Youth Fiction Author and Illustrator's Official Blog Page

Friday, September 29, 2006

Written words of love harness power


by Kevin Scott Collier

In the youth fiction writing class I teach for Writing Avenue of Grand Haven (MI) on Thursdays the topic of love came up during the September 28 session. How we speak of love and how we write it is dramatically different. The two are dichotomous.

With spoken words of love we ramble out raw emotions and score a memorable line occasionally. With written words of love every sentence must be count.

Imagine an assignment where you convey to someone how much you love him or her. You are given 10 minutes to speak to the other party but also must write a letter to that individual when read aloud will take 10 minutes.

The spoken words of love will be 10 minutes no matter what you say. You may struggle, as spontaneity and conveyance of feelings do not always produce Hallmark moments. There may be a memorable line or two. But whatever you speak will be gone and over in that timeframe.

Now write the words of love that will take ten minutes to read aloud. I guarantee you that it will take more than ten minutes to write. It may take an hour, or two, or more. You will read it to yourself several times before you speak it to the recipient. You will scribble things out and rewrite pieces. You will mull over it and read it again. You will even practice how you will speak it aloud. Why has it now become so incredible important?

Suddenly love has a script. Imagine that.

You will discover that the document of written words holds nearly everything you wished you had spoken in first assignment. You may even nitpick a bit dwelling on some lines wishing you had written more appropriate words. You finally read to that special individual your written words of love aloud.

Aside from a tender touch of intimacy, there is no more powerful way to convey love than with the written word. Harness that power and allow your written words of love to touch others in an intimate fashion.

When you write fiction stories that include tender moments of love via dialog or description, weave sentences that are alive with emotion. Craft wording that is precise, yet timidly interpretive. Unlike the spoken word, the written word is a document that encourages revisiting. It is a record of feeling which reconstitutes sincere emotion. It is not a lost moment. It is tangible.

2 comments:

Donna J. Shepherd said...

Excellent advice. Maybe I'll write a love note to my husband today. I haven't done that in I don't know how long! :)

Donna

Shari Lyle-Soffe said...

Kevin

You make me feel guilty for all the greeting cards I simply signed with love. Now I will have to put something lasting and deep felt in writing for the one I love....you'd think after 47 years he would know how I feel.

Shari Lye-Soffe