Passion In Writing

Susan Reichert

I have heard it said when you are writing a book, make it a labor of love.

Thinking about that remark made me wonder who would write if they did not love to write?

Writing is wonderful, yet it takes effort, from the beginning to the end. Sometimes the words flow other times authors pull and tug, even dig for the right words. But when all is said and done, they love it.

William Faulkner said, “If a story is in you it has got to come out.” And I believe that. For there are times our brains will not shut off until we get up and write what is going on in our brain.

I believe writing is a passion. The compelling emotion is you must write.

Sylvia Plath, author of The Bell Jar, said, “I write only because there is a voice within me that will not be still.”

But the question that needs to be answered is how do you put passion in your words, so your reader feels passion as they read the story?

Using sensory words is a definite help. You want your reader to feel, picture, and experience what you are writing. You want them to be transported into the story.

One of my favorite quotes is by Robert Frost who said: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”

Do your characters energize you and unfold the story to you as you hasten to keep up with them, putting to paper what they are saying, doing, and showing you?

Are you personally involved in the story? Is your enthusiasm, growing? Remember, enthusiasm is contagious. Your reader can catch it.

Everything we write in our story matters to the reader. It can be a key, or a steppingstone.

Your story must come to life for the reader. 

Susan Reichert, Author of Storms in Life, God's Prayer Power, Author of Nine Anthology Book Short Stories as well as writing for Southern Writers Magazine.

Retired Editor-in-Chief of Southern Writers Magazine. Head of Collierville Christian Writers Group, President of Southern Author Services.

She lives in the Memphis area with her husband. They have four grown daughters and three grandchildren.