Writing the Wave

Writing can be like surfing.  Pro Tips: One does not dictate to the ocean as to when the perfect wave rolls in.  One waits for it.  Sometimes for a long time.  An experienced surfer knows when and where to catch the best swells, and this varies.  Surfing can be dangerous.

The comparison is good.

When you decide to write with a certain feeling, you are at the beck-and-call of that wave.  You do not dictate the writing, the feeling does.  When it comes, that is your opportunity.  

Feelings are powerful.  While they can be modulated, they are a force of nature as strong or as placid as the different moods of the ocean.

George Frideric Handel composed Messiah in just 24 days in the summer of 1741, writing at a feverish pace while facing financial ruin and professional decline in London. Working from a libretto by Charles Jennens based on scriptures, Handel produced the 260-page masterpiece from August 22 to September 14, 1741, often forgetting to eat. - Tabernacle Choir article.  The full performance can be found here.

I suppose my word "feeling" some might call "inspiration."  I will cover the latter in different posts.  What I mean by feeling is raw emotion, such as joy, anger, grief.  In Handel's case, he faced a myriad of emotions, including struggling with his mental state.  Out of those feelings came inspiration.

Emily Dickinson, famed American poet, wrote out of a feeling some have described as "fixed melancholy."  Instead of fighting her emotions, she let them guide her writing.  This was a perfect example of writing the wave.  An example of her poetry:

Crumbling is not an instant's Act

A fundamental pause

Dilapidation's processes

Are organized Decays —

'Tis first a Cobweb on the Soul

A Cuticle of Dust

A Borer in the Axis

An Elemental Rust —

Ruin is formal — Devil's work

Consecutive and slow —

Fail in an instant, no man did

Slipping — is Crashe's law —

People vary in personality, and thus experience their own feelings differently.  As a writer, it is important to understand your personality type, explore how you experience and manage feelings, and be considerate to yourself.  Your feelings are your feelings.  If you choose to write from your feelings, then be aware of yourself in the process.  We will also talk more about self-awareness, personality type, and writing.

All along I have been framing "writing the wave" as a choice.  

It is a choice.  

Not everyone likes to surf.  Less that 3% of the population in the United States.  

You do not have to get out in the water.  

You do not have to go into the waves.  

You do not have to write from your feeling.

For example, when you feel sadness, you do not have to write something from that sadness.

However, you do need to be aware of your feelings to be an effective artist, especially a writer.

It is enough for a writer to be aware of what they are feeling.