Wednesday 4 May 2011

Passion of the Writer

So, I was struggling to find a topic after economic fiction. No, really. I ran out of ideas. I mean, I really only had one.

So I thought about it.

I watched some TED videos.

I researched a major corporation.

I watched some more TED videos.

I wrote a six page research paper.

Through it I kept reading my blogs.

I found one idea. I have a habit of talking about fear and failure. Basically every blog I start has a discussion on failure eventually, so why not talk about a topic that I continue to learn more about. It’s an interesting topic.

Then I found a blog post. Michael Hyatt discussed finding your passion, that which drives us.

So I thought about it.

A number of things come to mind: writing, books, religion, games, politics, people.

Then I realized, it’s more abstract than that. What drives me is ideas. I love ideas. I like thinking about them, I like talking about them, I love the camaraderie that develops around them.

I also realized that what I consider a good idea is a bit different than most.
Why, yes, I am the artist. Why do you think I write?

That terrible piece of spec drawing? That’s a fan powered Viking longboat. Completely ridiculous, right? Also impossible. But to my friends and me, it was a project. Something to bond over.

That’s all a good idea really is, though, isn’t it? Something that brings humanity into a closer knit community. An idea builds people up and makes them try something they have never tried before.

Here’s the great part about crazy, unrealistic, and visionary ideas: they can always work in print. We’re writers. That tiny voice in us all that drives us into an art where we are reviled and disrespected at every turn tells us we have great ideas, and they need to be shared. People all around us like ideas. They crave imagination and stories. They want to see this world in different ways. We’re taking our own unique and wonderful vision, and presenting it to them.

What’s your passion? What idea can you give to your readers that is so uniquely you that it drives everything you do? Let me know!

5 comments:

  1. Writing. I'm not lying when I say it's saved my life a couple of times, and it's one of the few things I have to live for.
    Ideas have been done. Everything you can think of, someone else has thought of first. But execution--execution of ideas varies from person to person. I am literally the only person who can write my stories in the way I do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Definitely writing for me. And I'll draw sometimes (my scribbles look a lot like yours, lol!) to cement an idea in place.

    Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

    ReplyDelete
  3. KB: Why does it matter if someone else thought it first? Novelty is based on personal experience, not on someone else's.

    Angela: My drawing is so bad, but all my ideas come from thinking about things and talking to people. I love talking ideas, and contrasting outlooks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It doesn't matter if someone else thought of it first, that's what I was saying. That everything HAS been thought of before.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Worlds are what get me. Worlds and the internal mechanics thereof.

    ReplyDelete