Guest Post: The Reasons We Must Write

Almost everyone has sat down in a moment of mental lust and tried to touch pen to paper or mash out a few meaningful words on the computer in an effort to express themselves. What makes them do this? Interestingly enough, I feel that there are three main reasons that people usually blame for their need to puke some words onto a page. These reasons are like a verbal color wheel, and can be mixed with each other to create art; well, let’s just say art is subjective.

1. Catharsis- People need to emotionally purge themselves. Whether it is political venting, romantic
   woes, or purely the need to scream in the world of font to empty the head a bit, writing down anything usually has a draining effect. I have on occasion felt like I had to enjoy a proverbial cigarette after writing because I felt pleasurably spent. Sometimes writing is like a verbal shower that washes away the soil of civilization.


2. Expression-The need to be heard. From the time babies cry for everything to the time that kids babble on and never stop, we as a species have been creating a latticework of information exchange all in order to be understood. Poems, books, letters, even rage-flaming kids while playing online games, it is all done with the goal of being understood. This gets dangerous when the need for Catharsis bleeds into this; some pretty harsh things can come out of a letter meant to express oneself while venting. *cough*inebriated e-mails to your boss*cough*cough*


3. Immortality-The fountain of youth may not exist, but it can surely be written about, and it has; this is why pretty much everybody has heard of it. If the fountain of youth were real, I bet it would spew forth ink, which is far more costly than water. When words are put to page, more than mere ideas are expressed, but the very mind, heart and daresay soul are silhouetted on paper. Reading and writing is interesting this way. When an author bleeds ink onto paper, he is really holding out his arms ready to receive a partner in a complicated dance of the mind. When a reader cracks open a book, they join the author in a waltz where the two minds join and create something new, an understanding born of two minds. Think of it as a mental love-child conceived from a mixture of thought and ink. In this way, the words of the author live on. Never in the same way, but proliferate like children, changing the world, making an impact one way or another. Sometimes, people like to pass something on.

Mixing these three can yield some amazing results, but can also create monsters, like Frankenstein, that venture out into the world and grow on their own. When Mary Shelly authored Frankenstein while trapped in a ski-lodge with her husband Percy, Lord Byron and John Polidori, she tapped into this color wheel in order to craft something that was definitely more than the sum of its parts. It grew but only because of a special blending of all three. I tend to incorporate all three in an effort to satisfy my own needs to bleed off a bit of my stream of consciousness along with the desire to pass on, well, something.

 Other than the three needs of inspiration I mentioned above, there are definitely more that can be added to the list, I am sure. I would love to hear about what some of you readers feel inspires you to write. 

Wayne Ceallaigh is a renaissance man. By day, he is a father, but when school lets out, he tutors children in Science, English, Writing, Philosophy, Religion, History, and sometimes Math. He specializes in special cases where grades need to go from failing to above average in a very short amount of time and getting students into the colleges of their choice. When the evening slows down and melts into the night, he writes game content for Glacier Studios. He is currently working on a project that puts the hero in a historically accurate Norwegian proto-Viking establishment where the Aesir and Vanir rumble the outer worlds and meddle in the affairs of Midgard. In his downtime, he likes to relax with his family or swing his swords in either the SCA or Dagorhir.

Currently, Wayne holds a B.A. in English with a minor in Philosophy and has earned complete doctoral credits in Contract Law, Criminal Law and Tort Law. He is constantly learning and loves to hear new stories. Don’t be afraid to comment on this post if you want to know more.