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Why I Write
"I'm writing because I have to." — Kaye Gibbons
Oprah always says, "Intention rules the world." In talking to many authors these past four ¨ years, Oprah's discovered that some of the best books she's ever read have been guided by the purest intentions. Today's Remembering Your Spirit is a collection of authors and their profound responses to the simple question, "Why do you write?" Andre Dubus III—House of Sand And Fog "Growing up I never wanted to be a writer, I think because my father was a writer, and we had the same name. I found that when I did start writing, I felt more like myself than I've ever felt. I had to write to be me." Joyce Carol Oates—We Were The Mulvaneys "I'm in some strange servitude to the unconscious. As long as I stay ahead of it, then I'm alright. If I stopped writing or if I wasn't able to write, then I would be overwhelmed by these contents from the unconscious. I don't know what would happen to me." Kaye Gibbons—A Virtuous Woman, Ellen Foster "I'm writing because I have to. I'm compelled to. If I didn't write, I'd have to be Tina Turner. Those are the only things I can do: be Tina Turner or write literary novels." Toni Morrison—The Bluest Eye, Paradise, Song of Solomon "There were two things. Only two that I really thought if I can't do these two things I will disappear from the face of the earth. And the two were, one, mother my children, two, write books. And I thought... anything that helps me do those two things, I'll do that." Tawni O'Dell—Back Roads "I can't imagine my life without writing. I don't even know what I would do with myself. I spend so much time doing the actual writing and thinking about what I'm writing, living in these worlds and I don't even know what I would do if I wasn't a writer." Janet Fitch—White Oleander "I decided that if I was never going to sell anything as long as I lived, I might as well do what I want to do 'cause then at least I would've done what I wanted to do in life. What's that worth? I went back to writing fiction with no thought of ever being able to make a living out of it. If you write short stories they're mostly published in little literary journals where they give you two copies and that's your payment and that story might have taken you five months to write." Melinda Haynes—Mother of Pearl "I love to read and I've always been in awe of writers, but as far as doing it, I never even considered it, but then it's like, I've got to do this. If I don't do this, I'm gonna die." Ursula Hegi—Stones From The River "I don't write for an audience. I write for myself. And if I imagine an audience at all, it's the characters, but I know that I would keep writing even if noone ever published me again, even if noone ever read me again." A. Manette Ansay—Vinegar Hill "People ask me, "How can you be so disciplined? How can you sit down and write these books?" And for me it's not a matter of discipline. It's a matter of passion. I had the habit of passion from the time I was a little girl and I'm not happy when I'm not writing, so why wouldn't I write every day?" Isabel Allende—Daughter of Fortune "I love to write. I just love to write. And if I didn't write, my soul would dry up and die. I like to write." From the show Writers on Writing |
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