Emotional stuff

[John Dean]

I have had occasion in recent weeks to experience, either in classes, reading sessions or in competition entries, some pieces of writing that have stirred deep emotions within me. Emotion is something of which some writers are wary, preferring to produce work without revealing too much of themselves or their views. However, for many other writers, there cannot be fiction without a sense of themselves. For some authors, there is always part of them peering through, their fears, their hopes, their aspirations, their take on life, their emotions imprinted on their stories. Part of them left on the page for us. They may not say ‘and this is me’ but they are there all the same; for many authors, writing is a deeply personal art. Of course, the tenet 'get on with the story' always hold true but in there somewhere can be found glimpses of what the writer thinks of the world. And the reader is changed. Maybe only a little but changed for all that. It's what makes writing such a remarkable art form.