Chynna is a mom of three and freelances part-time from her home (Lily Wolf Words) in Edmonton Canada. She's been published in several local, online and national magazines. She'll also be featured in Chicken Soup For The Soul in September 2007. Her advice: "Write what your heart tells you to."  Check out my interview with her on April 26, 2007,  as a new freelancer in Surviving and Thriving, Interview Transcript.  

 

 

 

 

Write To Inspire

by Chynna Laird

 

I love stories that tug on the heartstrings. You know, stories that inspire, bring hope or just make you want to hug someone. As far back as I can remember I’ve wanted to use my words to bring those feelings out in other people. My focus on inspirational stories all started with a writing contest calling for personal inspiration stories.

I had many memories tucked away but I had to pick just the right story for this contest. I chose a story about an elderly man who sat beside me on the bus every morning during an excruciating period in my young life (The Gray Felt Hat). His kind words and empathetic ear were exactly what I needed during that time. We never even knew each other’s names but I still feel his presence to this day. Not only did this piece win first prize in the contest, I sold it to Angels On Earth the following month. After over a year of trying to get published other markets, I sold four more heart-warming stories, including one to Chicken Soup For The Soul. It was then I realized I finally found a “home” for my stories.

I certainly don’t consider myself an expert in this area yet but I have learned some helpful tools for writing stories from the heart. I’ll share some of them with you:

Practice with journaling: I know writers who come up with phenomenal stories but find it difficult to write about their feelings. In stories from the heart, being able to share your feelings is essential but it’s not easy for some of us to let those emotions flow.

A lot of the stories I’ve come up with are right from the pages of my personal journal. Journaling is a great way to practice writing about feelings because no one but you will read the journal unless you choose to share it with someone else.

Start with a subject you can write passionately about, like your views on a current event or, if you have children, something they did. Write as though you’re telling the tale face to face to someone who needs extra details to understand you. Try not to give it any thought---just let your hand fly across the page. It does get easier and, if you journal often enough, you’ll have a wealth of stories to choose from.

Write with your heart: The first thing I do when I sit down to write an inspirational story is let the memory flood my heart and guide my fingers without missing a single detail. After the entire story is written and saved, then I go back over it with a fine-toothed comb.

The Gray Felt Hat took me exactly an hour to write – start to edit. The story played out in my head like a movie while I wrote what I saw. Then I went back and took out the details that weren’t important to the story or I added dialogue to make the story more “real”.

The point is for these types of stories your heart is the expert. Don’t be afraid to listen to what it tells you. Your reader wants to be touched, to be taken away or to have their heart lightened too. If your heart isn’t in the story, the reader will know.

Don’t hold back: I can honestly tell you when I wrote The Gray Felt Hat, I welled up with tears at the end every single time I reviewed it. The memory was so vivid once I had it on paper I was taken back to those days on the bus. That is what you want to do for your reader.

One of the reasons it took me so long to try to publish my inspirational stories was I just wasn’t sure I could deal with all the feelings being brought back so strongly. Plus, I wasn’t sure anyone would really care about my memories. It may not be your readers’ memory but they’ll be going through the experience with you as they read. Never be afraid to pour your heart out so freely, the reader will be able to weep, laugh or cheer, right along with you. Let yourself go.

Show, don’t tell: The main thing inspirational publications are looking for in a good story is emotion drawn out with tantalizing sensory imagery. Write the story as though you’re writing for a person who can’t see. Such a person would require a lot more description in a story to envision the scene. In other words, the only way to draw out the same emotions in the reader you feel is to use good descriptive words.

What I always do is take myself back to the scene I’m writing about and describe what’s there --- sights, smells, sounds, how I feel --- anything I can remember. It’s not just about telling the story - it’s about drawing the reader right into your experience so they can share it fully with you.

A great way to show emotion is through dialogue. Publications like Chicken Soup For The Soul love stories with vivid details and interaction among the characters. A recent story I wrote for Chicken Soup was almost entirely dialogue. What people say to one another and their body language tells a lot about what a person is thinking and feeling without having to say so.

Another tip is to use the speech the person you’re writing about uses. If the person is has a Southern accent, do your best to authenticate it. If there’s a child in the story, use their speech – don’t try to “fix” it. I find using dialogue the way the person actually talks give a truer picture of the story you’re trying to tell.

Understand the market: When I first started submitting inspirational stories, I didn’t realize there were actually different avenues to go down to tell your story. It’s important to distinguish among these areas because the focus in the story, as well as what the editor is looking for, is different under each category. Generally you can tell an inspirational story as a personal essay (memoir), creative nonfiction or a Christian style.

Stories Chicken Soup For The Soul (http://www.chickensoup.com/) looks for are personal essays. These are not opinion pieces. They’re stories from one viewpoint talking about a single event in someone’s life. There should be some action, problem or issue someone is struggling with and some sort of resolution they come to – good or bad. Chicken Soup specifically asks for pieces to focus on one point in time and word count is usually less than 1200 words.

Inspirational creative nonfiction is also structured around a real life event, but it’s written and read more like a fiction piece. Does this mean the story is fabricated? Not entirely. It means you take your true story and “Hollywood-ize” it to give it a more edgy, movie-like tone. Publications like Literary Mama (http://www.literarymama.com), Glimmer Train (http://www.glimmertrain.com/), or Creative Nonfiction (http://www.creativenonfiction.org/) look for such work. Bear in mind, though, they don’t necessarily seek “heart tugging” as much as rich, bold prose.

Christian writing should have a strong spiritual message in the piece. It’s important to review writers’ guidelines for Christian publications because although some don’t expect writers to openly discuss God or Jesus or quote from the Bible, some do. So, always be sure to check this before submitting. The editors of Christian publications look for how solid Christian morals and values are represented in your piece (spiritual message) and how the characters in your story benefit from these morals and values. Essentially, writers of Christian inspirational stories should be comfortable not only with triggering raw emotion with their work but also demonstrating the importance of following their spirit and their connection with God.

Angels On Earth (http://www.angelsonearth.com) and Guideposts (http://www.guidepostsmag.com) are popular Christian publications. These two publications are great starting places for new writers (it was for me!) but keep in mind that Guideposts mainly seeks “real life drama” stories where Angels mostly looks more for how “God’s Angels” touch our lives or real people who do angelic things.

I feel tremendous joy writing inspirational stories and still love to read the stories others have to share. Each one of us has a story of inspiration in our hearts to share. Why not dust off one of those memory pearls, sit down with your heart on your sleeve and see what happens. You may surprise yourself.

 

BOOKS TO HELP INSPIRE:

The following are excellent books to add to your writing library on the subject of inspirational writing:

Memories of the Soul by Nan Phiffer - gives exercises to practice writing stories from the heart and assists those who want to write their memoirs.

The Pocket Muse by Monica Wood - page after page of writing prompts to stir up the creative juices.

Writing Articles From the Heart by Marjorie Holmes - she discuses various subjects to write about; advice on tone, focus and pace; style and how to approach the market.

Writing for the Soul by Jerry B. Jenkins - his personal insight and advice on how to write articles from the heart.

Christian Writers’ Market Guide - same as the Writers’ Market but focuses specifically on the Christian market.