Which book impacted your life lately?
How a book made me linger back in my journey to find back my writing style.
Two weeks ago I explained how you can use the four pillars to find back your writing style. And that this journey is definitely not a straightforward road going from A - D. Some recent events made me linger back to pillar one: being read to and books that had an impact on my life.
It all started with a phone call
My friend and I chattered away about trivial topics when out of the blue she remarked:
’I have been enjoying reading your Substacks. One thing I have noticed is that over time something has changed in your writing.’
Curious, I asked what it was.
’In the first few Substacks you wrote about your personal situation that led you to start this journey. The way you wrote, ehm..how can I put this nicely, well it was with a bit of distance. As if you were writing about someone else and that you are hiding something from the reader. Slowly you came out of your shell. In between the lines I read you and your vulnerability.’
‘Why had I not notice this myself? ‘
I asked myself.
Later that week I went to the library to pick up a book from the Dutch section. There she was waiting for me to give me an answer: Dutch author Yvonne Keuls. In my teen years I read all her books. Mostly here books cover social problems like homeless teens, addiction, etc. They certainly influenced my choice to later go and study social work. Now I was holding her autobiography in my hands. In this she writes what made her decide to become a writer. Also how her writing evolved during her life.
It was 1948
Yvonne Keuls was seventeen years old when a teacher made her read Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
And then I read Oliver Twist and made a startling discovery. Mr. Dickens had not put his own emotions on paper, but the emotions of someone else. Mr. Dickens had managed to experience the story with the emotions of another person and thus get the emotions secondhand. As if I had shot off a flare! For a moment the entire environment was illuminated before me. For a moment I had seen how it worked, what the secret of 'a writer' was. The light went out but I knew: I have seen it and I am going to apply it myself.
Reading this my eyes teared up
Exactly the same happened to me. Only I was not seventeen but fortyeight. The book that did it for me was ‘The women I think about at night’ from Finnish writer Mia Kankimäki. You can read back how this gave me the kick off to start my writing journey.
Looking back at this epic moment Yvonne Keuls reflected:
But I was only halfway there. It would take years before I would understand that it was not about second-hand emotions, but about the emotions that through the road of conversion would be aroused in the reader.
It was spot on and exactly the puzzle piece I was looking for. My aim has never been to become a big, renowned writer. I just want to learn to write in such way that you as a reader can feel the reflected emotion that I try to hide in between the lines. And that is what I keep doing, every day.