Musings based on Quote

"Tale also tells the story of the minstrel whose only listeners were animals who simply wished to eat him but were stayed by the minstrel's music; eventually, of course, when the minstrel ran out of fresh tunes, they did eat him, but meanwhile..." -Coover

Why do writers write? I think it's a good thing to examine, especially in a class of people who are writers, and thus should know. Why do we write? Certainly it's not always easy to write. You have a great idea, something wonderful you want to express, and the words never come out right! You can't get the proper words in the proper order; rubbish on the page what was magficent in your head. And then, what's more, the trial I've yet to face: trying to get published. That can't be easy; fighting for your work, while it constantly gets rejected again and again and again. Lots of mental strain for barely any reward. Why on earth would anyone to be a writer?

But we do. We are. And if you ask me, I don't think it's a decision one makes. I think it's something that has to be done. If you're a writer, you write because you have to. No one is physically making you, but you are forced to write. Something compels you--like the minstrel playing for the animals so they'll leave him be, so a writer writes to keep at bay whatever dark force is after him, just for a little while more. It's a losing fight; always, the minstrel and the writer, at some point, will lose and will be devoured. But before that, they will make music. They will write, and write, and write, as if they're very lives depended on it.

And in many ways, maybe it actually does.