To be or not to be, what makes someone a writer?

What makes someone a writer over everything else they can be? Since September I have been doing a creative writing degree and more and more I have come across the debate of just what makes a someone a writer or even able to write?

While I have only been doing this course in writing for small amount of time I have found that writing is something that I am naturally able to do. Even since I was little I enjoyed telling stories and making up my own, although I have not always picked a pen and paper and wrote them down.

Nowadays I am able to pick up my pen and off the top of my head be able to create something, usually with little difficulty, this leads on to the point I am trying to make. When talking to my friends and family about my writing experiences and my enjoyment of writing in general some have been quick to say that this is something beyond their ability or would find difficult to do.

At first I was quick to reply and say that anyone could be a writer but the more I think of it the more I am not so sure. Different from being an astronaut or martial artist (requiring years of training to become) writing is something that the vast majority of people can do instantly and without thinking. So why is it that not everyone considers themselves a writer?

When thinking about this I realised it is not a difficult concept to understand, while I can kick a football I am by no means a footballer but if I chose to do nothing but play football I probably would consider myself one.

This is something I have chosen to be and therefore it is me, I am a writer.

A writer should be invisible. Agree or disagree?

Should a writer be invisible? This is a question I thought about for a decent amount of time before attempting to answer, and to cut a lengthily personal debate short this is a topic I am still conflicted about.

Knowing details about an author can be of great benefit to the reader and wider audience on how they read a specific text and interpret the meaning behind it. Looking at Emily Dickinson for example, knowledge that she lived a secluded life during the American civil war at a time when religious ideology was still prevalent and women had strict expectations placed on them helps to give context to many of her poems and greatly benefits the reading of her work. It is clear to the influences of the civil war in poems such as 409 which opens with “They dropped like flakes, they dropped like stars, Like petals from a rose.” The interpretation behind this is that she is talking about soldiers dying in battle.

However it is known that Dickinson wrote many poems for her sister in law Susan (it is implied that Emily held great affection for) and wanted her work destroyed after her death. Does this mean that we should look at every poem she wrote with the preconception that it is written about the war or with Susan in mind? This knowledge can greatly alter the interpretation of a text and can often lead to reading more into a text than what was intended.

To wrap up my view is that a reader must be vigilant when interpreting a text with knowledge about the author in mind, sometimes things are meant to be taken at face value.

Is it necessary for a writer to write about the social or political events of their time?

When trying to answer this question I made an interesting discovery, I have been doing this unconsciously my whole life. I am a product of my time and society whether I like it or not. It is ultimately down to whoever reads my work to decide if it is relevant or reflective of the time I lived in or if I was writing outside the box (which I find doubtful). 

Last week in author study our task was to read over several of Emily Dickinson's poems to decide whether or not she wrote about the American Civil War. This is an interesting notion looking back on this exercise. She lived during this period, in an area that was actively involved with the war but she is described as someone who preferred isolation from the outside world and was housebound for much of her life. Reading poem 409 I think the references to the conflict in Emily's writings are clear to see:

 'They dropped like flakes, they dropped like stars,

Like petals from a rose,

When suddenly across the lune

A wind with fingers goes.

They perished in the seamless grass,

No eye could find its place;

But God on his repealless list

Can summon every face'

Neil McCaw suggests that 'a literary text should not be studied in isolation' and a text should be viewed as "placed specifically within its own historical context and viewed as a particular product of its era, location and circumstances."

While this may be subjective views of each particular text I believe he does have a point worth considering and ultimately our writing open to the interpretation of whoever reads it.

The apple of my eye made me do it!

When asked to write a story about something I would not normally do this is what I came up with:

'F**k it I'm buying it!'

'No you can't afford it!

The Ipad had sat there tempting me for the best part of two weeks and every time I wanting it more bating it away with a rational thought.

'You got rent to pay'. Everything comes down to money these days. Being at work with things I want but can't afford is its own torture sometimes, especially selling it to people who can.

'Why not just steal it?' I ask myself. It would be easy enough. Opening the cabinet door I picked up the box and walked out the back to the staff room. I hide the Ipad in the toilet as I wait for the staff room to be clear before going in for my bag.

After retrieving my bag I go to the toilet with my bag and put the Ipad inside. Placing my bag back in the staff room I continued on with my day like normal without feeling guilty.

At the end of the day the store had shut with everyone waiting by the doors to leave. Just as I walked through the barriers the alarm sounds.

‘F**K I forgot the alarm!’ I scream in my head. The manager was coming towards me now. I am in trouble now.

This of course is just a fantasy, it never happened.........

Where are you from, what have you read?

When thinking about this question it dawned on me on just how much where I am from has impacted my reading and writing life. The culture I have grown up in and its influences which have greatly affected not only what I read but how I write.

Like many my favorite books to read growing up were the Harry Potter books. It wasn't so much the characters (I hated Harry with a passion) that gripped me but the fantasy world in which the universe is based in and the magic of it (yes the pun was intended). To this day my favorite narratives are that of fantasy and adventure usually involving sci-fi and supernatural elements (Zombie films especially) with own writing usually incorporating these elements. However if I would have grown up in a culture where religious fanaticism was predominant and magic and mystical powers were demonized I would view these texts in completely different light?

It is fair to say that Emily Dickinson and John Cheever are both products of where they are from. Dickinson grew up in a culture with very repressive attitudes towards women and dominated with Christian ideology. As a result many of Dickinson’s poems reflect a desire to escape with biblical references. Cheever’s work usually involves the duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character's decorous social persona and inner corruption. Given how he lived during World War II and fought in it this style of writing concerned with the ugliness of human nature can be seen as a similarity.

How has where you are from affected what you read and write about?

Impartial views are a lie, there is only bias

It is an interesting concept, how no writer emerges in a world free from the bias that surrounds Writers. I would like to believe that my style of writing is original and not influenced by anyone but myself, I know this a lie. Everything about my life has shaped me into the writer I am today.

In the first Author Study class of 2013 it was discussed how perceptions of writers shape our views of their work and how writing for any audience will affect how we write. Writing something with the knowledge that other people will see it impacts a piece of work considerably. Would you view the work of a rapist in the same light as an Olympic Athlete?

I have learned that Emily Dickinson wrote the majority of her life’s work with the intention that only her sister in law Susan (and suspected love interest) would ever see it. Our lecturer stated that she wished for her work to be destroyed following her death as again she didn't want anyone else reading it.

Even when writing this blog I find myself thinking and writing in a style very different from what I would if it were for my eyes only, rewriting sentences a number of times in order to communicate my intended message to anyone who might be reading.

After reading this blog consider this, just how much does your bias affect you when it comes to writing?