M.Z.ZULFI
'Why do you write?' the question often been asked by my friends and other well-wishers. Speaking truth; I too have pondered over this question quite a number of times. Why does a writer write? Is it for earning his livelihood? Of course not. How many writers can make a living out of writing, especially in India? I think you can count them on your fingers.
Does a writer write to make money? Here too the answer is an emphatic no. Money may be a welcome corollary to writing but it can never be the main objective. Even if a writer is naïve enough and makes earning money his sole aim, he will fall flat on his face sooner than later. How many writers actually end up making big money?
Does a writer write for fame? Hardly. How many writers are able to seduce the elusive lady we call fame? Just a handful. For the rest it is a seemingly endless tryst with anonymity.
If it is not for a living, nor money or fame, why the hell does a writer write? I think because he has to. And the compulsion is not from without, it is from within. Even if he doesn't get money, or name or fame he will write. Even if people think it's a waste of time, even if his friends thinks he is a wastrel and his mother is sure he is insane, he will write. Even if he is starved of praise, his waste paper basket is full of rejection slips, and his friends think he is unreadable, he will write. Even if the world regards him as a failure and his writing as escapism he will write.
When I talked about this topic to my Idol rather Guru; I was guided towards immortal words of George Orwell,
"All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lay a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some powerful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one was not driven by some demon that one can neither resist nor understand."
Many people think writing is fun or it is easy. Some even regard writing as a part time hobby; which writing is not. All they see the writer doing is scribbling in his notebook or hammering away at the key board and more often than not staring out of the window or into space. They don't realize that for a writer there are no holidays. 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year and 366 if it's a leap year, it is work, backbreaking, gut wrenching, soul stirring work. Red Smith hammers home this point when he says, "There is nothing to writing; all you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." Gene Fowler put its even better, "Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until little drops of blood form on your forehead."
My dear respected, genius writers if my words have left you feeling a trifle depressed and desolate, cheer up. Even if the world doesn't acknowledge you now, one day it will. Your words will live far longer than you. The great novelist of times Bud Gardner writes, "When you speak, your words echo only across the room or down the hall; but when you write, your words echo down the ages."
Writing is not so difficult:
The art of good writing comes from the artist within. All humans have the ability to become great authors, poets, artists and musicians, etc., so why do most folks find it such a difficult task? Why do many people say I could never be a writer or I could never aspire to write poetry? And why do folks who do write get discouraged when their work is rejected?
Just writing worthy, meaningful, literature will not get the success it deserves unless we possess the resolve to carry on writing in spite of the critics. There will always be those who criticize a writer, no matter how well the composition. Rejection is an everyday experience for most writers. This is a joy we must accept and grow from. Just because someone does not like our essay does not mean it has no value. It means it was not acceptable to the editor or book reviewer who was reading the essay.
We can do two things when we are constantly being rejected. We can give up and say it was not meant to be. Alternatively, we can say, "How do I become a better writer and have my work accepted by more of the 'establishment?'" Once a small section of the general public starts to take an interest in our writing, the sheep mentality of the "establishment" will no doubt follow. It always has. It always will. Success breeds success.Until we can find the inner core of creativity and start to write from the soul, we will never become great writers. We may achieve a modicum of success by writing a few columns for a newspaper or magazine but that could keep us in a vacuum. We can scrape a living, but may not amass a fortune, for we are trying to write and trying will never cut the mustard.The secret to excellent writing is to enjoy with ecstatic abandonment each letter and syllable we put down on paper. The pure joy of writing makes us successes; nothing else will. Those who tell us we have to struggle and sweat have not rasped true meaning in their lives. We need no approval of any human to be a success but the only thing we need is appreciation. But take appreciation as comments otherwise will Allah forbid lead you to egotism; in other words downfall.
'Why do you write?' the question often been asked by my friends and other well-wishers. Speaking truth; I too have pondered over this question quite a number of times. Why does a writer write? Is it for earning his livelihood? Of course not. How many writers can make a living out of writing, especially in India? I think you can count them on your fingers.
Does a writer write to make money? Here too the answer is an emphatic no. Money may be a welcome corollary to writing but it can never be the main objective. Even if a writer is naïve enough and makes earning money his sole aim, he will fall flat on his face sooner than later. How many writers actually end up making big money?
Does a writer write for fame? Hardly. How many writers are able to seduce the elusive lady we call fame? Just a handful. For the rest it is a seemingly endless tryst with anonymity.
If it is not for a living, nor money or fame, why the hell does a writer write? I think because he has to. And the compulsion is not from without, it is from within. Even if he doesn't get money, or name or fame he will write. Even if people think it's a waste of time, even if his friends thinks he is a wastrel and his mother is sure he is insane, he will write. Even if he is starved of praise, his waste paper basket is full of rejection slips, and his friends think he is unreadable, he will write. Even if the world regards him as a failure and his writing as escapism he will write.
When I talked about this topic to my Idol rather Guru; I was guided towards immortal words of George Orwell,
"All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lay a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some powerful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one was not driven by some demon that one can neither resist nor understand."
Many people think writing is fun or it is easy. Some even regard writing as a part time hobby; which writing is not. All they see the writer doing is scribbling in his notebook or hammering away at the key board and more often than not staring out of the window or into space. They don't realize that for a writer there are no holidays. 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year and 366 if it's a leap year, it is work, backbreaking, gut wrenching, soul stirring work. Red Smith hammers home this point when he says, "There is nothing to writing; all you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." Gene Fowler put its even better, "Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until little drops of blood form on your forehead."
My dear respected, genius writers if my words have left you feeling a trifle depressed and desolate, cheer up. Even if the world doesn't acknowledge you now, one day it will. Your words will live far longer than you. The great novelist of times Bud Gardner writes, "When you speak, your words echo only across the room or down the hall; but when you write, your words echo down the ages."
Writing is not so difficult:
The art of good writing comes from the artist within. All humans have the ability to become great authors, poets, artists and musicians, etc., so why do most folks find it such a difficult task? Why do many people say I could never be a writer or I could never aspire to write poetry? And why do folks who do write get discouraged when their work is rejected?
Just writing worthy, meaningful, literature will not get the success it deserves unless we possess the resolve to carry on writing in spite of the critics. There will always be those who criticize a writer, no matter how well the composition. Rejection is an everyday experience for most writers. This is a joy we must accept and grow from. Just because someone does not like our essay does not mean it has no value. It means it was not acceptable to the editor or book reviewer who was reading the essay.
We can do two things when we are constantly being rejected. We can give up and say it was not meant to be. Alternatively, we can say, "How do I become a better writer and have my work accepted by more of the 'establishment?'" Once a small section of the general public starts to take an interest in our writing, the sheep mentality of the "establishment" will no doubt follow. It always has. It always will. Success breeds success.Until we can find the inner core of creativity and start to write from the soul, we will never become great writers. We may achieve a modicum of success by writing a few columns for a newspaper or magazine but that could keep us in a vacuum. We can scrape a living, but may not amass a fortune, for we are trying to write and trying will never cut the mustard.The secret to excellent writing is to enjoy with ecstatic abandonment each letter and syllable we put down on paper. The pure joy of writing makes us successes; nothing else will. Those who tell us we have to struggle and sweat have not rasped true meaning in their lives. We need no approval of any human to be a success but the only thing we need is appreciation. But take appreciation as comments otherwise will Allah forbid lead you to egotism; in other words downfall.
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