Writing Fiction with Emotion

“Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.”

— Natalie Goldberg

When was the last time a book changed you? What stories have made you think, cry, fall in love, feel uncomfortable, left you in a state of awe or despair?

Pouring our deepest feelings into stories allows us to connect with other people across time and space. And in writing with emotional honesty, we better understand ourselves.

Writing About Your Own Inner Life

When I think of emotional fiction, I always come back to Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. The novel is about a young woman interning at a magazine in New York City. As she faces the intense social pressures around her, she sinks into a deep depression.

Part of what makes the story harrowing is that it’s semi-autobiographical, as the events and feelings are based on real parts of Sylvia Plath’s life. The protagonist tries to commit suicide, and it’s obvious Plath struggled with the same emotions — she, too, had attempted suicide and later killed herself at the young age of thirty.

I’ve read passages from Plath’s diaries, and the emotions in those pages echo The Bell Jar in so many ways. Here’s a quote from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath:

What is my life for and what am I going to do with it? I don’t know and I’m afraid. I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones, and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.