Four Reasons To Write
Roger Rosenblatt "We write to make suffering endurable, evil intelligible, justice desirable and love possible...But the most important is love. That after all the suffering, all the injustice, all the evil that one sees in the world, if you can rise above it and make it beautiful, and thus lovable then that's worth a life." Excerpted from Roger Rosenblatt Outlines His Four Reasons To Write.
I don't know what I think until I see what I say
"This title is a declaration by the novelist Edward Morgan Forster (maybe known through some films based on his novels like A Passage to India, A Room with a View or Howards End).I found the quote in the book "You Won't Remember Me - The Schoolboys of Barbiana Speak to Today" written by Marvin Hoffman." Excerpt from Pino Fiermonte
Why write?
"The best thing about writing fiction is that moment where the story catches fire and comes to life on the page, and suddenly it all makes sense and you know what it's about and why you're doing it and what these people are saying and doing, and you get to feel like both the creator and the audience. Everything is suddenly both obvious and surprising ("but of course that's why he was doing that, and that means that...") and it's magic and wonderful and strange." (See Why Write? for remainder of this great article).Three Surprising Insights into Nicole Krauss' Writing Process
1. She does not believe in inspiration. Krauss says that she doesn’t know what inspiration is or where her writing will take her, even though readers say that her novels seem as if they must have been thoughtfully planned out before she began writing them. When the editors of The Best American Short Stories 2008 asked her to write a paragraph about the origin of her short story “From the Desk of Daniel Varsky” (which later became the first chapter of Great House), she struggled with the assignment at first. Then she looked up at her own monstrous desk, similar to the one in her fiction, and realized that the answer was staring her in the face." Excerpt - For the rest of the article see Three Surprising Insights
"Why write?" My answer is the same to "Why breathe?" Because I'll die if I don't.
ReplyDeleteAnna T.S.
Excellent post. I write because it's what I so, what I am. Not because it pays well. There are stories bursting to be told. And I'll burst if I don't write them.
ReplyDeleteYes, we mostly write because we have to and love it! Not sure if anyone starts out writing for $$ - well perhaps Dan Brown but even he probably writes because he loves writing.
ReplyDeleteI've always written in one form or another, but I'm not driven like many writers. I don't have voices in my head and I don't feel like MUST write.
ReplyDeleteI do it because I like the challenge. Can I take these ideas (plots) in my head and create that world and populate it with interesting people?
It has taken me a long time to see results from my labor - but I'm seeing them now and that makes me want to create more.
I'm with Neil Gaiman's when it comes to the magic. Those moments are so rare, but thrilling.
Great topic Lynne!