I’m not here this week, which is why you can’t see me right now.
But that doesn’t mean the conversation won’t go on. We’ve been talking this month about How You First Got into Writing and How Many Degrees of Separation You Are from Your Literary Idols.
And today I’m going to ask you to bare your soul:
What does writing mean to you?
I do so much of this work—and have been doing it for so very long—sometimes I lose track of what it means to me in the greater scheme of things. I’ll be drawing cartoons with my son, or reading something wonderful about gardening, or fainting over the glasswork of Dale Chihuly, and I’ll think, Fabulous! Now I know what I want to do with my life!
I forget, for a moment, that I’m into the second half of my personal century and that means—guess what?—I already decided what I want to do with my life.
And I talk about it all. . .the. . .time.
So I have to take a little while to sit down, be quiet, and remember why. What is it about writing? What is it, specifically, about storytelling? Why do I do what I do?
It’s the truth inside it. The truth about being alive.
Storytelling (as we’ve been discussing on the lab this week) is the perfect marriage of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. At this point in the history of literature, we’ve honed this profound art to a craft of exquisite proportions. We know so much, now, about creating effects through the written word. We’ve developed so many techniques for inspiring visceral responses in readers. A great many of those techniques we can use with mathematical precision, the tangible formula of human experience.
We are such simple creatures, really. Just the two parts: the body, which responds to exquisite craft, and the soul, which responds to art.
I love that storytelling makes sense of life by making a pattern of the two halves. In a world where every aspect of reality creates the inherent need for its opposite, only in philosophy and art can we ever hope to transcend such impossible paradox.
And in storytelling, we get to transcend it with words.
I love paradox. I love words. But most of all, I love using words to transcend paradox, to cast myself out of the limits of reality into a greater truth beyond.
That’s why I’m here.
What does writing mean to you?
I love this question and I think it’s one that all writers should ask themselves every few years (or months?). There are probably many answers that I could give, but for me, writing and storytelling are ultimately about making connections. Through stories, we connect with characters, readers, other writers, other cultures, ideas (themes), and truths. A truly great story makes me feel like I intimately know someone or everyone. There is a special kind of magic in that.
Yes, Melissa—connecting as human beings. I absolutely agree. That’s the magic we’re in this for!
“We are such simple creatures, really. Just the two parts: the body, which responds to exquisite craft, and the soul, which responds to art.”
I just love this statement!
What does writing mean to me? Wow. I don’t even know where to begin. Writing helps me try and make sense of this crazy world. Writing helped me through some of my darkest days. Writing is an extension of who I am. Without it I feel utterly incomplete.
I think writing is the most beautiful and telling way to make sense of this crazy world, Carrie Annabelle. Truly. Other arts have their own profound ways of doing it, but for me the words reveal the real complexity inside it all.
Why must I write? I can NOT not write. I am compelled to do it. My writing helps me explain my life to me.
Ah! bekah! Lovely. We’re all of the same mind here, aren’t we? We need to explain our lives to ourselves.
I agree with Bekah. For me, I cannot help but write. Even before I dubbed myself a writer, I kept a journal and communicated best with others via letter/e-mail/writing.
You know, ME, journaling is one of the best ways to sharpen your skills over the years. It teaches you to develop the habit of noticing and recording the details of life.
I have always had an affair with my pen. Before computers I would buy as many of my favorite pens as possible in every color, thin sharpie’s are my pen of choice. At any time you can search my purse and find at least 5 different colored ones. I used to write in black composition books and create short stories or write pieces of dialogue of a character in my mind. As a student I would scribble things down along side of my note-taking. My teachers would always ask me, “now what was that along the margin?” Now with the computer I stare at the screen, my canvas and I try to create what I see in my mind. My desire is great and I often am torn with what I have to do and what I wish to do – which is to write. I’m not saying I can do it well, I know I have alot to learn and I’m humbled every time I read something grand or read Victoria’s blog. The words just flow easily and I am in awe. I have learned so much from her, yet have so far to go.
Even if I never get published, I shall always write. It is my escape and it brings me true joy.
🙂
“now what was that along the margin?” That’s hilarious, Lisa.
I’ve always wanted to but much like my other relationships in life, it has been off and on with depression and anger when I don’t and frustratingly happy moments when I write and create. I think through all the growing and changing, I can accept this is the route I must be on now to accept myself as a person.
Great topic, certainly gets the mind working as far as what this is all for. Thanks for sharing this with us!
Oh, Leif, everyone who writes over the long term has their phases when they’re dealing with other things. That’s how you know you’re serious about it—when you realize you just keep coming back.
I use writing as a medium to tell stories and entertain myself and hopefully others as well. Writing for me is a means to communicate my ideas and thoughts, examine different possibilities and allow free rein to my imagination. It brings me in contact with many like minded people and helps me grow as an individual.
It’s wonderful how entertaining it is to write, isn’t it, Prem? And the different possibilities that open up inside you reveal more and more facets to life itself.