Like A Beautiful Shining Heart... x
It might seem like every book you read is just a huge mountain of words...
spun together to create images; woven and stitched to take you from the beginning to end of the story.
But did you know...
that at the centre of the words is a precious gem, a golden nugget of truth that all the other words spin from?
It's the theme that sits at the centre of the story like a beautiful shining heart.
In my first book, SHINE, the precious gem at the centre of the story is Tiff's longing for safety and security. She wishes her mum were normal and that she didn't keep stealing things and having tantrums.
In GLITTER, Liberty longs for her dad's praise. She wishes his heart would send her a little gift-wrapped parcel of love that would land like glitter on her smile.
In A MILLION ANGELS, Jemima just wants her Dad back safely from the war in Afghanistan.
It's the same with stories that you write.
The closer you can keep to the central theme the more satisfying your story will be. It'll leave your reader feeling warm and complete, like the precious jewel, the golden nugget, is actually shining and glowing in their heart.
It's the same with conversations...
you can blah, blah, blah on for hours, using hundreds and thousands of words...
but do you always say what you're longing to say? Do you always touch the jewel, the nugget, that beautiful shining heart? Are you left feeling warm and satisfied by your conversations or do they feel empty and fake?
Can you say "sorry" when you know it's the truth?
Or... "I love you and appreciate you?"
Or... "can you give me a hug, please, because I'm feeling really scared?"
I've been practicing this a lot lately and I promise you, it's amazing!
All you have to do is drop your attention from your mind, feel deep inside your body...
and you'll discover that all the words are just sitting there... longing to be spoken... waiting to be heard.
Say something truthful today and tell me how you feel...
Comments:
last night I sang a song which I wrote about my brother who killed himself 39 years ago. It is a song of truth and love and loss I don't often sing it in public because, as happened last night, there's always someone in the audience who is moved to tears. Last night there were several people affected(well, we were a room nearly full of nearly all women!) Afterwards, I thanked everyone for listening, as one does and I then said "and especially the people who are crying". It felt great to have sung my song about a truly difficult subject and great to be 'seen' and heard to do so. I felt as if I was really touching other people and helping them touch something deep inside themselves too. It became a shared experience. Thank-you for sharing this blog, it has made me more clearly look at what did/do/will do! xxx Ba