“I write because I would like to live forever” is a quote from the poets.org website. It is attributed to Alvin Feinman, the American poet who was a contributor to the Poetry Foundation (ref). It doesn’t quite describe why I write, but it would be pretty cool to have written something that transcends time and is still relevant after you’ve gone.
Another writer, perhaps at the opposite end of the spectrum to Fienman once said, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads only lives one”. This is of course, a quote from George R. R. Martin (of “Game of Thrones” fame) from “A Dance with Dragons.”
What a wonderful thing it would be to put words together into a story that someone will read that takes them to another place. The writer becomes the tour guide to take someone to destinations they might have never imagined and consider issues from perspectives that they might not have even know existed.
For me, writing is a creative outlet that allows me to take thoughts, extrapolate them and craft them into a story. I strongly believe that such stories should have dual roles; to entertain and educate. The best learning occurs almost by stealth. Seeds of ideas are sown; they grow into thoughts and if nurtured become independent from where they might have been initiated. The whole concept of growth, of intellect and thought relies on each layer of adding value to the previous.
I hope that in Darwin’s Wake, my first novel-length work of fiction I have entertained and sown seeds for readers to consider many dilemmas that cry out for creative solutions.
I also write to get thoughts out of my head onto a page, to bring stories to life, that may have otherwise not seen the light, a form of catharsis – but that’s a discussion for the next blog.
image: Bill The Eggman on Flickr
Interesting!