Wednesday, November 4, 2020

IWSG - Not sure what to say

 


I'm going to get this posted before I go check the election results (if there even are any results yet), so I'm a little too on edge to have much to say about my current writing projects, so instead I guess I'll answer the optional question for this month, which is:

November 4 question - Albert Camus once said, “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” Flannery O’Conner said, “I write to discover what I know.” Authors across time and distance have had many reasons to write. Why do you write what you write?

In some ways, I'm not even sure what the answer is.  I mean, I know I write because I have stories inside me that want to get out, but as I typically don't share the stories with people (except when they're fan fiction, which I do post online), it's not like I can claim any great purpose behind them.  (I like that Camus quote, though.  That's great.)  Sometimes I do vent my fears, frustrations and (social) desires into fiction, but...more often than not it's mere empty escapism.

What I do know is that if I don't write--even if I'm writing in a non-traditional way, like my past things written in screenplay form, or my current dabbling in interactive fiction--it's mostly something to keep me sane.  I feel like if I don't write, I'll lose whatever small semblance of sanity I have.  (Possibly due to the excess of stories banging around inside my head.)

Hmmm.

Feels like I should have a longer, deeper answer than that, but I can't really think of one.  (It's hard to think at all right now.) 

I guess, in closing, I want to apologize to anyone who sees this and left a comment on last month's post, because I was so completely overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to put in on my game jam project that I ended up not checking for comments until after the jam ended (on the 25th!) at which point answering comments felt sort of, uh, weird, to say the least.

EDIT - Today's total for Not-NaNo came in at around two hours, giving me the total time spent on my writing projects in November to date as 8:11:26.89.  (Because yes, I just leave the timer on my phone open and uncleared for the entire month.  As that is way easier than trying to add stuff up in my head.  I kind of miss counting words, though.  Next Not-NaNo, I'm gonna go back to words.)

8 comments:

  1. I agree -- we write to stay sane!

    EJ Murray aka JES Hays

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  2. I completely agree that we all write to get the stories out of our heads, else our characters will drive us crazy :)

    Rachna Chhabria
    Co-host IWSG
    Rachna's Scriptorium

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  3. You've hit the nail on the head--we write because our heads are over-stuffed with stories. Good post!

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  4. That's a great answer - especially mid-NaNoWriMo!
    Great post.

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  5. I agree. There are ideas and stories inside our heads that have to tumble out or we would go crazy! Isn't creativity wonderful?

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  6. Writing is a valuable tool to get stuff out.

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  7. No, keeping sane is a fine answer. Especially right now.

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  8. Sanity is very important, and if writing or painting or dancing is your thing to keep sane, then do it! We have to take care of ourselves, and do it as best we can, because no one else will.

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