Why Writers Write and Readers Read
By Guest | September 18, 2011 |
Therese here. Today’s post is about the power of stories, brought to us by returning guest and author Colin Falconer–a historical novelist who has written over twenty books. Colin’s latest is due out October 4th by Corvus Atlantic in London; called Silk Road, it’s a book set in 13th century Jerusalem, about a knight’s journey to Kubilai Khan, traveling a treacherous path littered with deserts, plains, and snow-covered peaks in order to reach him. Said the Historical Writers Association of the book:
Falconer’s descriptive narrative is exquisite at times …each short chapter opens with a flowing brush of words that paint precisely, yet mellifluously, in a manner that is almost poetic. The grand schemes of politicking and war are lost amongst the narrative of those who would strive to find peace in both themselves and the world around. Delusion and honour walk hand in hand amongst the pages but we are satisfied with the conclusion, satiated in powerful descriptions, pleased with the fates of all.
Enjoy!
Why Writers Write and Readers Read
I saw a very curious thing reported from the chaos of London last month; it seems that while delis and electronics retailers were being looted all around them, most bookshops were left untouched.
Is it that rioters can’t read? Or do they all have Kindles? (If they didn’t before, apparently they do now – even if they don’t know how to use them.)
Looking at the TV pictures, it’s not much of a stretch to figure these kids can’t or won’t read, unless it’s a manual with lots of pictures on how to break stuff. But I’d bet London to a hurled brick none of them read fiction: or the word I like much better – stories.
With publishing going digital it is sometimes easy to forget that we humans told stories to each other long before there were paperbacks or iPads. We learned about life sitting around a campfire thousands of years before Amazon or Harper Collins.
I am a writer; but I am equally a reader. Books – stories – matter to me, not as an intellectual exercise, but something visceral that has guided me in my relationships and my working life. Wherever I go, Atticus Finch, Yossarian, Nathaniel Blackthorne, Harry Flashman and Huckleberry Finn go too. Picasso said that we use art to explain the world to ourselves, the same way that the Greeks used myth and fable to try and make sense of their place in the world and with the gods. It’s what stories do, intentionally or not.
And the one vital component of every story is a hero and a villain. You cannot have a story without them; and some, like James Bond or Hannibal Lector or Gordon Gekko, become larger than life and take up residence in our deep psyche.
As we have seen in recent times, there are plenty of villains in the world right now and more than enough weak secondary characters among our political and corporate leaders – but precious few heroes, people of courage and decency and toughness. There is little to inspire mankind about David Cameron or Rupert Murdoch. The rioters in Clapham may be scum, but really – is there much difference in the basic mindset of someone who hacks the phone of grieving relatives or steals from an injured and helpless kid’s back pack?
My editor at Corvus just sent me a Youtube clip of a gutsy Hackney woman with a walking stick shaming the rioters to their faces. ‘We’re not fighting all together for a cause’, she yelled at them. “You’re just ripping off Footlocker.”
So what should be our common cause?
I do not believe that any religious belief or political system will change the way we treat each other. Hardcore religion only breeds fanatics or atheists; political systems, democracy or communism, are always corrupted for personal gain.
It is why I think stories are so important to all of us. Because they work subliminally, they are very powerful in changing how we look at life. They are the way we enshrine our bushido, a way to fix our moral compass when politicians and corporate suits are all looking south.
Perhaps I am being fanciful; a starry-eyed Jerry McGuire in a world full of Bob Sugars. Maybe so – but I had me at hello.
You see, I believe in the power of stories, I have given my life to it. Stories are not about the size of the advance or how many sales we can make on Kindle. They are much more important than that. It doesn’t matter to me that I am not be the best storyteller in the world, or even close, just that I believe it matters. I think all writers matter in this world. Great stories can teach us about hope and courage, and that old fashioned word called honour.
Just for the record, my parents were from Hackney. I was born on the Blackhorse Road. I escaped North London so I know no one book will change the world, and it certainly won’t change Broadwater Farm. All the more reason for us to create a wealth of stories that affirm who we are and all that what we can be, both as individuals and as nations. We need heroes right now.
We need them in Croydon and Tottenham; we need them in our Parliaments and in our Senates. We certainly need them on Wall Street and we need somehow to infiltrate them as sleepers into Rupert Murdoch’s business empire.
The thugs in London and Birmingham didn’t steal from the book shops for this reason: there was nothing in there they wanted. I believe our job though, from the humblest story-teller to the greatest, is to make sure that at least there is everything in there that they need.
… And that goes for the vandals on Wall Street too.
There: I have had my Jerry McGuire moment. Go ahead and laugh. But I believe in the book (and the film and the play) and I believe in the people who make them. And I think that if we make common cause, like the lady in Hackney said, we can make a difference. We’re not just here to rip off Footlocker.
Why do you write?
Learn more about Colin at his website/blog here, and follow him on Twitter. Write on.
Photo courtesy Flickr’s psd
Many thanks to today’s guest.
You can read more WU guest posts by visiting this link.
Hoorah for your premise, Colin, though you are preaching to the converted. This site is by writers for writers and if any of us didn’t ascribe to your theme, we wouldn’t be here, or, certainly shouldn’t be here. Thanks for the reminder, though. We can too often get mired in the mechanics of the craft and lose sight of the mission. Huzzah!
Thanks Alex. I agree, I think sometimes we can lose sight of the big picture with all the technical aspects. Thanks for your comment! best Colin
“I think all writers matter in this world. Great stories can teach us about hope and courage, and that old fashioned word called honour.”
“I know no one book will change the world, and it certainly won’t change Broadwater Farm. All the more reason for us to create a wealth of stories that affirm who we are and all that what we can be, both as individuals and as nations. We need heroes right now.”
Amen. This was exactly the kind of post I needed this morning. Thank you.
Thanks Jan. I’m glad it gave you a lift. It gave me one to write it at a time I was feeling a bit down about the old London town I came from! best Colin
Amen! This was SO inspiring, Colin! Thank you for a great post. You have rejuvenated my storytelling spirit and I’m so glad I read this today!
And if we’re talking Jerry Macguire quotes here, and you’re asking “Who’s coming with me?” I’ll be virtual Dorothy and answer, “I’ll go with you!” Yes, I’ll go with you to that great storyteller’s world and aspire to teach hope, courage and honor through my fictional tales! You betcha! :D
Thanks Barb. I’m glad you feel this way, too. I wasn’t sure when I wrote it how people would take it, so thanks for being virtual Dorothy! best Colin
Wow, what a charge! Ditto what Alex and Jan said. You’ve really inspired me this morning. (And made me a bit sad for the rioters, but oh well.) Here’s to stories! Let’s make ’em great. ;)
Thanks for your comment Kristan! Glad you liked it! best Colin.
What a beautiful post, and one I so needed to read this morning. Stories are so powerful and always will be. Amen.
Thanks for your comment Anna. There is magic in stories, isn’t there? Amen, indeed. Colin
In my career as a social worker, I see much I wish I didn’t, especially as I work with children. I read to escape into a world where things turn out okay, where evil is overcome and there are heroes. I write to make a world where there are heroes, and if they can’t set the world right, they will at least do the right thing, even if it puts them in danger. Thank you for so succinctly explaining why I do this, and letting me share a Jerry McGuire moment.
Dear Lara, you’re right – as a social worker you would have seen more than enough of the Dark Side. But with belief and inspiration people can find a way out. Life is full of those stories and they inspire others. I wish you luck in writing yours. Colin
Hear hear–I’ve never known a fiction writer who answered ‘why do you write’ with any answer but ‘because I must’. Fiction shows the truth of the world better than the world itself, like a photograph that blurs the background to show the subject in sharp focus (or, sometimes, the opposite).
Some forms of fiction use a world other than the one we’re living in to more sharply define the world we know. That’s why I write historical, and I bet it’s why Mr Falconer does also. Placing a book in a different time lets the author comment on the here-and-now, without having to deal with a reality that’s all cluttered up with what the reader already knows (or thinks he does).
Thanks for your comment, Richard. I think no matter what genre we write in, we all write in the same category – people. I have always drawn great inspiration from stories no matter what genre they arrive in. Hope I can spread just a little, too! Colin
I just read Niall Ferguson’s piece in last week’s Newsweek, Texting Makes U Stupid, and I was really feeling down. Two thirds of college seniors admit to reading for pleasure less than one hour per week… Dismal. Then I came here. This piece is the anitdote. You’ve nailed why I read, and why I write.
I believe too. Stories CAN save us -certainly better than any political system, military might, or organized religion. Thanks for the reminder, Colin. Even if it is more like a memo than a mission statement.
Thanks Vaughn, well you’re right, more like a memo. When I wrote it, after the Hackney riots, I was feeling down too. That’s where my parents were born and married. I guess I wanted to remind myself why I do what I do! The next thing is to remind those college seniors – perhaps we can text them?? best Colin
Thank you! Why Writers Write and Readers Read is a wonderful description of how most every writer and reader feels. I loved it. Art Smukler MD, author and psychiatrist
Thanks for your words, Art. Much appreciated! Colin
Colin, thanks for a great post and some timely thoughts. Writing is a passion for me and a form of self-discovery. We learn things about ourselves and our view of the world through our stories. The best writing also carries a powerful message, but not in a preachy way. Look at, To Kill a Mockingbird, and what it said about social injustice, told through the eyes of a child.
Dear CG, Thank you for your comment – I agree, I think that’s why Harper Lee’s book has been so enduring, it’s a classic example of brilliant story-telling but also reminds us of all that we can be, as people. Picasso said that art is what we use to explain the world to ourselves. Without art, I think we just tend to steal televisions … best, Colin
I think we’ve all had a Jerry McGuire moment at some point or another. I find that even though the “Writing Business” is changing because of iPad reading apps, Amazon, The Nook, and the Kindle, readers still crave what they have always craved- a good story. I am an aspiring writer but I still read! If I didn’t believe in the power of a story, I wouldn’t read or write.
I’m with C.S. Lewis: ‘We read to know that we are not alone.’ What I take from that is that we read to see if other people see the world the same way as we do, that we are not alone in our world view. I have a sentence underlined in my copy of Brave New World: “Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery.” I have that underlined because Huxley has found the perfect words to express what I already felt. This was not a new concept for me but he said it far better than I could. That doesn’t mean I’ve not said profound things in my own writing and I would hope that one day someone would underline, “I don’t believe in destiny / but I do in inevitability,” in one of my poems or, “There are no reasons for unreasonable things,” in one of my novels. To my mind the goal of writing is to say important stuff in ways like this. Whenever I write I’m trying to say something that’s not been said before. There’s nothing new under the sun, I know that so I’m not looking to say something new, but there are new ways of saying things.
You had me with the line “Books – stories – matter to me”. Write on! Thanks for starting my day out on a positive note.
Patti
I once heard a speaker at a writers conference say “If you can stop writing, you probably should.” He then went on to tell about how badly most writers are treated by traditional publishers. It was refreshing to hear the unvarnished truth.
But like that author and all true writers, I can’t stop writing! I am addicted to fiction and couldn’t go for a day without reading and writing it. So thank heavens for all those writers who can’t stop.
And thanks for this thoughtful post!
We read to provide context and emotional meaning, to step back from our own lives and see the elusive whole. Our inner dreams and our outer experience are absolutely linked, and our cultural storytelling is the mirror for both.
They may not have wanted the stories, but they needed them. Stories have the ability to inspire, teach, and fulfill more than many other forms of rhetoric, and can be woven and analyzed to appeal to individuals or masses. They are human imagination and potential distilled, and that is why I read and write.
Thank you. This has been a day of riches for me. First, listening to a video of Chimamanda Adichie speaking on the power of stories, the ability of the powerful to write the definitive, single story of a people and thereby rob them of their dignity, and how stories can be used to empower and repair those who have been broken by negative stories.
And then your post here, Colin, reminding us of our responsibility to tell stories that can “teach us about hope and courage, and that old fashioned word called honour.”
Again, thank you.
Brilliant and inspiring. I feel energized! Thanks. :)
[…] —Colin Falconer ‘s admirable Bonnie Tyler moment: Why Writers Write and Readers Read […]
thank you for this.