On Monday nights I get together with a few friends to exchange ideas about
writing and to exchange pieces that we have written. A few Mondays ago one of
those friends was having the most fundamental of creative writing problems.
"Why should I ever write anything?" she moaned. "Why should any
of us? No one wants to hear anything I have to say because I have nothing new to
say about any of it." After I, along with the rest of the group, tossed
some sympathetic and half-heartedly reassuring words to her I had a thought.
"Ultimately, everyone wants to feel like they are not alone. No matter how
right or how wrong we think our lives are going or how right or wrong our
thoughts are, we want to know that other people are there to support us because
they empathize with our experiences." What I was trying to explain is the
reasoning behind continuing to write creatively after thousands of years of
recorded literature. What I also realized is that, unless the subject deals with
some knew political or technological development, people have not really found
any new subjects about which to write. Love is still as wonderful and painful as
it has always been, death is still as mysterious, deception, betrayal,
adventure, none of these things has changed and yet they are among the most
commonly written on subjects. Why have we, as a race, not told ourselves that
there is no new subject about which we can write and therefore that we should
throw in the towel altogether? One reason may well be that humyns, in general,
are loathe to admit our shortcomings and are, therefore, ultimately arrogant.
But humyn beings are also ultimately lonely. Of course, there are many reasons
people read: seeking excitement, research, etc. But why, for example, read a
biography of a person you do not know? Because we want to relate to other
people. We want to feel good about ourselves as people by reading about the
happiness in another's life. We want to feel better about ourselves by reading
that someone else has the same problems as we. We tire of our own lives, we get
curious, we seek connection, and we want to hear stories about things that
others have done that we, perhaps, have not. It could be argued that all things
are actually interconnected on every level: We are all made of the same matter,
we all breathe the same air. We were all born from our mothers' bodies, we will
all some day die and fertilize the ground from which others will feed. However,
it is also arguable that the one level on which we may choose to be disconnected
is on the emotional level. Assuming that all with whom we connected as children
are no longer a part of our lives, we could choose to live in complete emotional
isolation. Some people do not even choose; it is somehow thrust upon them. And
this is why writing is so necessary. Writing is one of the most basic
substitutes for, as well as supplements of, humyn connection. And this is why,
no matter how long humyn existence continues, we will continue to write about
our individual experiences with the most universal themes. What drives me to
write about my humble experiences?