Writers script new tales : Why writers write?
Writers Script New Tales: The game of writing
Happy Deepavali
This article reminds one about writing, literature, books, many dilemmas of writers and publishers and in a way queries why people write, in the first place.
I recall that day in 2003 (I was already 59) when I decided to write at least 100 words a day, get published at least 200 words a week and a couple of articles in a year.
M G Warrier
Shri C V Subbaraman's response:
A writing when done for one's own satisfaction (you write something and read it after a day, after a week and after a month to yourself understand and appreciate or deprecate what you have written). Then if you feel satisfied about it you try to sell it,i.e, you send it to others close to you and wait for their reaction. You then evaluate yourself. If you get good reactions, you are encouraged and you begin writing on more topics or things. If you do not get good response, you may either give up writing or may take it as a challenge and persevere in writing. Either of these is possible. Charlotte Bronte is said to have abandoned writing poetry after she wrote two poems. She switched to prose!
If you write for someone else, you tend to become artificial. Your writing becomes contrived and unnatural like the Elegy written in a country church yard which Thomas Gray started writing in 1742 and ended in 1750! Yet, this is considered the best poem in English
language for several decades, and perhaps even today.
Once you write some thing you let the readers to take it or leave it. You move on, regardless of the public reaction, good or indifferent or adverse. If you publish them, they will be more additions to the shelves of a library and to your own literary manuscripts. Shakespeare wrote much in short time; he had to satisfy the need of enacting the tales in the Theatre. There was no time for him like Thomas Gray. But in that short period, Shakespeare produced wonders - really wonders - there might be no school or college teaching English as a subject which does not have one or the other works of Shakespeare as a lesson in the curriculum. His plays are enjoyed all over the world, some of the expressions used in the plays have become quotable quotes. There might be issues whether Shakespeare himself wrote them or some one else. But the value of the writings cannot be in doubt.
No man or woman thinks identically as another. So long as this individuality remains, writing will continue reflecting one's thought process for the benefit or amusement of others in the literary world. We should welcome this.
Subbaraman
Shri C V Subbaraman's response:
A writing when done for one's own satisfaction (you write something and read it after a day, after a week and after a month to yourself understand and appreciate or deprecate what you have written). Then if you feel satisfied about it you try to sell it,i.e, you send it to others close to you and wait for their reaction. You then evaluate yourself. If you get good reactions, you are encouraged and you begin writing on more topics or things. If you do not get good response, you may either give up writing or may take it as a challenge and persevere in writing. Either of these is possible. Charlotte Bronte is said to have abandoned writing poetry after she wrote two poems. She switched to prose!
If you write for someone else, you tend to become artificial. Your writing becomes contrived and unnatural like the Elegy written in a country church yard which Thomas Gray started writing in 1742 and ended in 1750! Yet, this is considered the best poem in English
language for several decades, and perhaps even today.
Once you write some thing you let the readers to take it or leave it. You move on, regardless of the public reaction, good or indifferent or adverse. If you publish them, they will be more additions to the shelves of a library and to your own literary manuscripts. Shakespeare wrote much in short time; he had to satisfy the need of enacting the tales in the Theatre. There was no time for him like Thomas Gray. But in that short period, Shakespeare produced wonders - really wonders - there might be no school or college teaching English as a subject which does not have one or the other works of Shakespeare as a lesson in the curriculum. His plays are enjoyed all over the world, some of the expressions used in the plays have become quotable quotes. There might be issues whether Shakespeare himself wrote them or some one else. But the value of the writings cannot be in doubt.
No man or woman thinks identically as another. So long as this individuality remains, writing will continue reflecting one's thought process for the benefit or amusement of others in the literary world. We should welcome this.
Subbaraman
M G Warrier's reply:
Many thanks for the detailed thoughtful response.
I look at writing as a healthy timepass. Sharing and getting published sometimes happen just like that. In fact, on financial issues, letters becoming articles and collection of articles becoming books, in my case, wouldn't have happened, but for the brotherly pressure from S S Tarapore. Even today, when I write on financial sector or central banking issues, I spend some time thinking what SST will think, if he read what I wrote. Our interaction remained live till end-January, 2015. SST passed away on February 4, 2016.
M G Warrier
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