Dear Reader,
Do you love writing? I do. That is why, around six years ago, I wrote a small piece on the Why of Writing. On why I want to write, and why I want to keep writing. You can read this past distillation of my writing mission, here.
I happened to share my "writing why" with one of my professors, a few days back. She got back to me: "I understand why you want to write, but the corollary has not been explained, Why Should Anybody Read You?"
This is hence a first attempt to explore this question: Why Should Anybody Read Me?
Who is it Who Writes What I Write?
This is one of the many interesting questions this raises. Is it I who write what I write? Or are my writings written in fact by you and me, and many others who are a part of our collective existence? I think only a writer who shields himself in a cocoon can rightfully claim that his writings are written by him; even in this case, one can argue that the writer owes his solitary journey to the environment outside him that kept a distance from him!
Writing, like most other human endeavours, is thus a shared creation. To use a Newtonian phrase that I love too much to not keep repeating, most writing involves a fair share of climbing on and standing on the shoulders of giants.
While this phenomenon of co-creation is not new, it is being facilitated by the arrival of the World Wide Web, and in many arenas of life, as pointed out by renowned management thinker late C. K. Prahalad. Take this very post, which owes its origin - a digital origin - to my professor. Reality is thus socially constructed; yes, this includes the documented reality of the world of writing too. So...
Yes, the writer does write;
but no, it is not the writer who writes.
The Writer Who Reads
What then, is the role of the writer? Should she be even referred to as one? It is my humble inner sense that a good writer is fundamentally a good reader. She is one who is an avid Reader of Life. She is always inquisitive, observant, questioning, experimenting and adventurous. She has an open mind, heart and spirit, ever ready to learn and absorb the vibrations of Life and of Nature - in its various shades and hues. As a writer, she is in constant communication with the worlds both within and without: she has chosen to be an active participant, while being also a dispassionate observer - of matters both visible and invisible.
The writer is thus a Reader Writer, who is able to read what has been and is being written in the Book of Life.
Yes, the writer does write;
but no, it is not writing that she does;
the good writer is also a good Life reader:
So that in reading her,
we read not only what we ourselves have written,
but also we ourselves!
The good writer is thus so good a reader, that what she writes makes a deep and natural connect with us, and feels like our own story. Moreover, reading her is holding a mirror to ourselves: it enables self-rediscovery.
The Reader Who Does not Write
Ok, so the good writer is a good reader. But is that enough? I think, and I think you would agree, no. The Reader Writer has to be a good writer too [you may ask me: wasn't that obvious? :) ]
She needs to write what has been read. To do this, she ought to be able to employ the threads of language in weaving a beautiful and natural tapestry of meaning. She should be able to tap into her creative faculties, without detracting from the naturalness and intrinsic worth of what has been assimilated. In much the same way as a creative observer, the writer needs to be empathetic to the prospective reader, and yet be not constrained by the tendency to conform or desire for approval. A good writer should have clarity of thought, purity of intent, fluidity of expression and creative imagination.
I realize that a good writer should be so good a reader and so good a writer that the processes of reading and writing become almost indistinguishable and inseparable for her. Her writing is so natural that she writes (even if in her mind) what she reads even as she reads it, so that her writing feels like reading, and hence ends up being read a lot. In fact, it can be said that...
Yes, the writer does write,
But no, she does not quite write;
She is a reader who writes so naturally
That her writing feels like reading.
What We Read So Far
- It is not the writer alone who writes; writing is a social affair.
- The writer is a reader; in reading her, we read ourselves.
- The writer does not quite write; her reading is writing, her writing is reading.
Why Read Me
Coming back to the original question! Assuming I am the writer, where does this leave us?One, it is not I who write, we write together. This itself makes one wonder whether it is for me to answer the question of why anybody should read me. Maybe, the answer needs a collective inquiry?
Two, you could hope to find yourself in reading me! :)
Three, you could inspire and guide me to be myself, by reading me.
Why Read X
The above is at best an imperfect answer to the question: Why Should Anybody Read A Particular Person X? In other words, it is a generic answer, not specific to me or you at all. I realize that it falls far short of answering the original question posed to me by my professor: as to why anybody should read me.
And that is what explains the title of this post.
And that is what explains the title of this post.
Though I have thus not answered the question, it has been a learning for me to 'pen' this down, and I hope, of some value to you too! Will continue and evolve this train of reflections.
Thank you very much.
- Dheep
August 19, 2017
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