Writing as a Calling

So, yesterday, my friend and I were talking and hanging out, when our conversation turned to our favorite topic--writing.

We were actually originally talking about her Korean drama she's obsessed with currently, and how she loves the main character. I pointed out to her that there's a very good chance he's married and has kids. Although I really don't have any idea.

She looked confused, before realizing that I meant the actor, not the actual character. Then we were talking some more, and I said, "You know, though, if your mom's book theory is correct, somewhere in the universe, that story does actually exist. They all exist."

She turns to me. "That's not very comforting, Carina. That means that all the horrible things I do to my characters is my fault. That means that somewhere in the universe, I'm creating terrible lives for these people."

But then I had a thought. It's not the first time I've had this thought, but it hit me again right there. "Well, actually, I don't think we actually do the horrible things to them," I tried to explain it to her. "It's like... we just see what happened to them. We get the privilege of seeing their lives and writing it down for others. We're sharing their story."

That thought was slightly more comforting to her. But... why? Why do we, as writers, get the privilege-the responsibility-of telling these stories? What is so important about the telling of stories? Why is it that I feel this need to write every single day of my life?

Then, somehow, our conversation turned to the topic of freedom.

"You know, Amber, Loki had a point, in the Avengers movie," I said. "We humans... we do naturally crave subjugation. We don't even think about it. As much as we say we want freedom, a leader shows up and takes charge, and we follow him. We're like sheep, we don't even think about it."

And that thought, the notion that even me, if someone were to show up, use some force on people, and scream at us to kneel and worship him, would kneel as well... it scares me.

"But there was that old man," Amber points out. "He stood up to Loki. And he was awesome."

"Yeah," I said. "But what if we don't have any awesome old men to stand up and remind us that we have our agency? The human race will just fall, because someone has incredible leadership power and we get so blinded by it we don't even question him."

"Well," she said slowly, "I think that's part of our job. That's what writers do. I mean, all the prophets are storytellers. It's always been that way."

It made sense to me. "Well, look at history. The reason we learn the lessons we do is because they tend to be told to us in stories. We remember stories."

"I think... I think writing.. to be a writer... is a kind of calling. It's not a hobby. It's not even an addiction. It's a calling. We need to tell these stories, so that we can remind everyone about life and everything else."

"Well, I mean, it's awfully selfish to write and not share it," I said. "You can't. I mean... it's not writing if you don't share it. It's just something you wrote. But... it's a story when you share it. And we... we have the power. To remind people. To be that awesome old man who stood up to Loki in the Avengers. We can remind people that they have agency, that they aren't the only ones who go through hard times, and that there's always a way back."

I'm still thinking about that conversation. Throughout history, storytellers have been both welcomed and condemned. Ever wonder why free speech is limited in so many countries without democracy? Leaders who rule their people without proper authority know--they fully understand-- the power of words. They know that it would only take one person--running on one story--to realize the truth of their lack of authority, and to challenge it.

For years, America didn't allow slaves to learn how to read and write. The slave owners knew the dangers of getting an educated slave. They might get all uppity with this freedom thing. Maybe challenge the status quo. And they were right. Education is a dangerous and powerful tool. Reading, stories, writing... they are some of the most powerful things humans can access.

In the story Amber and I are writing together, it's a dystopia. The common people--such as there are--have no idea what's going on with their government. Because their entire education has focused on accepting their governments without question, they don't question it. They fear it. But every once in a while, people do realize. And they fight back. (and then the government kills them all, but that's not exactly the point.)

History is written by the victors, and that might be a reason we don't learn well from history textbooks. History is never written by the losers who actually made the mistakes. We don't get to learn what they learned.

Words are powerful. They're some of the most powerful things I've ever dealt with. I've never felt more empowered, more in control, than when I'm sitting at my computer, writing. I have a message to share with the world. All writers do. We might not realize it when we're trying to figure out how to write the next chapter, or doing stupid things so we can accurately describe it in our stories. But we do.

And I just hope I can choose my words carefully enough.