Rene Descartes famously said, “I think, therefore I am.”
I would like to add a corollary to this: “I read, therefore
I write.”
When I read, I am pulled into whatever world the author has
created. Every story, even if I’ve read
it a hundred times before, becomes an out of body experience for me. Even
mediocre stories can take me out of reality for a while in a way that the
most immersive movie experience can’t.
My mind is trudging along next to Sergeant Vimes, feeling
the cobblestones of the streets of Ankh Morpork under my thin-soled shoes, when
I read Terry Pratchett’s Guards! Guards!
My heart tumbles right with Eve and Roarke’s when I read
J.D. Robb’s Naked In Death.
I’m reading over Candy Foster-Smith’s shoulder as she writes in her journal about post-apocalyptic America every time I open the
cover of David R. Palmer’s Emergence.
My pulse pounds with fear and excitement during that final
battle for Gondor as I devour J.R.R. Tolkein’s Return of the King—a book
I’ve read at least once a year since I was ten years old.
And that’s why I write.
It’s not because I have a million and one stories bopping
around in my head like kids jacked up on Mountain Dew and Pixie Stix…although
that is a factor!
I’d like to be published.
I’d like to be one of the few authors
who “make it” and become seriously rich.
I’d like to make it a career.
I’d like to be one of the few authors
who “make it” and become seriously rich.
I’d like to make it a career.
But I don’t need those things.
No.
I write because I need to recreate
that feeling of experiencing a different reality
vicariously through the characters on the page.
I write because I need to recreate
that feeling of experiencing a different reality
vicariously through the characters on the page.
My goal when I write is to draw others,
willingly or no,
into the world I’ve created.
I’m a
wannabe literary kidnapper.
This post is my response to a prompt from Write On Edge to write about our writing goals. Sure I want to be published. Sure I want to have my writing on the New York Times Bestseller List (although the shine is off that one a bit ever since I saw Twilight up there, I have to admit). But mostly? Mostly I'm looking to abscond with your mind, your heart, and your soul.
Love the
ReplyDelete"I’m a wannabe literary kidnapper" line. Absolutely perfect!
You should be glad that you write because you want to create, and not because you want to be published...perhaps then it will seem less like a job and more like a blessing. Good luck to you.
ReplyDeleteI love that. Wannabe literary kidnapper :) i think at the core that's what all authors and writers are
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful way to put it! I think that desire to write is greater than the desire to publish for most writers. It's like breathing.
ReplyDelete"I write because I need to recreate
ReplyDeletethat feeling of experiencing a different reality
vicariously through the characters on the page."
Oh, yeah!
And "literary kidnapper?" Awesome!
This is the second great slogan I've read today! Love it!
ReplyDeleteLiterary kidnapper - what a great description. I love your goals here.
ReplyDelete