What Makes Great Writing?

What makes great writing?

Is it the length?

The plot?

The characters?

Setting?

Writing style?

What makes great writing?

All of these things combined would make for excellent writing - but you can have all of these and not have great writing.

We all want to be great writers. How do I know? We wouldn't spend hours plotting, writing, rewriting, rewriting, rewriting, and dreaming of our stories if we didn't want to be a great writer. We wouldn't spend hours perfecting our craft. Hours of staring at a blank screen, a blank page. Hours of thoughtfully creating a character till we feel like they are our best friend.

Then what makes great writing?

I listed a lot of components of excellent writing above, but if they don't have one thing, then they merely stop at excellent writing. And we want great writing.

What is that thing?

Heart. Soul. Passion.

If your writing doesn't feel as if you've written it with your whole heart and soul poured on it, then it isn't great writing. When you write with your heart you get great writing. It may have errors in the structure, you might have inconsistency, but if you write with your soul, those things can be easily fixed.

If we don't write with our heart, if we don't pour our soul into what we write, then the reader will notice. It won't matter if everything else is perfect, if you don't have that connection with what you're writing, then your story will feel, well, empty.

When you do write with your heart. When you put your everything into it. When you have given everything you can give. Then, then my friends, you will not just have an excellent story, you will have a masterpiece.

What is a story that you have really given your everything to? Do you do anything to really connect with your story on a deeper level?