In 1938 aspiring author Frances Turnbull sent a copy of one of her stories to Francisc Scott Fitzgerald. In the feedback he offers her there’s one great piece of advice: “You’ve got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not the little minor things that only touch you lightly, the little experiences that you might tell at dinner. This is especially true when you begin to write, when you have not yet developed the tricks of interesting people on paper, when you have none of the technique which it takes time to learn. When, in short, you have only your emotions to sell.”
You can read the rest of the letter here. It’s really worth the time, and it’s the kind of advice writers give only to closest friends. It’s not something you can tell anyone about, because most people will think you’re crazy.
Now, about selling your heart…
One of my guilty pleasure are Faustian myths and legends. You know, Niccolo Paganini, Robert Johnson, and others. And the truth is that most such legends are about artists. Some of them didn’t even bother to deny the rumors. Maybe that was some sort of marketing trick, but it was also how they felt about their art.
It all feels like selling your soul. You write about things you’d never be brave enough to talk about, you write about your obsessions, about your passions, about everything that makes you human. Sometimes you feel as if words are bleeding out of your soul. It’s not an easy process, it’s painful as hell.
But I believe it’s the only way you can actually make good art. To paraphrase Neil Gaiman, the moment you feel you’re walking down the street naked, when you feel that people can see everything you are, when your heart is there, on the page, that’s when you’ll be able to make good art.
This is not about success, critical or commercial, this is not about gaining immortality, this is not about changing the world.
Because the most terrible truth about the world of art is that nothing can guarantee you any of those things. Not even selling your heart. I strenuously believe we’re all capable of greatness, but at the same time, that it’s unbelievably hard to make others see that greatness.
I’m sure most of you will discard the previous statement as nonsense. After all, why strive to be great if there are no immediate perks? Most people think greatness needs to be generally acknowledged.
It might seem that way, that you’re deluded to think of yourself as being great when you’re not able to sell your paintings for $50, when you sent out your novel to over 100 agents and they all said no. Stendhal had three people present at his funeral. Gauguin died alone. Van Gogh failed to become the artist he wanted to be. There are many more examples of artists who failed to achieve anything during their lives, died poor and alone, and then became incredibly famous.
But did they believe that what they were doing was right? Did they believe in their dream? Well, I’m sure they had their moments of doubt, like we all have, but they died making art, didn’t they? They didn’t give up. Maybe some of them died thinking they had failed, maybe some of them died thinking, “Well, at least I tried.”
And some of them died thinking that they were great. That the world didn’t owe them anything: there was nothing the world could give them, nothing that could make it worth the price.
Because this is another one of those things they don’t teach you in creative writing classes: that the moment you sell your heart nothing could ever make things right again. Because when you sell your heart, you’re not doing it for money, or fame, or glory. You’re doing it because it’s the only way to make something worthwhile.
I learned this the hard way. A couple of years ago I was just surviving. I didn’t feel alive anymore. Everything I wanted was for days to go by as fast as possible. I was alone, bitter, and disgusted by who I was. Simply put, I had close to nothing. And so I wrote.
At that particular point in time, when not only there was nothing to lose, but there was also nothing to gain from this life, I could afford to write everything I wanted. Also, because no one in my immediate world was willing to read what I wrote, I could write about anything.
The things you can write when you’re certain no one’s ever going to read them…
Maybe this was a good thing because it offered me a freedom few people ever experience. At a great price indeed, but it made me strong enough to write about a tragic love story as it was happening, to write when the wound was still bleeding.
I like the statement that art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.
Art should make people feel. It should give hope to those who have lost it, comfort those who are alone, show the world to those who have yet to see it. Art should inspire, should make people cry, and laugh, and then cry again. It should make them fall in love with life, with what it means to be human. Art should show you a world you never dared imagine, a world you never thought possible.
Art should show you that everything is possible. That small people can build great things, that we’re all capable of rising above ourselves. And, of course, art should show you that the world is not as safe as you’d like it to be, that great people are not that great, that there is pain, there is suffering, there is death. Art should show you life exactly how it is: with the good, the bad, and the ugly. And it should also give you hope that it can be better.
So if you ever wondered why art should last forever, this is why: because only in art we are able to express what we all feel, but so few have the courage to say.
So, yeah, sell your heart and show us what only you can see. Show us all the things we’re too blind to see, make us feel what we’re too scared to feel…
Because the alternative is spending a lifetime writing empty stories. Just words and nothing more. The alternative is a lifetime spent with the sense that life is more than what you have, more than what you are doing right now. That, somehow, all of life’s answers are running away from you.
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very intriguing-
raw emotion sells because it is real, honest and without pretense . That sort of heart writing strikes right into the core of the reader, who himself longs for authenticity
I like what you say about authenticity – I think it's exactly the point!
I think you're both onto something. "Heart" is not just about emotions – it's about the *core* of a person, with which it shares its lingual root. At the same time, one can be authentic without speaking from the core of their being. It's an all-the-above call to action.
exactly
Thanks for this.
I know the stories that have made the most impression on me have been the ones that made me both cry and laugh, authors have put their heart and soul into it …I am possibly not so brave :) This is good piece of advice, thank you.
Just read your story, "Mr. Nobody," which seems to be about a guy who hoards his heart through writing instead of selling it. Any thoughts on why you created a character who is the exact opposite of Fitzgerald's advice?
To me (and this is just my opinion, so you're free to think otherwise) Mr. Nobody is a story about a guy who writes in order to live, not the other way around. He has no other purpose in life, nothing else to aspire for. And everything he experiences gets translated into stories. Everything he sees or feels has to find its way into his stories. Just because he feels the need to make them "real." He's no longer interested in actually living the moment; the anticipation of when he's going to sit down at his desk and write about what he's seeing right now is destroying the present.
Like I said, this is just my opinion. To you this story might be about something entirely different.
I've always admired the way you can describe the process of art – in forms of writing or painting or anything else. The intrinsic tone of a person who sold his heart?
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On a more serious note, I like art and artists, I really do. I've always been fascinated by the world of art: maybe I'm just super sensitive or whatever, maybe I can see more than I should, don't know.
Well my father teased me that my pediatrician diagnosed me to be seeing ghosts when I would not stop crying for no apparent reason as a baby. For some reason, I'm less than flattered to have this in resemblance of an artist.
And here I am perusing blogs instead of writing, wondering why I can't seem to come up with anything to say. All I'm trying to write is nonsense and petty drivel without any heart! Thanks for this.
Maybe that is why all my best work seems to come in the middle of the night. That is when I'm alone and unburdened and ready to bare my soul.
I write mostly at night too. It's all so quiet, so still. It's like the world just stops spinning. And in that kind of silence, with the night whispering at your window, you're truly alone. And you can think. That's the main reason I guess. You can stop and think. About anything, about everything, about nothing.
You never get that kind of freedom in a crowded room, with everyone's lives hissing in your ears.
My sentiments exactly. :)
I've never put much value in courses of creative writing. It is like the other forms of art. It cannot be taught, only learned. A teacher may show technique, but the pupil is not a painter because they know technique. It is by doing that it is learned. And teaching another 'creative writing' in name alone makes little sense. How exactly does one teach 'creativity'? It comes from that person's sole views and experiences in the world.
It's true that no one can teach you how to write. It's also true that you kind of need to know the rules in order to break them. Maybe that's what creative writing courses should be considered: you absorb rules and conventions, and then you're free to do whatever you want with them. Change them according to your own style.
This much is true. My learning the rules came from very good teachers and experience in writing term papers, essays, and notices on current events.
Back in high school, when I was studying Hemingway, I had a very cool experience. Our class took a field trip into Boston to the JFK library for the Hemingway archives. Our assignment was to pick a short story or a portion of a novel, and then we sat with the manuscripts and looked at the changes he made. To see his drafts, his cross outs, to see the way his writing evolved. This happened 20 years ago, and I still remember the joy of it. Info on these archives can be found here: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/The-Ernest-Hem…
I agree with this – I did a creative writing course, but only because it got me writing again. Sometimes you do need that kick in the backside to get everything moving again! A lot of creative writing courses also get you to start writing in notebooks again – to write honestly and about anything and everything. I think once you get past that first block, the watergate opens and everything comes streaming out. Yes – you start with the rules and then you break them.
Thank you. I was needing to hear this today! Courage.
To show the hopeless that there is still hope…that is art. Thanks for the inspring words.
Thank u 4 your words. You remind me of my younger self, you help me brush off ideas covered in cobwebs. I am coming out of a long period of darkness. My inner spark that usually burns so bright, had become the barest flicker. But events converge, and I know my spark will burn bright again. So many ideas to change the world. The one idea, I've recently decided I need to make happen, is a children's book. But the concept behind the book is a reinvention of Santa Claus, which is kind of a crazy undertaking. To change a myth, to add to it, to invent new characters. Have I ever written for children? Nope. Can I find an illustrator? Hopefully. All I have is a small seed of a thing. A story I came up with out of thin air and told to a 5 year old to infuse magic into a situation that so desperately needed it.
Absolutely. A very timely piece for me as I consider the increasingly personal content in my own writing. Thanks Cristian .
I really admire the fluency of your writing, to able to express yourself so well… I can only nod my head in agreement to what you've said.
Great post.
This gave me chills! Your description of art is art in itself!
Amazing! Art, the language of love's expression. Thank you for this.
Art for art's sake – because it's true, raw emotion from the heart! Thanks for your insightful post.
How do you come up with so much inspiration?
How to rise up from the long period of dejection?
Learning a lot from your writing…hoping I might make my writing more than words…
I completely agree. Heart is all that matters. Heart is all there is to give. Anything else is just ashes and dust.
Everything I write is from my heart.
I know the same is true for you.
I arrived at this post evidently after having read too many times that the best advice to give new writers is simply: "write." I don't discount the value of being prolific, but it seems just as important to remember that content and delivery share an equal relationship, not one of dominance. So now I leave from this post having paraphrased from your words a better compass with me than "write":
"Bleed."
A brilliant piece/ Thank you Cristian for the help and encouragement you have been to this old lady. You are old beyond your years! Giving thanks to God for your insights!
Well the title got me, and the post lived up to it. Brilliant post, one of my favorites of yours I think, and plenty for me to be with and ponder on – thank you!
Beautiful post as always! One comes out with more oomph than ever to continue in the domain of art which as you say, has its times of doubt. The letter of Frances Turnbull is too, very inspiring…
Thanks
"…art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable" – that's great, just great! I've always seen art as pouring your deepest feelings and selling your heart. Anything less just makes it fake to me. Loved your post!
Very insightful. I always feel if I go back and read something I wrote months later and still have the same emotional reactions to the story as when it first appeared in my head then I've done my job. If it just feels like a group of interesting words, then I've failed myself and my readers.
Though I'm not an "artist" I've been able to borrow so much from what is transferable from your "world"–thank you
"To paraphrase Neil Gaiman, the moment you feel you’re walking down the street naked, when you feel that people can see everything you are, when your heart is there, on the page, that’s when you’ll be able to make good art."
Interesting; I have heard something along these lines said about acting — which, when you think about it, is not unlike writing. Within the irony of elaborate make-believe — writing Lear, "being" Lear, when in reality you are just Will Shakespeare or Ian McKellen — yields something more real than any of you alone.
A lot of difficult truths in this post. I managed to find a publisher for my novel (hurray!) but the promotion is harder than writing the book in the first place. Thanks for always offereing encouragement to your fellow artists. Please stop by and check out my blog. It is all about what a heart can hold. Got the name from a Zelda Fitzgerald quote.
http://www.whataheartcanhold.wordpress.com
The message of your blog could not have come at a better time. For a very long time, I've struggled to attain a technical acuity with my visual art, but the heart of it is what needs the attention. Let's see if I can put your insight into practice, now.
P.S. – still not there with the technical skill. WIP.
Just finished writing a truly pathetic email to my adult son begging him to tell me my characters seemed real! Haha! Poor son. Should have read your piece first. LOVED it. It's funny how once you really bleed for a story that's when you're hooked. Nothing can convince you that it's time to stop. You're just done for and no one–except another artist– can understand. So glad I finally found my home in crazy town.
Hi Cristian, I wanted to thank-you for sharing your thoughts here, you are so right about a writer needing to take that risk and expose their heart.
Also I wanted to let you know that I've nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award which I recieved myself just this morning. Your posts are indeed inspiring, so thank-you again for sharing.
Beautifully put …
I've had frequent dreams about myself going out on the streets with only a towel on. It refused to cooperate by staying so I had to keep pulling it up. When I'm awake, I often wonder why I feel such a need to keep it up when it requires so much effort. Also wondered what specific area of my life these dreams are referring to. Only today, I started to really commit to my writing – really turn it into my life. When I came to the part about wandering naked on the streets in this blog post, those dreams just came jumping back. It is good to finally recognise those inner promptings, to get naked and start writing my heart out.
Magnificent. Thank you.
I'm glad you wrote this. It reminds me to be open – to feel that fear of exposure and embrace it. Sometimes I write blog posts or journal entries and realise I'm not being honest with myself so I start again. I think its important for writers to feel that fear and pain and run with it. Its good to go deeply into the things that hurt the most and explore it, otherwise we won't find our own voices.
This is a powerful essay! Thanks for so much to reflect upon.
this is a wonderful piece. I have had many a conversation with my boys about art – any form of art – sometimes they see it as just a flat entity, or words, or notes, or whatever – i have always told them that art comes from inside the person – wherever that place maybe – there is nothing more personal and always appreciate it – even though you may not 'agree' with it (like it) – appreciate it – because it is someone's personal vision.
Simply beautiful piece. Really resonated with me today. What's that Deepak Chopra says about coincidences? Hmmm…
Many artists see the market for their art in false dichotomy. You can etch your heart in the paper, or bytes on your hard disk, and sell them. It's not either-or situation.
Also, sometimes life will mess you up. But there is always room for your will, to create your own chances. Never let your will be tied down, let it fly triumphant.
Cheers,
Johnny.
Well said.
What a beautiful post – genuine, authentic, heartfelt, cutting and so very true. I can relate in so many ways. I've poured my heart into my novel, shared more of myself than I ever thought I'd dare to and created something I wanted to inspire, move and make people think…and yeah, change the world. May sound so pompous and grandiose, but other writers might understand. I couldn't have done it any other way. I couldn't have lived any other way
This is gorgeous. Thank you so much for this. When people ask me why I write, and I don't say "to make money", they scratch their heads and ask me why I even bother. The best thing I could compare it to is questioning why people even bother to breathe if it doesn't make money. Writing is my life, the way I sort out the experiences I have in this world. Without it, I would feel like something is missing, and indeed, the periods of time when I "didn't have time" to write, I felt so empty.
Again, thank you for reminding us what art is, and the real reason people create.
~Violet~
Really loved this post–linked it in a post I just published today. Thanks for your inspiring words!
Loved this post!
Great thoughts. I was recently asked why I write, especially why I write humor. Humor can seem frivolous, but it allows me to ask questions and explore ideas that would be too heavy handed in another form. I can turn reality on its side and see what happens. Perhaps, most importantly, my stories reflect how I see the world.
Like Wittgenstein said, "A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes." There's more to humor than most people can see, the same way as funny people are not really the happiest of people. There are many nuances here, and I do believe humor to be among the most complex coping mechanisms we, as humans, developed.
Reblogged this on kevindeli and commented:
18th century gothic novelist, Mathew Lewis, would also like to add something about authorship, "An Author, whether good or bad, or between both, is an Animal whom every body is privileged to attack; For although All are not able to write books, all conceive themselves able to judge them…In short to enter the lists of literature is willfully to expose yourself to the arrows of neglect, ridicule, envy, and disapointment"(The Monk p 198-199)
Reblogged this on MetaRead360 Small Press presents and commented:
You gotta have heart…but sell it, hmmm??
I am pretty intrigued by the putting yourself out there, naked on the page. It is really well stated. I find myself being more guarded than I should be and to put yourself out there is really where the meat is. Huh. Great post!
I love this post! Speaking of heart, I recently attended a Meditation Workshop for writers and figured out what the "heart of my story is." I discovered that the heart of all of my manuscripts is the same as the heart of the books I am inspired by. Interesting and enlightening. http://bmoreenergy.wordpress.com
You inspired me to write a post:
http://kristyfgillespie.wordpress.com/
It is so true that captivating the reader's emotions is essential to great writing. I really enjoyed the advice. Thanks also for visiting my page ginoskocristo and liking my post! God bless you
Excellent post! The ability to bare your soul is what separates greatness from mediocrity? Mediocrity is a cozy, safe and comfortable box….standing room only is prime real estate in that box.
another interesting post :)
Reblogged this on English Literature Rocks.
This post is beautiful, heartfelt, and inspiring, like so many of your others. I love the saying about Art disturbing the comfortable. Brilliant observation.
Reblogged this on Sotto Voce.
Thank you for liking my post and leading me here. Your words are so eloquent and meaningful. :)
Cristian! I love this post! It got me right here – yeah, you guessed it! Right in my heart! I just read something recently that had the same idea. It's going to cost you some blood! You always encourage me. Thank you.
“Because the alternative is spending a lifetime writing empty stories … with the sense that life is more than what you have … That, somehow, all of life’s answers are running away from you.”
Okay, that’s spooky. Talk about expressing what I’ve had but couldn’t put into words.
If only I could see things through. …That Mr. Nobody sounds just like me.
Well, the point of the post sums up a lot about what it takes to make art.
Thanks for the encouraging words! I've just been reading some of Eckhart Tolle's wrok and he encourages his readers to put their heart into what they do. Very timely piece, Cristian.
and I really love it when I make a typo on someone's blog and dont know how to edit it. :D have a nice day.
That is a FANTASTIC quote. Thanks for sharing. MJ x
i love this post. beautifully written. thank you!
I've subscribed to many blogs, but yours is one I actually take the time to stop and read. You are an inspiration. Thank you.
glad to have found a kindered spirit. I will be back to read this later when I have fewer distractions… blessings and thanks for taking the time to check out my post!
Ok, now that I have had the chance to read this, wow. I think you have nailed it. Art really isn't about notoriety, wealth or some self important reason. Art is a passion, there isn't any reason to do it if you can't put your heart into it. For me personally, I have been very shy until a year or so ago when a friend invited me to write a little for her blog. She and I will be producing a joint effort sometime in the next year of poetry and illustration that I am looking forward to. Thank you for the inspirational piece, this resonates in all areas of Art… not just soley in writing. With your permission, I would like to re-post some of this article in my next posting.
This is beautiful and so true Cristian. Thankyou from my heart!
“sell your heart and show us what only you can see. Show us all the things we’re too blind to see, make us feel what we’re too scared to feel…”
Great advice. Thanks.
PS. I noticed that you’re not such an “unknown” anymore. Way to go.
There was a young farmer in Ayrshire who could not marry his sweetheart because her father forbade it. He found a new job on the other side of the Atlantic and decided, before he left, to publish the poems he had written to her. He expected to be on the other side of the world before they were read. Bad weather stopped the sailing. His name, Robert Burns.
Hi Christian
Thanks for following my blog. I really liked your commentary on Fitzgerald’s advice: ‘ “You’ve got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not the little minor things that only touch you lightly..” I believe this too. I’ve just discovered your blog so I don’t know much about you but I love your passion. I can feel it. I shall read some of your art. I grew up in a situation where art didn’t exist, except that my mother encouraged me because she loved me. She was musical but could never convey any thoughts on art and music because it wasn’t ‘allowed’ or she would be ridiculed I suppose. I don’t know. Whenever I wrote poetry as a child and entered competitions, I often won but except for my mother, there was no other person to encourage me or discuss art with. That’s pretty devastating for your well-being. And you have to have the right people to speak to and encourage you too. But above all, you have to write and ‘sell’ from the heart. If your art upsets your friends, so be it. Art is the most interesting of all humankind’s achievements, and without a doubt, it made the world for good or bad.
i agree with this completely. all the words that writers magically produce have to be raw and from the heart for it to mean something, for it to have life….
This is one of the most powerful and meaningful posts I’ve ever read. As soon as I finished reading it, I went to a partially written blog post and just started selling my heart. I feel a weight lifted off my shoulder. It’s as if, I’ve been trying to be strong instead of being vulnerable. Strong is painstaking. Vulnerable is real. Vulnerable illuminates. Vulnerable invites.
You are a tremendous writer. What a gift you gave me with your visit to my blog. What inspiring work you do. I extend my deepest gratitude for following my blog and am thrilled to follow yours.
With love, Amanda
http//:mysignatureblog.com
Joy, pain, inspiration, despair: Art is truly what keeps us alive.