The Voice of Reason

One of the most difficult and most frequently asked questions in the world is, ‘why?’. More specifically, ‘why write?’. And I say, indeed, why write? What is the reason? There is, of course, the motivation, for motivation and writing go hand in hand, but what is the reason to write? Some say that motivation and reason are one and the same but I beg to differ.

Motivation is inspiration and ideas. Motivation is the bird that flits past your window, or the blade of grass tilted slightly more the left than all the other blades of grass. Motivation is the buoy you see sitting alone on the bay: swaying back and forth in a sad sort of motion. Motivation is a comment you heard on the bus this morning. Motivation is a dream you had the other night. Motivation is someone being pulled over for speeding. Motivation is that one idea you have which becomes a seven hundred page novel, and later on an award-winning movie.

Now imagine you have just finished scribing that seven hundred page novel and days, months, perhaps even years have passed since the original motivation ebbed into your creative mind on a cool summer evening. You sit down in front of the hearth, happily, with a glass of scotch in your hand and a sweet cigar in your mouth. You contemplate on you just-finished novel. You do not yet know that it will be published and it will be an award-winning movie. For all you know you may have just wasted seven hundred perfectly good pieces of paper on something that is nothing more than the simple ramblings of an under-accomplished writer.

Why did you write this possible masterpiece? What was the reason for it? Obviously you wrote it because you had motivation and the idea needed to escape, but what now? Why did you put this down on paper? Moreover, why seven hundred pieces of paper? You could have simply let the idea rot in a journal or waste away on your voice recorder as a forgotten memo. But for some reason this one idea escaped the confines of your journal prison and elaborated itself on the seven hundred pages which sit upon your writer’s desk at this moment. This idea is a story of adventure and excitement, wile and wit, and betrayal. But what purpose does it serve? Why did you write it? It’s not even true.

I told you that, ‘why’ is one of the world’s hardest questions to answer.

And yet, the reason for writing is so simple. If you write, you have a talent, whether you are a, ‘good’ writer or not. You have the inspiration and the motivation to write, so do it. Even if one writes tales of lore and fantasy, there is always a lesson to be learned from the tale. I myself read many fantasy novels, and many a time have learned more life lessons in one reading then in a week of schooling. The purpose of writing is to inspire and bring joy to others. (However, if you really want to get technical, why do anything? You only die and leave everything behind anyway. Isn’t why such a tricky question?) Write to entertain. Make people cry, make children laugh, make old folks reminisce, and give people a reason to read. Do not write to create another dust collector or shelf filler. Use your inspiration to create inspiration.

Why write? Why not? You have nothing to lose.