The historical impulse in writing: Orwell and Didion

¶ … personal endeavor that has a lot of power and potential to affect the writer as well as the readers. There are many things in life that happen that we cannot express into words, but at the same time, there are many experiences in life that can be put into words. Even the attempt to put what is beyond words into words is admirable and noble. There are many reasons why I write and this essay will explore some of those as best as possible. One of the reasons I write is because it is in my family. There is a history of writing and writers, formal and informal, that runs through my family heritage. I resisted writing for many years of my life, as I was interested more in mathematics and science. Finally, I had an assignment in middle school that required a lot of writing and a lot of creative thought -- the topic was actually something that truly interested me, and I threw myself deeply into the assignment, more so than I could have ever predicted. It was at this moment I realized that I enjoyed writing, even when I had to do it. On my birthday of that same year, I received a very special gift, albeit a very simple one. I received a journal to write my private thoughts and ideas in. This was a turning point in my life with respect to writing. The one assignment and the new journal changed my perspective toward writing. I no longer saw it as a tedious task that barely interested me and was something that I had to do. Suddenly, writing, for me, changed into something that I actually wanted to do and looked forward to. I changed my perspective toward writing and afterward I made myself available to the power of writing -- in terms of what it can do for the writer, as well as what it can do for the reader.

I write partially because I enjoy reading so much. Writing is obviously quite closely connected to reading. I enjoy reading quite a lot. In the midst of all the books, magazines, and websites I read, I became aware of the techniques of that my favorite writers used. I became aware of how enthralled and captivated I became as I read. I realized that these writers, my favorite writers, had such a gift. I would be so interested in what I was reading, it was like the rest of the world fell away. Once I changed how I felt about writing myself, I realized that with practice, I might be able to captivate readers in the same way. It is not so much that I am interested in controlling readers, but I am very interested in the kind of deep connection that words can foster among people who have never met and may never meet physically, but nevertheless have an unspeakable connection through the experiences, feelings, and thoughts words communicate among strangers. Therefore, reading is very critical and fundamental to the reasons why I write.

Reading and writing are connected in that the more one reads, the better a writer one has the potential to become. Reading and writing are connected in that they help each other -- the more one reads, the more improved a writer one becomes and the one more writes, the more discriminating, sophisticated, and appreciative reader one is. I definitely have taken techniques and tropes of writers I admire and integrated them into my own writing or used them as a platform to develop my own individual writing style/technique. This all was a surprise to me, as aforementioned, I was not a born writer and I was not interested in writing for personal reasons for many years of my short life.

I write because of historical impulse. There is a personal historical impulse to write, as mentioned earlier with respect to the other writers in my family. I also write because of a cultural historical impulse. With respect to modern history, we are living in very historical times. There many events happening around the world, culturally, socially, technologically, politically, and otherwise. A great way to chronicle what is happening in the world and to the people is by writing about it. Not just writing a personal account or writing a journalistic account, but also to write questions -- to ask others their perspectives, ideas, and experiences upon what is happening in their corners of the world. The people of the world must write the events of their lives and their countries as it is happening before it is history. We have an historical impulse to write in the moment so that in the future there is a documented history for us to look back on and learn from.

Writing is the answer to the unknown question. This relates to my earlier statement regarding how writing is not just about writing declarative statements, it is very much about writing questions. I always valued a good question almost more than a good statement. Questions reveal how we work and what we think. Writing is the answer to the unknown question of life -- as in, what is the meaning of life? Perhaps through writing, we will come closer to knowing the unknown question(s) -- the question(s) that propel us forward and keep us going. There are many questions in life and in the universe that we will never know or never understand. Writing is an endeavor that can provide some clarity or some direction.