I like to think of myself as a writer, at least that’s how I’d describe myself if someone asked. I also like to take a lot of photographs, usually when I’m on holiday (or of birds), however I wouldn’t exactly describe myself as a photographer. On my last holiday I took a lot of photos, simply so that I could have some memories of the trip.
Most of my photos turned out okay, nothing spectacular, but not too bad either. One photo however stood out to me and for ages I couldn’t work out why, I just knew that there was something special about that one. It took reading story where one of the main characters was a photographer to work it out (in fact, if you like Hollstein fan fiction you should check it out, it’s called Exposure).
The character was struggling to with their photography but what changed their photography from good to great was how much feeling they put into it and in turn what they made other people feel because of that. That’s what took the photos from just being a pretty picture to being something special. That’s when I realised that that was why I liked my own photo, what made it stand out from all my others that were just pretty pictures.
This one made me feel something. It made me feel like I was there watching the scene unfold. It made me want to be there, in that moment enjoying the sunshine. It made me want to walk along the bridge. I realised that the same principle applied to my writing.
I like to thing that my writing is okay and a lot of the time I’m actually really proud of it. But I also know that it can be very hit and miss. Sometimes my writing is barely okay, and other times I think it can actually be pretty decent. Like with photography the difference is felling.
The ones where I make other people feel something, where people can relate to what I’m talking about, where I make people connect with what I’ve written. Those are the works that I’m most proud of. Those are the ones where I feel like I’ve written well.
As a writer I want to make people feel, to make them think. I want to connect with people, to have them relate. I want to be able to bring people into my world, to let them experience the world through my eyes, to see things from my point of view.
However, I also know that feelings are very subjective. Not everyone is going to react to my writing in the same way. Something that one person might find beautiful someone else my simply find okay. Even when I write something people don’t always react the way that I expect them to.
On more than one occasion I’ve written something that I’ve thought was mediocre at best only to have someone else tell me they’ve loved what I wrote. I haven’t found one way to write that resonates with everyone. I’m just gonna keep doing what I do, keep putting my heart into it and hope that people keep enjoying what I write.
Sophie x
A Place of Mine 