A simple, broad title. I like simple titles. Obfuscatory titles confuse me, though that is their point I suppose, and clickbait titles annoy me because they always overestimate their impact. Simple titles, though, are memorable, sound nice, and so decisively let you know what to expect from what you’re about to consume.
In this case, why I write.
Following the rebrand I thought it apt to start at the start, if you will. What is it about this craft that makes me want to use it so much? Why choose this one over the myriad of others? The answer comes in two parts. Probably because there’s two questions. Yeah…that makes sense.
Part one: what is it about words?
At risk of sounding overly ornate, words are the writers paintbrush. They’re our medium, and we can use them like any other artist uses theirs—a well written sentence can be spectacularly beautiful. It can also, however, serve many purposes. Words are incredibly versatile little creatures, able to entertain, inform, persuade, advertise, and much, much more. Used correctly, words can be an incredible combination of form and function.
There's a reason it's so widely known that words have power. Spoken or written, most people are able to experience the effect they have. That, and they’re pretty good at standing the test of time, especially in the modern age. When you think about it, it’s amazing that paper and ink have the ability to just exist for centuries, to survive, all the way down to our day for us to be entertained by and to learn from.
So what is it about words?
They’re beautiful, functional, powerful, and long-lasting.
Part two: what makes words different?
The truth is, though, that most art forms are beautiful, functional, powerful, and long-lasting. Painting, for instance, is perhaps a language older than language—if that makes sense. And that’s just one example of many. I’m kind of spoilt for choice. How do I choose just one?
I’ll let you in on a little secret: I haven’t. Not because I’m an indecisive person, even though that probably plays a not-insignificant part in it, but because I appreciate what all the different mediums provide. The Big Three for me, I suppose, are film, music, and writing. A measure of writing is inherently involved in all three, true, but you get the gist.
They are each unique, however similar they may be. All three have the ability to tell a story, but they do it in different ways. Film requires the least amount of effort on the part of the viewer, but don’t confuse this with having the least impact. Music would be next, with the ability to fill the mind and elicit emotion. Writing, though, is perhaps the most immersive of the three. It needs the reader to engage with it in order for it to be fully appreciated.
All the way back in primary school, you probably heard of the term ‘visualisation’, the practice of forming mental images as a result of the words on a page. With writing, you can’t just put it there like you can with film, which is a direct interaction with the eyes. When you read, rather, it’s a direct interaction with your mind. As such, it’s up to the author to make sure that what the reader is imagining in terms of sights, sounds, scents, tastes, touches, and emotions is what they intended for the reader to sense.
That can sometimes be a hard task, but make no mistake that it is a task words can accomplish, as evidenced by many great works by many great authors.
Now after all that, what makes words different?
There is no direct interaction with a sense.
The title of this piece isn’t “Why I Only Write”, and that’s because I don’t only write. But the fact of the matter is that I do write, and I hope that this post has adequately explained why.
Then again, however, why do we even need a reason, and why do I even need to explain my reason to you? What does it matter why I do something as long as I’m actually doing it?
Now, at this point in writing it, I’m starting to realise this was more for me than you. To remind myself why I write, so as to keep writing. I now also realise that the real reason I write, the most simple, boiled down version of it at least, is because I like it.
Because I like it.
Everything I said before is true, yes, but it’s like the title. Some, if not most, of the best titles are just simple ones, and such a simple title deserves a simple response. Sure, there are layers to it, but there are layers to anything. I don’t know if I’ve reached the bottom layer or if I’m still just scratching the surface, but I have reached the point where I can answer such a simple yet complex question with a single sentence.
I write because I like it.
And what more reason do I need?