This connects so much to visual art too. The paintings people react to most are rarely the technically perfect ones, they’re the ones with specific human texture. A wrinkled bedsheet. Half-finished coffee. A posture that feels emotionally familiar. Tiny details create atmosphere because they imply a life outside the frame. Reading this made me realize specificity is really just attention applied honestly. Thank you Idris Elijah helping me see how relatability can be applied to my visual art!
I’ve written lyrics before that technically said the feeling without actually making anybody feel it. The difference between “I miss you” and leaving someone’s side of the closet untouched is the difference between labeling emotion and creating emotional imagery. That’s something I’ve been trying to train my ear toward lately. Less explanation and more emotional evidence. These are great tips for my songwriting Idris Elijah, thank you for sharing them today!
The part about people communicating around emotion instead of directly through it really got me. My daughter can always tell when I’m stressed even when I say “I’m fine,” and it made me think about how much humans pick up through behavior instead of words. That’s probably why specific details in stories feel so real to us. They mirror the way we actually experience people in real life. Thank you Idris Elijah for another informative and thought provoking read!
This captures something I think many writers slowly realize but struggle to articulate: abstraction often sounds intelligent while hiding emotional distance. Specificity requires vulnerability because details expose the writer’s actual perception. The strongest line in the entire newsletter for me was “voice lives inside precision.” That feels true not just stylistically, but psychologically. You can feel when somebody is writing from observation versus emotional self-protection. Thank you Idris Elijah for these insights that I will apply to my own writing!
You’re most welcome, Chloe! Yeah, sometimes you gotta throw a little bit of yourself in it. Give it life. Makes it more real. And readers feel that stuff. 🤩🤩🤩
This is one of the strongest newsletters you’ve written on emotional specificity so far. The line about “drive safe” made me pause because it perfectly captures how people communicate around feelings instead of through them. I’ve noticed in my own writing that the moments I almost cut for being too specific are usually the ones people respond to most. Probably because they feel observed instead of manufactured. That distinction really stayed with me here and I’ll be sure to reference today’s issue in my future work. Thank you Idris for introducing another valuable topic to the community!
This connects so much to visual art too. The paintings people react to most are rarely the technically perfect ones, they’re the ones with specific human texture. A wrinkled bedsheet. Half-finished coffee. A posture that feels emotionally familiar. Tiny details create atmosphere because they imply a life outside the frame. Reading this made me realize specificity is really just attention applied honestly. Thank you Idris Elijah helping me see how relatability can be applied to my visual art!
You’re most welcome Jody. I really love this for you. You’re realization and what you plan to do with it. Right on! 🤗🤗🤗
I’ve written lyrics before that technically said the feeling without actually making anybody feel it. The difference between “I miss you” and leaving someone’s side of the closet untouched is the difference between labeling emotion and creating emotional imagery. That’s something I’ve been trying to train my ear toward lately. Less explanation and more emotional evidence. These are great tips for my songwriting Idris Elijah, thank you for sharing them today!
I love it when we can cross pollinate knowledge between disciplines. And you’re so right with lyric writing. So great! 🤩🤩🤩
The part about people communicating around emotion instead of directly through it really got me. My daughter can always tell when I’m stressed even when I say “I’m fine,” and it made me think about how much humans pick up through behavior instead of words. That’s probably why specific details in stories feel so real to us. They mirror the way we actually experience people in real life. Thank you Idris Elijah for another informative and thought provoking read!
You’re most welcome! And you’re right. It’s really all in the details. Truly. 🤩🤩🤩
This captures something I think many writers slowly realize but struggle to articulate: abstraction often sounds intelligent while hiding emotional distance. Specificity requires vulnerability because details expose the writer’s actual perception. The strongest line in the entire newsletter for me was “voice lives inside precision.” That feels true not just stylistically, but psychologically. You can feel when somebody is writing from observation versus emotional self-protection. Thank you Idris Elijah for these insights that I will apply to my own writing!
You’re most welcome, Chloe! Yeah, sometimes you gotta throw a little bit of yourself in it. Give it life. Makes it more real. And readers feel that stuff. 🤩🤩🤩
This is one of the strongest newsletters you’ve written on emotional specificity so far. The line about “drive safe” made me pause because it perfectly captures how people communicate around feelings instead of through them. I’ve noticed in my own writing that the moments I almost cut for being too specific are usually the ones people respond to most. Probably because they feel observed instead of manufactured. That distinction really stayed with me here and I’ll be sure to reference today’s issue in my future work. Thank you Idris for introducing another valuable topic to the community!
You’re most welcome Brian, thank you for the kind worked and awesome thoughts! 🤗🤗🤗