“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
Ernest Hemingway
Bleed.
I asked myself what it means to bleed when writing.
I think another word, equally interchangeable with bleed, is purge. For me this means to empty myself until at the end of my writing day, I am exhausted.
Not unlike some other writers, I often type with my eyes closed to block out the visuals which ground me to the present. Eyes closed, I can watch my characters act on my mind’s stage, see their gestures, envision their movements, hear their dialog with greater clarity, and enter their thoughts.
Following is a partial list of what it means to bleed when writing.
YOU MUST
believe in what you are writing.
feel joy and excitement from what you are writing.
reveal your character’s fears and desires.
connect your reader to your characters by revealing their strengths and weaknesses and motives.
lead your reader by the hand and show them what is crucial and why it is crucial in each scene.
take your reader deep into the mind of your protagonist.
imagine yourself in the shoes of each of your characters, and write with their unique personalities in mind.
involve the five senses in your writing especially smell, a powerful, underused memory inducer.
not only describe the actions of your characters, but give reasons (motives) for their actions as well as their thoughts over the outcomes.
know the back story of your characters, not to bring to light necessarily, but to keep in mind so your characters feel real.
crush your protagonists hopes.
Place speed bumps in your protagonist’s path.
keep your protagonist from achieving their goal until the very end.
Happy writing!