Writing!
Teymur Roshdi
Smashwords Edition
Copyright2012-Teymur Roshdi

  Why do we write?Why most of all are so eager to write,to tell stories,to write novels,fairy tales,science-fiction;writing about cooking recipes,health,yoga,martial arts,sports and so on?Why do most of all like being published via blogs,books or ebooks?Is it because we all have something to share,do we need to communicate with unknown readers?Where this need is from?Where this tendency comes from?Is it just a simple vanity?

  Cicero in ancient Rome used to tell that he wrote because he wished to make himself immortal,in order that after he passed away his name lives forever. Do all writers have the same ambition?I don’t think so. The tales of ‘Thousand-and-one-night’ are apparently the result of the knowledge,imagination and the genius of a woman named ‘Sheharazad’ who was pushed to entertain a depressed king who hated all women,by telling a story which could give him rest and peace and also to attract his attention and curiosity to know and to follow the continuation of the story,otherwise the executioner would cut the head of Sheharazad. Now I think that maybe in the act of telling a story or simply writing,we somehow ‘suspend’ the moment of our ‘virtual execution’,because in all ways the ‘sword of Damocles’ is above our head and at each moment it could fall and kill us,and also we all know that soon or late we have to die and by writing we postpone that fatal ‘moment’ and we try to entertain ‘the angel of death’. Maybe we are all a sort of ‘Sheharazad’.

  I can say the same thing about chatting,we chat to forget ourselves,our fragile condition,to make ‘eternal’ and ‘infinite’ the time. So I deduce that in the act of chatting,telling stories and writing,we enter in contact with Time. It is always about Time and I know that in everything I wrote,I made some allusion to Time. Time,this undecipherable,mysterious ‘entity’ which is always puzzling me. Anyway I can surely say that in the act of writing we postpone in a way the ‘fate’. Of course I don’t generalize this statement because there are tremendous varieties of writings,the genres are different and the goal of all writers is not the same. Most writers just enjoy the subject they are full of and they write about. The ones who write love stories or romances,delight describing the qualities of the lovers and so on. On the other hand the inspiration or the muse of all writers is not similar. Some writers are truly under the impact of a muse when they write,and I call this:’creation’ or ‘creative writing’. They create a world of their own,for themselves or for the public. Some authors are really creators because they master so well all the human emotions,situations,all sort of knowledge and have such a strong imagination that they become famous throughout history. I wonder how many people around the world never heard of Shakespeare or his plays?And we have innumerable examples like Shakespeare:the ones who are national or international ‘Icons’,’Legends’ or so. Maybe these national or international figures have torn the veil of Time.

  Almost 2500 years ago,Plato by all his writings gave birth to a ‘civilization. His ’Republic’ is always on agenda even today for rulers around the world and people on power. How could we know how people were living in ancient Greece if Plato never mentioned a man named Socrates,an idle man full of knowledge and intelligence?Some philosophers by their way of life,their thoughts and their writings gave a totally different trend to the historical events.

  Someday I was interviewing a writer who had written a book about a tragedy happened to his family. I asked him why did he write such a tragic book,he replied that he hadn’t other option,he had to choose or to die or to write. So writing saved the life of that man,in this case writing becomes a sort of cure,a remedy for our hurts,and this even though never published or best selling,at least was useful to rescue the life of a person who could die under the pressure of a pain which was above his capacity and expectation.

  I can conclude that by creative writing,or we create a world of words which put their impact on us or on the readers,which becomes a world of fiction parallel with the ’real’ world,which may change the trend of history,which ‘suspends the sword of Damocles’,which cures our hurts or simply they entertain us.
6/1/2012