Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Tragedy and the Writer

This quote is from the April 5th Dragonwritingprompts:

"Coleridge was a drug addict. Poe was an alcoholic. Marlowe was killed by a man whom he was treacherously trying to stab. Pope took money to keep a woman's name out of a satire then wrote a piece so she could still be recognized anyhow. Chatterton killed himself. Byron was accused of incest. Do you still want to be a writer--and if so, why?" --Bennett Cerf

More than anything, I like being a writer. I like creating drama, and I love it when my writing resonates with my readers. I think one reason that I can do that is because I have suffered pain, loss, grief, anger, disappointment, as well as joy, infatuation, love, giddiness, surprise and all the emotions in between. When I tap into how those emotions made me feel at a given time, I'm able to relate that feeling to my readers through words. Life is full of joy and sorrow and life would be boring if it weren't. I think I would be a boring person if I had experienced many of the things I have. But those things good or bad shaped me into the person I am today. And fortunately, I like me. Plus, my life experiences are great fodder for stories.

As tragic as the aforementioned writers' lives were, their tragedies and/or character flaws helped make them the great writers and poets that they were.

3 comments:

  1. That seems like a very poignant insight.

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  2. Your passion is moving...
    Just don't pick up any severe bad habits like the authors mentioned.
    :)

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  3. You are so dead on with your comments. Without living the life we are given, we wouldn't be who we are now. I wouldn't have realized what true love was if I hadn't experienced what a truely bad relationship was like. I wouldn't be able to write the way I write either. Life is inspiration.

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