Writing is Radical Resistance

“Writing in itself is radical resistance, a triumph - people can try to stop you from speaking your truth, but no one can take your words from you.”― Eternity Martis

I think most artists ask themselves – why do we create? Art happens through words, music, paint, sculpture, movement, film, various combinations of the aforementioned, and in ways we probably haven’t thought of yet. Essentially, art happens anywhere and anytime human beings express themselves through their unique creations. Art is personal to the artist, and their reasons for creating it just as individual. Ask anyone why they write or paint or dance, etc. and each answer will be unique. One thing that’s universal though, is that artists hold a mirror up to society. We question and dig. We bring injustice into sharp relief. We invite laughter. We provide entertainment, respite, relief. We provoke change. We ask our audience to look at the world from a different perspective.

So, why do I write? Well, I’ve always had a vivid imagination. It took me years to acquire the necessary writing skills to craft an entire novel, but I’ve been creating stories in my mind since I was a child. It’s satisfying to be able to bring them to life on the page. It’s satisfying to share them with readers. For a little while, those readers are joining me in a world I created, and they’re spending time with characters from my imagination. Through my stories, I’m connecting with people I don’t know and sharing an experience with them. I want to entertain people through my stories, and I want to do it well.

But as much as I want to entertain and connect through my stories, I am also often grappling with big questions in a lot of my work. With my first science fiction series, the underlying questions I posed were, “When confronted with hatred and injustice, who becomes a hero? Who defends their neighbor? Who turns a blind eye?” These questions are as frighteningly relevant today as they’ve ever been. The characters I created for that series had been tossed into the fray, so to speak, and it was satisfying to explore all the various ways they responded to the catastrophes in their world and watch them evolve. I think maybe we creative types are constantly processing what we’re seeing around us – the oppression, the injustice, the inhumanity, and we’re practicing our own responses to it.

Sometimes writing is hard, and the words don’t come easily. Sometimes I’m frustrated and distracted and uninspired, or I feel overwhelmed by all that’s wrong in the world. But, at the end of the day, I write because it’s really, really satisfying to give the stories in my head full expression on the page and to know I’ve touched people with my words.