From Edie: Discover how Christian writers can draw from life’s emotions—both pain and joy—to create transformational fiction that touches hearts and deepens faith.
The Writer’s Well: How to Store and Use Emotions for Transformational Fiction
When life slaps the humor out of you, pray. Then use the experience and emotions in your writing.
I love laughter and live to make others laugh. However, this week has knocked the funny right out of me—first with the death of a baby moments before the mother began to push, and then with the murder of Charlie Kirk. Both were personal and hit my heart hard.
How do I move ahead? By allowing God to redeem the hurt.
Recently, God smacked me upside the head with a new story, and there isn't one iota of humor in its theme. So how do I write it?
Draw from the well of emotions I've stored for this very purpose.
We're taught to forgive the wrongs done to us, and I do. But we can't forget them, so I learned long ago to label them "research" and store them for future use. After all, God promised to work all things for our good, right? We can use all those things that hurt us for the benefit of our stories.
Remember the emotion not the one who caused it.
On the other hand, the things that elate us can also be useful. Each joyful emotion is different, study and store them.
People let down their guard when they think they're being entertained. Fiction uses our emotions and senses and draws us in. Then when we least expect it, the story touches, teaches, and transforms us.
Turn your experiences and emotions into a well from which to draw rich fodder.
TWEETABLE
I love laughter and live to make others laugh. However, this week has knocked the funny right out of me—first with the death of a baby moments before the mother began to push, and then with the murder of Charlie Kirk. Both were personal and hit my heart hard.
How do I move ahead? By allowing God to redeem the hurt.
Recently, God smacked me upside the head with a new story, and there isn't one iota of humor in its theme. So how do I write it?
Draw from the well of emotions I've stored for this very purpose.
We're taught to forgive the wrongs done to us, and I do. But we can't forget them, so I learned long ago to label them "research" and store them for future use. After all, God promised to work all things for our good, right? We can use all those things that hurt us for the benefit of our stories.
Remember the emotion not the one who caused it.
- Hurt feelings? Store it.
- A thoughtless comment? Store it.
- The forgotten birthday? Store it.
- Wrongful accusation? Store it.
- Devastating diagnosis? Store it.
- The fall of someone revered? Store it.
- Death of a loved one? Store it.
- The thrill of learning of an impending birth? Store it.
- A baby's first smile? Store it.
- A thoughtful note? Store it.
- An unexpected gift? Store it.
- Words of love? Store it.
- A blessing from God? Store it.
- A loved one saved? Store it.
People let down their guard when they think they're being entertained. Fiction uses our emotions and senses and draws us in. Then when we least expect it, the story touches, teaches, and transforms us.
Turn your experiences and emotions into a well from which to draw rich fodder.
TWEETABLE
Ane Mulligan lives life from a director’s chair, both in theatre and at her desk creating novels. Entranced with story by age three, at five she saw PETER PAN onstage and was struck with a fever from which she never recovered—stage fever. One day, her passions collided, and an award-winning, bestselling novelist emerged. She believes chocolate and coffee are two of the four major food groups and lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler. Find Ane on her website, Amazon Author page, Facebook, Instagram,Pinterest, The Write Conversation, and Blue Ridge Conference Blog.
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