What drives a person to write? And how can a person excel in their craft or make any sort of impact without maintaining that impetus?
Unless you've been in a coma for the past few months (in which case, I would advise you to avoid catching up on the presidential election), you're probably aware of the cultural phenomenon that is Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton. The musical is an entertaining exploration of the life of Alexander Hamilton, a founding father whose life was less History Channel and more E! When he wasn't sparring with his fellows or cheating on his wife (props to Miranda for including the more reprehensible aspects of Hamilton's life), Hamilton was writing. Obsessively, in fact. According to his wife Eliza, he wrote like "he was running out of time". Miranda himself has a similar affection for the written word, which is why he imbues the role of Hamilton with such fiery passion and verbal clarity. He embodies the spirit of Hamilton, that creativity and drive that pushed both men to achieve greatness (except Miranda achieved his dreams without cheating on his wife, how incredible).
I'm sure several writers have been properly inspired by Miranda's success. After all, this is a man who wrote the book and score for a musical that he both conceived and starred in: how could a blossoming writer not be enthralled by such passion? At the risk of inflating his ego, I believe young writers should look up to Miranda. Not so much as a paragon of artistic virtue or a figure who has transcended criticism and analysis, but as the quintessential artist. Someone who had an idea and worked extremely hard to tell a story that he related to (Miranda cleverly incorporates the experiences of immigrants into the story, blasting away the cobwebs festooning founding father mythos). Someone who is willing to collaborate with others. Someone who writes incredibly complex characters. Someone who pours their heart and soul into a project. Someone who knows when to let go of said project and move on before creative stagnation can set in.
I am not saying that you need to write two Tony Award-winning musicals (seriously, Miranda, you have a song in Hamilton called "Take a Break". Follow your own advice). What I'm saying is that you need passion when it comes to writing. Now, I'm absolutely certain that I've introduced this concept before (and, knowing me, contradicted it), but its importance needs to be emphasized, especially in this era of creative apathy. Art can now be cranked out effortlessly, which has cheapened its value and diminished its impact on an increasingly desperate and divisive world. A quick peek at the list of movies coming to theaters this summer proves that originality and artistic vision have been dwarfed by an insatiable thirst for revenue and CGI. I have nothing against CGI, but when a movie's narrative depends on the intangible, the writing has to be water-tight--and it rarely is. And this decay isn't limited to the artistic world: rot has set into the woodwork of the entire planet. It is difficult to stave off ennui in a world that lends volume to the morally-deprived, passionless few (orange you glad I didn't say his actual name?!) and silences most voices before they ever get an opportunity to tell their stories.
So how can you survive in a world that is perpetually robbing you of your passion? You fight. You fight back. My mantra for this blog has always been that the pen is mightier than the sword and I have yet to encounter any situation that discounts this notion. When the world tries to take your spirit and enthusiasm for writing, you fight back. Prove that your fervor is something that can never be taken away.
This does not mean you should ensconce yourself in a plastic bubble out of fear of what exposure might do to your writing. It is important to stay exposed, to consistently immerse yourself in the present and stay perceptive of what the future might hold. The world is an incredibly scary place, especially nowadays, and it might seem like your contributions will do nothing to combat such a collective evil. This is a mindset you need to let go of. You do not need to win awards or organize a country's financial system to make an impact. You just need your passion. That is why you cannot ever let it go. Because once it's gone, it's never coming back.
What measures can be taken to preserve something so terrifyingly abstract? Well, I've said it a hundred thousand times and I'll say it once more: write. Write everyday. And write about what you want to write about. Do not feel imprisoned by conventions or standards. Your writing is your own and if you don't want to share it, you don't have to. Keep a journal; record the good things you see. And don't forget that lots of issues can be defused with a simple click of the pen or tap of the keyboard. Don't believe me? A few years ago, my late grandfather was placed in a nursing home and sustained several injuries that suggested the care he was receiving was inadequate. Instead of outrage, my father addressed the problem with an extremely eloquent document that outlined every aspect of his father's experiences and the family's concerns about the facility. Shortly after presenting this document, my father and his family received compensation for their grievances and my grandfather was moved into a better facility.
The point of this story (other than the fact that my father should just write up these documents for a living) is that a difference was made using writing. My family did not respond explosively. We used logic and composition to present our case and get the response we felt we deserved. And guess what? This was an impassioned scenario. We didn't want our grandfather to reside in a home that didn't care properly for him, which spurred us to act quickly and with great enthusiasm to have him moved elsewhere. Did we accomplish anything huge? Not necessarily. But we fixed a problem and secured the well-being of a loved one. That's a pretty significant victory to me.
I know this post has been a bit of a rant and I promise that our next discussion will be a lot more structured (I think we could all use a brush-up on our mechanics. Damn you, summer!) But I needed to reaffirm the reason why we write. We are a passionate people. We are a people who take it upon ourselves to leave behind a legacy. But, as Hamilton sings on his death bed, a legacy is "planting seeds in a garden we never get to see". So don't pressure yourself to change the world. You're already doing so by picking up a pen and writing. And isn't that enough?
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