I hear the term used so often. What does it mean to write passionately? Is a an epic adventure series passionate because of the characters and morals? Or is it the author's unwavering love of the world? Is a romance passionate when the two fall madly in love with each other? Or is it passionate when it is really well written.
I'm confused by what constitutes as passionate and what doesn't. I like to think of myself as a passionate person...and I hope that carries over into my writing.
Thank you.
~Chris
Posted by rstegman (Member # 3233) on :
two answers
One, It means that you turn on your wordprocessor and the next thing you know, several hours have past and you finished a chapter or a short story.
two, It means that there is intense feeling in your writing, where the reader is drawn deeply into the work.
I personally would go for one.
Posted by kings_falcon (Member # 3261) on :
I'd add that it also means caring about what you write. If you are just "phoning it in" the writing is going to suffer.
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
quote: What does it mean to write passionately? Is a an epic adventure series passionate because of the characters and morals? Or is it the author's unwavering love of the world? Is a romance passionate when the two fall madly in love with each other? Or is it passionate when it is really well written.
Uh...yeah. Writing passionately has a variety of definitions, and I don't think any are wrong.
You write with passion if you love to write, love your characters, love your milieu, love your plot, and can stay fired up about the idea until you puch those keys (THE END) for the final time. That's part of what it means to write with passion. Another part is not having to sacrifice anything to write, but having to sacrifice writing to do other things.
Frank Herbert used to judge people in two ways: Those that can help with writing, and those that distract from it.
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
No no no. Writing passionately is otherwise known as opening a vein. You reach deep insde of your own emotions and plaster your fears, loves, joys, and hatreds all over the page, unabashed and unfiltered. If it doesn't hurt and it doesn't embarrass you, it ain't passionate.
Posted by KStar (Member # 4968) on :
i agree. Any of my writing that I actually think is well written and worth a dime, is usually stuff I can't hardly bear to let someone else read.
Posted by rstegman (Member # 3233) on :
Spaceman
Can you write passionately if you have no morals or no shame?
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
I don't know because I have both.
Posted by Lynda (Member # 3574) on :
True passion for your writing is everything that's been said here about the writing itself. But the true test of your passion for your writing is if, after reading your story probably 50-100 times during various revisions, copy editing, proofreading sessions, etc., you STILL get lost in the story and ENJOY it. That's just about the coolest thing in the world, to me, anyway.
As for romantic passion - that's a different thing from passionate writing. You can be passionate about your writing and be writing something that has no "love story" involved at all. Romantic scenes that are passionate are about the EMOTIONS of the couple involved, not about the "plumbing" - at least, that's my opinion. You get passion from emotion. Catch your reader up in that passion and they won't need to see every little detail about "tab A" and how involved it gets with "slot B." Everyone over a certain age or maturity level has at least a clue how the "plumbing" part of "love" works - and yeah, that can be fun stuff, but the passionate, deeply moving stuff is the emotional involvement of the couple. Write THAT well and your readers will be moved, engaged in the story, will care about your characters and will FEEL their passion. And THAT's passionate writing. IMO of course. Your mileage may vary.
Posted by MartinV (Member # 5512) on :
I once wrote down 300 pages in a month, building the world as I wrote the story. That was passionate writing for me and I miss it every day.
Posted by SaucyJim (Member # 7110) on :
Passionate writing is turning out an entire world, writing a story for it, and then feeling pain and remorse every time you have to change something; yet, once the changes are made, loving the new version just as much, if not more so, than what was there before.
Posted by annepin (Member # 5952) on :
Interesting to see how this phrase is interpreted by everyone.
I personally think writing passionately (as opposed to being passionate about what you write about) is to write from the soul, with utter, unfettered honesty.
Posted by Wolfe_boy (Member # 5456) on :
quote:Interesting to see how this phrase is interpreted by everyone.
See, I always thought passionate writing involved a lot of heaving bosums, simultaneous with some grinding pelvic regions and ragged, rapid breathing.
Jayson Merryfield
Posted by Tricia V (Member # 6324) on :
I don't have trouble writing passionately. I have trouble buckling down and shaping that passion into something that makes sense to people who aren't me.
Posted by smncameron (Member # 7392) on :
From the posts above, it's pretty clear that everyone has a different idea of what it means to write passionately. To me, passionate writing occurs when you care so deeply about your characters that you are concerned about their fates. Symptoms may include writing for hours and hours without break.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I'm at a loss for a proper definition. I thought I was writing with passion...but if anybody but me got passionate about it, they kept it to themselves.
