the two work together--sometimes even with my brain--to help me create a strong balance between what I want to see in my story (heart) and what my story needs in order to be stronger (stomach).
I typically write listening to my heart and my brain, and then edit using my stomach. A good example of this is the events in Volboyen's Labyrinth in Frendyl Krune and the Snake Across the Sea. This book is easily the most difficult one I've written to date. It's also where I learned how to balance what I wanted to write and what I needed to write. The events of that tale were powerful and difficult for me personally to work through, and after more drafts than I'd like to admit (six or seven compared to the two or three needed for Frendyl Krune and the Stone Princess), I finally realized the events I kept fighting simply needed to happen, even though I didn't personally want them to.
Sigh.
That's the way it is for writers, though. We may want something to happen with all our being, but it's just... not right for the story. The events don't mesh with the way we need characters to grow, mature, and change, and learning to do what's best for the story--and not ourselves--was the most difficult lesson I've ever had.
Once I figured that out, the writing for Frendyl Krune and the Stone Princess and Frendyl Krune Origins: The Sandstone Script went so much faster; seriously, I finished and polished both in less than three months, which is hugely fast for me. I trusted my head and heart when writing the initial drafts, and then my gut when I edited.
In some cases, I want to flip the way I write. For The Soulless King, I trusted my gut more than anything--especially while writing, which was new for me. This is mostly due to the huge difference in the types of topics covered in the Soulbound arc vs. the Frendyl Krune series. I have to say, it made a huge difference in how the story flowed and where the characters ended up. While working on Frendyl Krune and the Nightmare in the North, I want to try relying more on my stomach than my heart and see what happens--see if the story telling will be similar to The Soulless King or if it will keep in line with the rest of the Frendyl Krune series. This particular book will be taking a few dark turns, and while I know what I want to have happen, I need to keep an eye open when editing.
When you write, what do you do? Do you follow what your heart says, or do you get the same gut feelings I do when a scene needs to be added, cut, or left alone? Which do you ultimately listen to? What does writing from the heart mean for you? Let me know in the comments!
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