"...there's no getting around the fact that setting words on paper is the tactic of a secret bully, an invasion, an imposition of the writer's sensibility on the reader's most private space."
How cool is that? I think that is so awesome to think about. Anything I read is "an invasion" into my mind, and every time something I have written is read, I am invading the minds of others.
It sounds like science-fiction or something, but it's true. Every time we read something, we filter it with the knowledge and opinions we already have. Sometimes, though, those things we read can really impact our thoughts and help us to create new ones.
In the same way, each and every time we write something we let the page be the mediator and tool by which we dive into our readers' minds.
That should be why we write: in order to impact our readers' thoughts with our own. Writing is always so much better when it has a cut, clear purpose embedded throughout the words. So why would anyone want to write something that really has no goal or purpose? Such writing is a waste of time.
Writing is not a way of saying, "I have all the answers! Listen to me!" Many times people write to simply develop more ideas and thoughts. Joan talks about a novel she wrote, and how she had so many questions about her characters while writing her book. She kept writing and finished the story to answer her own questions that developed. She wrote in order to discover.
Excellent post, Pearl.
ReplyDeleteI also quite like the way Didion characterizes writing; it makes those of us who write a lot sound...well, cooler : )
>>That should be why we write: in order to impact our readers' thoughts with our own. <<
This is a rhetorical way of looking at writing - as inherently purposeful and audience-based. This also reflects the way writing is fundamentally communicative - it's always addressed to someone, even if that someone is only you or an unconcretized Other. So, in a way, the minute you write, you're not alone.