Why someone writes, in the most basic sense, is so they can
share information with other people. Why someone would love it is a totally
different thing. Authors Joan Diddion and George Orwell may agree with me that
there are particular reasons writers like you and me love to write, especially
since they both created pieces about why they write.
In
wondering why I write, or why I love it so, I like to pretend that the concept
goes beyond just putting words on a piece of paper, however, the physical
process is exactly where the affair begins. I love to write simply for the
magical science of being able to write. The thrill of thinking of letters,
words, sentences in my brain and watching them as the electric signals course
through my nerves turning thought into symbolic reality. The rush I get as my
right hand dances with my pen down a fresh sheet of paper, turning feelings and
emotions into what amounts to nothing more than scribbles is comparable to
none. There's a sort of psychological release after every ink blot seeps onto
my notebook.
I'll be the
first to admit that I'm not the most traditionally artistic person in the room,
but once those blots of black or blue ink form into some letters, those words
allow me to participate in artistic expression. The pen becomes my paintbrush
and allows me to turn images in my mind into words on a page. I love to write
because writing allows me to explore the artistic side of my brain and express
myself.
Writing, as
many may like to think, goes beyond the personal, that it has deeper meaning
for a culture, that a writer is going beyond themselves to make a statement. It
doesn't. Writers write for themselves. I writing this piece because I want you
to think that I'm right, that the reasons I love to write should be your
reasons too. I think that I have such a unique perspective on a subject that
you ought to think the same way, you should see it how I see it. As Diddion
says, it's all about I, I, I. Taking it a little further, think about when you
are or were in school and your assignment was to write an essay, whether it be
during an exam or as a term paper. You put in effort to convince your teacher
or professor that what you wrote was worth an A, you had to prove to him or her
that your ideas were above average. We're trained to write with a drive to
prove ourselves right, to have that feeling of having above average ideas.
Writing is so self serving in that manner. I love writing something and getting
that seal of approval from my audience.
the final
reason, my last personal reason for why I love to write is in search to answer
that one word question—why, why, why, that insufferable why. Writing is how I
make sense of the world and why my world is the way it is. Writing is how I
channel all the stimuli I receive day to day and attempt to organize it all
with in my mind. I'd say that most of the time, I'm writing so I can understand
myself and really get to know the perspective that lies deep within my brain,
try to truly discover and outline the edges of my imagination, or if there is
any kind of method to my madness that I have yet to discover. So far, I've
found no method, just madness.
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