THE THINGS WE COME UP WITH AT 1AM
I was having a conversation with my friend Ryan last night over an independent film from the seventies and a few beers. The topic of conversation was literature and writing. We discussed what it takes for an individual to become proficient at writing. Since last night, I have given consideration to our discussion, and have reached the following conclusions. Writing is something that you are either good at or you aren't. Sure, there is room for improvement in all cases, and practice is always necessary to keep a mind sharp. However, I am sure that most knowledgeable people would agree with me when I say that proficient writers have an innate ability to relate their exact emotions to large amounts of strangers with little to be lost in translation. This is something that cannot be taught, although it may be refined. It something that goes beyond aligning symbols on paper. Kurt Vonnegut once described writing as idiosyncratic arrangements of 26 phonetic symbols and ten Arabic numbers in horizontal lines on a page. Given Vonnegut's penchant for satire and irony, it is safe to assume that he was speaking rather simplistically. Grammar can be taught to even the simplest mind, although more often than not, the simplest minds ignore grammar. In my opinion, the ability to write is based in a person's ability to recognize the common bonds between two people, living, or dead, real or fictional, and to evoke emotion, because that is what makes us human. Capturing this moment in words is was makes a good writer a brilliant one.
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The following are words of wholehearted agreement constructed in a coherent manner.
While it is said that our capacity for reason and intellect separates us from the animals, I believe that writing is the mechanism through which this natural divide is able to exist. Without writing, we're merely animals with extended forms of vocal grammar and physical communication. It is safe to say that writing alters the course of spoken word and not the other way around.
Being a writer is, in a sense, almost like being a social scientist. Consciously or subconsciously, a good writer has the innate ability to communicate beyond himself and his most private thoughts, thus embracing a profound sense of awareness of his humanity. A good writer finds human movement in the words he writes.
A writer's greatest utility lies in mastering the humane alchemy of transcribed morphemes. This mastery, however, does not occur without experimentation and diligence. In the absence of continued practice, such abilities are subjected to the risks of stagnation and devolution.
If maintained, a writer's ability knows no bounds. Every other sentence is potentially a previously unwritten, unuttered, and unknown phrase. I defy you to find the sentence, "I was having a conversation with my friend Ryan last night over an independent film from the seventies and a few beers," recorded anywhere in the past, present, or future of existence!
What a delightful science! I hope you keep your lab coat and goggles on, Travis.
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