In the early morning hours of the day, I sit to write. The sun has yet to creep over the horizon and I am already clicking away at the keys.
As the words begin to flow onto the page, I wonder; what good will come of this? How will it make the world a better place than I found it?
Coming off Halloween and racing headlong into the holiday season, thoughts of humanity come to my mind. I wonder if the great classic authors and poets had the same thoughts when they wrote their stories and poetry. Did they think about humanity? Humanness? Or, more importantly, the impact their prose would have on society? Did they wonder about their legacy?Every genre, in the writing world, has the opportunity to triumph the better angels of their nature.
The authors who write romance triumph the better angels of their nature through the propogation of what is it to be a human being in love. It doesn't matter in what sub-genre of romance they are writing, it's all in the perspective of the reader. Hundreds of years from now, when 'old' romance novels are downloaded from the e-libraries, the world will know exactly what it was to be in love, in the 21st century.
Fantasy, Science-Fiction, and SteamPunk writers triumph the better angles of their nature through the wonders of imagination. Carefully building worlds where strength, courage, endurance, and sometimes love prevail over the darkness of evil, the world will know these authors had hope for the future; hope for the continuation of the human existence.
And let us not forget those authors who craft stories of the horrific and terrifying. Yes, even they too triumph the better angels of their nature through exposing the true fears of the human being. When the world has morphed into something we cannot fathom, in our 21st century mind, they will know what it was that frightened us the most.
The list of genres is long and comprehensive. It is the wholeness of the human existence. Each printed word, sentence and paragraph, tell the story of the human being; the story of Earth in the times of each author. Today, we look back on those we consider the greatest authors of all time and find comfort in the words they left for us; their stories and recordings of the days in which they lived, loved and laughed.
The people of tomorrow will look back on those they consider the greatest authors of all time and read the legacy we have left for them - the better angels of our nature.
What an interesting way to put it, Donna. I love that - the better angels of our nature! I think for the most part we do not live with this much introspection, and sometimes, perhaps, it's better that we don't. What I mean is not that we avoid those bigger questions about humanity, but that as writers, we must simply focus on what it is we have to share at that moment in time. It won't be until later, as you point out, that our contribution will be recognized in its true light.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I certainly don't contemplate the universe as I am writing. I just simply write. It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall a hundred years from now when all the stuff being put out there today is discussed. :-) Thanks for your thoughts, Roxane.
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