Writing and Power

by | | On-Writing

The challenge of being a writer is consistency, consistency to write daily and honestly without holding back his emotions. In every written word and story, he has to convey the most honest truths hidden deep in himself, and reveal it to the world in a wide variety of persona and alter egos. Making it acceptable, and entertaining for others to read and enjoy, the beauty of the subliminal truths of the human race. The stories entering deep into their subconsciousness, governing their actions, and maybe, changing the world for the better.

During the French Revolution, philosophers wrote of a new world of democracy with no kings or queens. The bourgeoisie (middle class) acted on the writings, not quite sure if this fantasy world of power to the people would actually work, but they tried anyway. Thanks to the French, we have the freedom of speech today, and social classes are melting away with equal opportunities of advancement through the idea of meritocracy instead of birthright.

It is deeply motivating to know that writing, can indeed change the world. In the book Wired for Story (2012) it shares that “Writers are, and always have been, among the most powerful
people in the world.” When I look back at my personal philosophy of life and how I govern my code of conduct on a daily basis, I can trace it to back to books I have read as a child, or teachings in textbooks, and they are no other, written by writer’s themselves. Their ideology incorporated into their writings, interweaving it into a beautiful theme and central idea that they wish to convey to the unaware.

I naturally am inclined to analyse the idea that the writer is trying to convey in new literature that I read, and to understand them better, I do a biography check on their family history, their experiences in life, and it translates that their greatest fictional works are a reflection of what they are in real life. For example, JK Rowling was a single mother, with a young child in one hand, and at the same time, facing grievances of her own mother who had passed away. In her book, Harry Potter, she portrays a teenage boy who is an orphan and is ill treated by his own relatives, only to find a lost part of his past in the world of magic. In contrast, it is reflective of what JK Rowling feels at the moment of time, she wants to escape into another world, a world of magic, where anything can happen (she wrote about a housewife character who could use magic to wash the dishes!). However, she is trapped in a situation so dire, living on welfare payouts, having to take care of her daughter and being unable to work as a single mother. As university graduate, she wants OUT of her situation, and be independent, but her circumstances forces her to come face to face with her life through her books – her single hood, the lost of her mother, revealed in the pages of Harry Potter, the orphan.

Mark Twain shares, “Truth is stranger than fiction”. It is indeed true that the writer’s works are a reflection of what he or she is going through, or empathizing with at the moment of time. A writer’s greatest gift is the gift of honesty to his own emotions. Without emotions, we are unable to write. After Arthur Miller, a famous playwright, fell in love with Marilyn Moore and was heart broken, he did not write for years. Love can indeed bring the downfall of a writer, whose works are linked with emotions. A neuroscience writer Jonah Lehrer says, “If it weren’t for our emotions, reason wouldn’t exist at all.”

Some of my poetry had been inspired by other movies and experiences of my own, and people whom I empathize with deeply, their struggles, lost of love, their views on the world. Every day is magical to me, I wake up to a world of colours, of different perceptions, different cultures, different values, which interests my senses, and I seek to understand and explore them deeply.

I am finally at peace on accepting my calling, as one.