The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 11 September 2008

Just for the fun of it, two quotations from my daily pondering over at http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

"The very essence of literature is the war between emotion and intellect, between life and death. When literature becomes too intellectual -- when it begins to ignore the passions, the emotions -- it becomes sterile, silly, and actually without substance." Isaac Bashevis Singer

"He who teaches children learns more than they do." German proverb

Literature as conflict -- and when the superego beats the id and the ego into submission, it ain't literature no more, just a silly intellectual game. So remember to put some passion, some feeling into your writing. Kind of interesting advice, especially since we often get so wrapped up in trying to be correct about our writing.

Emotion and intellect? It's an interesting pairing, especially when talking about literature. Words often seem to be aimed at the intellect, titillating the mental faculties -- and yet Isaac reminds us that the emotions also need to play. Life and death, emotion and intellect, and probably some other poles swinging in the breeze of the writing.

How do you avoid sterile writing? How do you put the passion into your writing so the readers feel it? Some good questions for reflection in your journal.

That German proverb -- I'd shorten it down to "he who teaches, learns" and simply suggest that if you really want to learn something, one of the fastest and most thorough ways is to try teaching it to someone. Practice by yourself is good, but trying to help someone else do it -- you'll see just how much you know and don't know, you get to come up with creative new ways to explain and show what needs to happen, and you get all the fun of letting go and watching them succeed. Go ahead -- I dare you to try teaching someone, and see how much you learn.

Write?