A Wordless Writer
Project Title: Persuasive Essay
Project Type: Print Article for Social Media Marketing
The audience plays a crucial role in the method that writers choose to deliver their messages. On this topic, Billy Marshall Stoneking (aka William Randolph Marshall) had this to say, “The audience is your adversary…If it is an audience worthy of your talent and potential, it won’t let you slide by the lies, the laziness, the shortcuts. If you don’t take the audience seriously, you can be sure it will return the favor.” Which begs the question, what is a writer to do in a generation of non-readers? Nowadays, people tend to take the written word for granted. With all of our electronic sources of entertainment so readily available, literature has all but been forgotten. Few people take the time to wonder how it was that we managed to breed generation upon generation devoid of classic novelists and epic poets. Some would even go so far as to say that the written word is becoming obsolete. While this is true for factions of each age group, younger generations, in particular, tend to lean towards the idea that reading, especially something like a classic novel or collection of poetry, is utterly useless, unnecessary even. So then, what happens to the writers?
Maya Angelou once said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” These words come back to me as I ready myself for the long road to publication. Having yet to consider the realities of the situation, I now find myself at a loss. Hours upon hours of slaving away at the keyboard have finally produced a complete collection of poetry. As I near the golden gate of publication, I attempt to stifle the desperation within me to rework all of my pieces. I gaze in horror at the research in front of me detailing each step in the process of publication. Which road to take, self-publication, or traditional? There is no telling how either will end up and the path for self-publication illustrates a far more daunting task.
Self-doubt crawls its way out of my veins to whisper in my ear, This will never work. You don’t have what it takes. Taking a breath, I force it back to the recesses of my mind. I stand, determined against even my mind, to persevere. Maybe this won’t work. Maybe no one will read what I’ve written, but at least I will rest easier knowing that I didn’t back down from reaching the goal line. I write for me—at least that’s the thought process that is supposed to motivate me. Let’s be real though, a writer wants their works to be read. Otherwise, we would keep them hidden away in various notebooks tucked underneath mattresses or linens.
To sit down and put forth a novel, collection of poetry, or series of essays is not a simple task. This is especially difficult when faced with the idea that the work may not even be read, due to the lackluster attitude of the audience—an audience that prefers their daily dose of creativity in small, segmented social postings. This is the same audience that apologizes at the end of a post for its length, should it possibly span beyond a single page. Writers today are forced to dilute their works to meet this criterion. It makes one wonder why they choose to go through the trouble. If I spelled these words out in someone else’s voice, would they still be mine? Why write the words at all if they’ve lost the ability to hold any meaning? These thoughts circle constantly in my head, upending my resolution, as I near the possibility of publication.
Bear with me a moment. My next quote is rather long, but necessarily so. If I had edited it, the meaning would have lost its impact. Upon the subject of writing, Stephen King said this: “The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because your words diminish them—words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they’re brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly, only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you’ve said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That’s the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within, not for want of a teller, but for want of an understanding ear.”
As everyone recognizes, Stephen King is a wildly successful author. I was somewhat surprised to stumble across this quote from him. The quote perfectly illustrates the difficulty writers face, not only in putting their words onto paper but in handing those words off to others to misinterpret and criticize. Writing isn’t just about adding ink to the page. Maybe to a non-reader, that’s all that appears to be happening, but in reality, every word etched there is a piece of that particular writer’s self. To rephrase, a writer bears their soul for the world to judge. They do this because the act of choosing not to—to live with a story locked away in one’s head—results in far greater pain.
Without authors like Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Robert Frost, or Mark Twain the world would be a vastly different place. I wonder if perhaps that is the point of it all. Maybe we write, despite the audience’s acceptance—so that they may have a chance to see the unending worlds which are born from the breath of our minds. The true challenge is to maintain oneself in the face of the audience so that we might steer them towards that profound beauty. For those who don’t understand the purpose or allure of a good book, I have a quote from Cassandra Clare, “We live and breathe words…It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them. Reading your words, what you wrote, how you were lonely sometimes and afraid, but always brave; the way you saw the world, its colors, and textures and sounds, I felt—I felt the way you thought, hoped, felt, dreamt.”
A book is a portal to a different reality, a new world, a manner of exercising opinions or ideas that society may condemn. The people who chose to exercise this regardless of that potential condemnation have shaped and reformed society, though some may not have lived to see it. Authors can touch lives centuries after they’ve died. Our authors have contributed to the imagination and dreams of our children in a way that will carry them through to adulthood. It will influence the choices they make and the path they’ll end up walking. That’s the sort of writer I long to be, the sort of impact I hope to make. It’s doubtful that I’ll achieve such a monumental task anytime soon, certainly not from just one publication, but the hope will be my motivator. My road to proper publication might be tedious and long, but if I can remember to have a strength of spirit, who can say that I will not succeed? With that in mind, I’d like to end with a popular quote from Ernest Hemingway, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”