On Writing
My first thought is that this is completely stupid: a writer writing a story about writing stories. Well, I suppose it has to happen somehow, just as a factory may not make any usable product at all, but instead makes machine parts to be used in the machines in a different set of factories. So why writing? Writing, writing, writing…Why write?
I’d say I publish about an eighth of what I write, and only seek publication for about a fourth of it (not that I try particularly hard, anyway). So if I know beforehand that what I am writing will likely not be read, then why even write? Well, if I believe that life is meaningless, then why live? Yet, I continue to live anyway. So, if the writing all comes down to nothing, then I shall still write it.
Ever notice how novelists always seem so old and poets seem so young? Ha! I have a scientific explanation for this one: fluid intelligence is the brain capacity for reasoning and quick decision making and logic. It decreases with age (fluid intelligence peaks at about twenty years old). Thus, most poets - who write in complicated metaphors - compose their best works when they are younger. Yet, crystalized intelligence accounts for the novelists. Crystalized intelligence is the ability to retain facts and data, memorize grammar rules, and remember dates, events, and names. That actually tends to increase with age (until about eighty or so), and thus, most novelists compose their best works when they are in their later years. (I do hope that I am not offending any young novelists or elderly poets).
Do the mentally disturbed write better? Why does it seem that some of the greatest writers had some sort of disorder, to some capacity? Does one need to possess a disability to write? I should think not! In fact, I would argue that the main reason for which those individuals are so prominent is simply because the majority of the disabled do not write, so the few who do write well simply receive much publicity. Why do people think that having a mental struggle makes one an excellent artist somehow? (I mean, to be sure, there are indeed individuals who are excellent artists and have suffered mental trauma). But in my opinion, crediting the disability of a disabled author for their artwork is merely undermining the true artistic expression of the individual. Are they a good writer because they are disturbed? No. They are a good writer because they are a good writer.
So, let us simply conclude that mental fitness (or lack thereof) does not necessarily play a role in the ability of one to write (aside from the ability to understand grammar rules and to know how to spell and so forth). So why write, why write…To escape from this world? I will admit, there are individuals who I have heard claim that those who write simply to escape from the burdens of daily life are cowards. Ha! Preposterous. I would argue that, while not much of what I write I do so to escape this life, writing should serve as an escape window. Life is about how to get through it as comfortably as possible (thank you, John Stuart Mill), and if writing increases that comfort, then good for you, friend.
What about leaving a legacy? Well, if that were indeed the case, then some people have left behind some rather peculiar legacies. (I literally once read a review for a book about a woman who has a romantic affair with a tyrannosaurs rex…It received four stars…I will probably read it someday...). Perhaps it would be safe to assume that a legacy is not the main motive when it comes to writing.
Well, in another sense, why do anything? I suppose that to others, who would much rather be playing video games or football, I appear as a weirdo who knows not how to spend their time. It is true: hunching over a computer in dim light does not seem like the most pristine occupation, to say the least (and the amount of monetary compensation I have garnered over my entire writing career would reflect that…Maybe I should open a creamed spinach and mushroom stand in a preschool; I would make more money than I do now).
Right, so, once again, why even do anything? Hmm…Perhaps look at it this way: individuals have various reasons for writing. Perhaps one was assigned to write something for a school assignment or as part of their job, perhaps it was for fun, and perhaps it was simply to pass the time…People have different reasons for writing…The goal of this essay is as pointless as the creamed spinach and mushroom stand.
In other words, there is no single reason (nor any combination of reasons) for why some of humanity chooses to write: there are simply too many individuals to be placed under one category. We are unlike atoms that will react based on a predictable electron count…No…Rather, we are all different in our motives. Perhaps it is to escape from this world into another, perhaps it is for a commissioned assignment, perhaps it is because it is simply enjoyable, perhaps it is because (in some fantasy which the rest of us can only dream of) it actually makes the author generous amounts of money, perhaps it is because of Savant syndrome, perhaps it is because…Of…Of any number of things.
The fact is, we are writers. We have many titles: poet, novelist, technical writer, essayist, satirist, song artist, blasphemer, playwright, film writer, scribe, scholar, treaty drafter, script writer, public speaker…Authors. We are all authors. Do we each have one reason, one overarching motive, for why we write? No: we each have our own individual motives, and they tend to be many. In the end, a million-word novel is nothing if it is not written in a language that can be understood. So, at the end of the day, everyone has their reason. Anyone who says that there is one single trait that makes any author better than another, or some specific disposition or motivation that renders them excellent or brilliant, is (forgive my harsh rejection) dead wrong. We all have our reasons, and we all have our stories to tell…It was foolish to attempt to summarize the motivations for writing in a single essay…Please disregard this essay.