The Merriam-Webster online dictionary says that the heart is the organ in your chest that pumps blood through your veins and arteries. It’s in the front part of your chest and it’s thought of as the place where emotions are felt.
I like that simplified definition.
Like everything else I see, hear, touch, smell and taste … I apply “heart” to my writing and the books I read. Heart is what makes our books live.
Do my stories have heart? Do they make readers laugh, cry … feel anything at all?
I’ve watched my daughter, an avid reader, sob through most of Karen Kingsbury’s books. If you’re familiar with KK you know she’s one of the top Christian authors of our time, and writes heart-rending fiction. I’m sure all her readers sob.
But how about this: Daughter also cried uncontrollably when she read Dean and Me: A Love Story by Jerry Lewis. That book is nonfiction about the 10 year partnership of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Figure out those tears!
She read (and cried) in The Paris Wife about Hemingway and Hadley, his first wife.
Now before you accuse Daughter of being highly emotional and able to cry at the drop of a hat, no. That’s not her.
However, I do know why she cried. Those books have heart.
That should be our goal. To conjure up such emotion in our readers that they laugh or cry beyond their control.
How do we do it?
First, we use the senses, we know our characters inside and out, we use active verbs and words that paint pictures, but until we’re capable of putting ourselves in a character’s POV and walk in their shoes—suffer with them, cry with them, feel their pain and loss, we won’t be able to pull it off.
We must also consider pacing.
A reader has to develop a relationship with our characters. If our pace is too fast, the reader doesn’t sufficiently bond with our characters. If our pace is too slow, our readers get bored.
Tricky, isn’t it.
I’ve read books where good characters die and I didn’t shed a tear. The last time I cried 
while reading a book was in The Guise of Another by Allen Eskens. Guise is about two brothers, both detectives, and one of them is on a downward spiral. The relationship I developed with these two brothers surprised me. I think Eskens broke a lot of rules when it came to creating this story—but he knew what he was doing and he pulled it off. His characters are still with me–in my head and in my heart–even though I read his books last year.
The next book you read, study it for heart. Pay attention to the emotion you feel while reading it.
But honestly, I wonder if we can teach writers how to write “heart” into their stories. Doesn’t it have to come from within us? Maybe we have to pour our own love, sadness, brokeness, and fear into our characters before their stories truly touch a reader’s life. What do you think?
I always think shedding a few tears when you read a book is a very good sign. It means that it’s touched your heart.
Found you through the A to Z Challenge. Looking forward to the rest of your posts and started following you on FB too.
Cheers – Ellen | http://thecynicalsailor.blogspot.com/2016/04/h-is-for-ham-radio-nancy-drew.html
Thank you so much, Ellen! I’m headed out of town for the day but will catch up with you tonight! ?
I think you can guide writers toward writing heart into their work but it’s an inward journey that comes with a price. A personal price. We won’t all become masters in this, but I believe we can all improve.
That being said, I do believe that some writers are just plain gifted when it comes to telling stories that grip our hearts. Though I’ll bet each one of those gifted writers would say it took a lot of writing and rewriting, a lot of “digging deeper” to get their story “there.”
Good topic. This is an important consideration for every storyteller.
I’m like Charles. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book with heart. I think getting our books on Amazon has caused us to write fast, therefore, leaving heart out of our writing.
Bouncing around the a-to-z challenge and landed here. Glad I did. Wonderful tips on writing heart. I’ll go back and read the previous entries. Last time I shed tears was at the end of Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. I picked it up without knowing the subject and found it very moving.
http://www.lorihenriksen.com
Thanks so much, Lori. I’ll be hitting your blog and others today. I’ve been out of pocket a lot this weekend.
Within the last two years, the book that REALLY captured my heart is Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief! What an AMAZING story.
There’s also a book that made an impression on me, called The Gargoyle written by Andrew Davidson. It defies genre. 🙂
I developed a love-hate relationship with that story simply because I liked it more than I intended to or wanted to…if that makes sense…? Probably not.
Thanks for sharing, Michelle. How many books do you read q year? I’ve heard of The Book Thief but not The Gargoyle. And I do understand the love-hate relationship when it comes to books and stories. I felt that way a few times. 🙂
How many books per year? There was a time when my reading suffered.
Signing up for the Goodreads challenge in 2013 put me back on track.
So for 2013 I read 26 books.
In 2014 I read 35 books.
Last year, I read 41 books.
My Goodreads goal for this year is 50 books.
Of course, the books vary in length…there are novels, novellas, short story collections, poetry collections, amongst others…
Been reading too many books lately that haven’t touched my heart.
For sure, Charles. I feel the same way.