I’m kind of boring to most people. For things to make sense to my hectic brain I make lists. And lists. And lists of lists. I’m a list kind of person. So I didn’t plunge into one topic immediately. I took the majority of the works from New York Times database and organized them. I didn’t read every one of them thoroughly, I just skimmed it and put each applicable source into one of the four “boxes” I had created: how to conquer writer’s block, what makes a good novel, what makes good journalistic writing, and why do we as writers write.
From my own categorical index, I looked at which sources there were and which ones were the best. Writer’s block had some sources, but I felt that my strongest topics would be either what makes a good novel or the idea behind why authors feel the need to write.
At the end of the day, understanding why authors’ write, especially fiction writers, stood out the most. Fiction writing, or writing in general, can be a frustrating craft, filled with twists and turns and cravases that never cease to upend the reader and writer of the plot so scrupulously intertwined into the gray matter of the author.
The biggest theme that has emerged from this is that we write because we can’t do anything else. My favorite source is by Carolyn Chute. In this source, she describes the typewriter as screaming at her, even as reality gets in the way. The typewriter begs and whimpers and screams at her for her ideas, but there’s not always time to write. But that’s why authors have to write. Because their own minds scream for the ideas to be let out and bled onto the paper.
This is true for any writer, nonfiction or fiction. When authors’ get an idea, you can’t just let go of it. You long for the smell of the ink on freshly printed paper so finally, your ideas are tangible.
This isn’t just a topic for me. I know that for me, every inch of my soul is scrawled on every letter of everything I write. I understand why I write, but I want to understand why others write.
Wonderful Writing 