I sit down, cigarette smoke drifting all around me, thoughts continue to float through my mind. The question at hand presses, the answer almost impossible to qualify. What makes a good writer? What exactly makes a person a writer at all? Creativity? Popular interest? Writing for the public? For pleasure? With so many variables at play, the challenge to answer concisely becomes almost an impossible one. An argument could be made that anyone who has ever sat down and written a letter or has written anything of substance or purpose could be technically considered a writer. Though within that thought paradigm, it would seem to be pertinent to distinguish that being a writer, and being a good writer, are not mutually exclusive things.
Personally, I believe a writer first and foremost must enjoy what they are writing, they should write to address a public, but not write exclusively to please that public. What makes a writer adored is the energy, the essence of self inspiration, which the reader can feel as they read the words off the page. In an online TIME magazine interview, Michael Crichton, one of the most popular fiction writers today, divulges what drives his inspiration to write and what he decides to write about. When asked if he writes about topics that he likes or topics that interest the public, his answer was:
“I only write about what interests me. If I tried to guess what other people would like I think I'd be lost. As a rule, I generally feel when I'm working that nobody will be interested in what I am doing because it is too technical, or too obscure. Then the book comes out and people ARE interested” (Provost)
In agreement with Crichton, I have found in my limited writing experience that writing in the interest of one’s-self is much easier than writing in the interest of others. When writing about topics that interest me, topics that I chose to research and learn more about, the writing is much richer, more interesting, to not only myself but then in turn, for the reader as well. I put much more time and effort into it, and because of this the reader benefits, as they are able to see the enthusiasm and passion I put forth in my work. When I have to work with others’ topics and write on matters that are of no interest to me, that shows in my work as well, because that motivation, that drive to produce "magic" is absent.
To me, the harder question to answer materializes when I turn a topic such as this inward. For example, perhaps if I were to ask myself whether or not I feel I could be one of such individuals who possess the magical gift of storytelling. Although most of the time I may have a degree of self doubt when it comes to my work, privately in my own mind I also have in some weird and ironic way, a feel or sense of confidence. I feel like when I write, I can become the words. I don’t want anything committed to paper unless it is something I would want to read, hear, or say myself. I sit down, and allow the thoughts to move my hands over the keyboard. In doing so, the words that are output to the screen become my mind’s own personal dance. Words become life, and when people read them I want them to feel that life.
Ever since I was old enough to read I always thought that writers were marvellously inspiring people, so full of imagination and creativity, able to create stories that others want to read or hear again and again. I grew up in envy of those of whose stories I read, and always wanted to be one of those people who was able to create something that could lift the imaginations of people to see the visions that I see, to maybe even feel the feelings that I feel as I try to transcribe my mind's imagery on paper.
How do I feel about my writing? That’s a simple question. I am my writing. Creativity has been a part of me since birth in one form or another, and I am almost certain that I at least possess the potential to put some of the abundance of my imagination into words. In turn, perhaps even force the paper to dance to the song of those words in a silent hope that it will be enough to make the reader, not only feel that the story must go on, but, that they must know how it goes on as well.
A much more difficult challenge lies within the timing to the creation of such an enchantment, which I believe is also a significant factor in this creation of this beautiful art. Jason MacIsaac, a freelance writer, once said:
“The urge to write is an extremely delicate mindset. It comes and goes on a whim, and if you don't swim while the water's fine, you might not swim again for weeks. You have to keep conditions so that you can swim at a moment's notice, and do as much as you can to keep the atmosphere conducive to swimming.“ (MacIsaac)
MacIsaac's quote sums it up perfectly. I often feel as though I cannot just sit down and write whenever some one says to and then be able to kick something out, that I am proud of. I get urges, times when I feel that I could write anything and people would love it, regardless of genre, topic, or structure. But the opportunity to sit down at these times and just pound keys is not always possible. More often than not, so many ideas plague my mind’s eye, yet the time or ability to drop everything in order to further explore it, whatever "it" may be lacks. Conversely, when such exploration is possible, when I can detach from everything in order to dig deep within myself, it is there that I can find so many of those thoughts and feelings that are often running rampant inside in abundance. When the time is right, when the feeling of ability becomes me, I can put my fingers on the home row and open myself up to the imaginary paper on the screen, and I can start to spill.
I can write about things that never happened, I can write about things that have happened. I become completely unbiased, ready to splash my life out in ink, let the reader know who I am, give them a peak into my very soul no matter the angle, because I am ashamed of none of its truth. I do not have to hold myself back for anything or anyone. The screen forms no opinions as it allows me to tell my tales from start to finish. I can just allow myself to fall into that flow, to attach to it, and in doing so, become whatever the universe inspires me to be in those few, precious, peaceful moments.
Is it all of these things that make a good writer? Perhaps, yet perhaps not as well. Unfortunately, the answer will continue to allude. Why, because in the end, there are no specific or special ingredients required to make a writer good one or bad one. That designation can only be determined by those whom read the final product, and then estimate their own reaction, based on their own perspectives and perceptions. It is up to them to assign either an amount of value that reading said product gave to them, or left them wanting.
As such, it is to that end that this piece of my writing will also now leave you, not for forever, but until it is such a time to swim in the preverbal oceans of creative freedom once again. Until that time, there is no need to separate writing into such a box as good or bad, happy or sad, inspiring, or boring. There is only the need to continue to hone your craft, to experiment and to not be afraid to fail in any attempt to produce any such work that others will find amazing. Just write. Even if whatever you write lacks, sucks, or is found to be a complete jumble of incoherency and ramble, remember that it is still practice, and practice is necessary in the mastery of any skill that one values. If that skill is writing, then you are by living example, a writer.
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