As tempting as it would be to simply fill this post with quotes - that would...rather defeat the purpose. Sort of. I still probably will - but I'll at least make an EFFORT to be...original.
Yes, that was intentional.
I'm not original. I'm not a good writer. There are so many more better writers than I that to attempt to compare myself to them, or to consider myself a writer at all seems almost presumptuous. Actually, it sounds incredibly presumptuous. And yet I do. Daily. I might not believe I write well - but I believe I am a writer.
Why?
What makes a writer?
As the original poster wrote: why do people write?
Why?
To tell a story? To shape a character? To build a word? To bash on someone? To get control of something?
Why?
That is the question...
There are two foundational things I learnt about writing: write what you know, and show - don't tell.
Write what you KNOW.
What is true, familiar, real, tangible to you. What is integral to you.
Most books have a meaning. Most GOOD books have a meaning. (Children's books don't count....) So no matter what one's intentions are in setting out to write a story, one will eventually set forth a theme. A meaning. A message.
Hannah Joy summed it up MUCH better than my rambling attempts did:
write the truth.
Write what is real, what is foundational. Don't whitewash things,
deny uncomfortable or controversial truths – just write. If you're
writing – you've got a story.
TELL IT!
If you have a story begging to be told, pulling from everything you
see and feel, pouring out of you whenever it has the chance – tell
it. Don't care what it's inspired by, don't care what it's similar to
– just write it.
There's a reason stories repeat through the decades. There's a reason
some themes never grow old.
Truth...doesn't fade. And that's what we should write – that's what
writers should tell. They should paint the truth. Write it blatantly, write it subtly, write it in greyscale, write it in technicolour, write it harsh, and write it soft.
It doesn't matter how you tell it - just tell it.
Writers have a responsibility in a way. So often, people read books to escape. They read books to cope. They read stories about knights and princesses and escape their lives for a time. They read stories about families and battles; and they take the lessons learnt back with them into their day to day lives.
I deny what I fear, what I don't expect. I deny it so that I don't
get hurt when I don't get it. I'm a child – fearing change.
So I deny love and romance because all I see is the shallow, physical
medium; and I understand that I am not good enough to merit anything
deeper. And I don't want the world's 'love'. I don't want the world's
friendship that is self-serving. I don't want the world's truth that
is changeable and dependent on itself – on circular reasoning
almost.
But I deny fairytales. I deny the love and friendship's I long for
because I don't want to expect something that won't happen. I don't
want to expect something that will just pass me by.
And yet I still believe in it. Yet I still long for it.
I just...choose to deny it. To push it away rather than....wanting
it.
I suppose in even REALISING what I am doing, I'm failing at denying it but....
Does it hurt less to long for something you don't think you're good enough to get; or to go through the world cynically insisting that that what you long for doesn't exist? Which makes more sense? Which is right?
...So this post got completely off-track....
Anyway!!
Back to the responsibility of a writer.
By the way. I have ALSO failed in not filling the post with quotes.....
There have always been stories. Folk tales, oral tradition, legends, myths....
"And some things, that should not have been forgotten, were lost...."
Sorry. Too perfect.
Children read stories. They read them and learn about kindness, obedience, love, family, trust - all good things. They learn as much - if not more - from stories that they do from the example of the world around them. To children, a story is often more REAL than the world around them.
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| made by Angelique |
Children see creatures in the closet, beasts beneath the bed, monsters moving the moon... Even without reading fiction, without hearing fairy stories, children have an imagination. Children are born able to see what isn't there - to tell stories of their own.
Some are better at stories than other. Some are better at imaginings.
"Train up your child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
Just because children have to go to school, just because they stop talking to their imaginary friend - it doesn't mean they stop reading or they forget the stories.
(Think of the creepiest story you've heard and TRY to tell me you forget stories.....)
The difference between a fictional role model and a real person is miniscule - many time, a 'real' person, is dead and so exactly the same as a fictional person. Everyone chooses someone to look up to. Everyone chooses someone to imitate. Everyone chooses someone to serve and to love.
Even if it is just subconsciously.
But readers can look up to Valjean's utter selflessness stemming from the desire to redeem himself. They can look up to Denethor's desire to protect and glorify his country. They can admire Eustace's logical and grounded point of view on things. They can praise Jane's ability to see good in everyone. They can imitate Sgt. Renfrew's devotion to duty and fellow man at all costs.
They can condemn Boromir's actions against Frodo. They can detest Lizzie's pride. They can be disgusted at Marius' weak loyalty. They can rant against Stark's entire personality.
But they will choose one way or another.
And most will choose based on their life - on what THEY know.
So writers have the responsibility to the readers. Writers hold the key to a gate - they open the gate.
Why do we write?
To tell the truth.
We write to show the world the truth, what is real. We write to show them the REAL world.
Make it blatant, make it subtle - but put it in there.
There's a story I read once that introduced me to all of the rest of C.S. Lewis' books, as well as several other excellent stories. It was the story that....pointed me to truth. Literally.
"Meditation" in a Minor Key by Joe Wheeler.
It's about a concert pianist that doesn't believe in God, and his ex-girlfriend after she turns down his proposal because he's not saved sends him books. She sends him short stories. She sends him the Chronicles of Narnia. She sends him Pilgrim's Progress. She sends him Van Dyke's story The Mansion. She sends him the Space Trilogy. She sends him other books along the same order.
All Christian books. All illustrating God.
And in the end?
The books and the fiction stories and the fantasies did what nothing else could and brought him to Christ.
That.
That is why we write.
That is why we tell stories.
That is why we build worlds, why we breathe life into characters.
Words have power. More than we know sometimes.
I found this quote while looking for another one and....
Likewise, it's true.
Just as we write to show the world to others - we write to show it to OURSELVES!!
(Prime example: me. And my writing. And...how much I have learnt just from writing it out.)
And....I will leave it at that.
My poor rendition of my thoughts...
Thank you for permission!!
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I love comments and will always reply with SOMETHING. Welcome to my ramblings - we're all mad here.....