Saturday, August 17, 2013

Wandering Thoughts in the Darkness

“The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.” 
–Stephen King

It's 11:00pm and I'm in a dark room, on my bed, with the fan circulating the suffocating hot air around me. I always find I can write the best at night. I guess maybe it's due to the fact that my body is relaxing and my mind is wandering. Whatever the reason, ever since I was little I can remember being in bed at night thinking up stories as I fell asleep. Every night I would create dialogues and scenes and then try to recreate them on paper in the morning. Eventually I realized that having a notebook beside my bed was a much more efficient way to jot down good ideas. As I got older I realized that writing what I was going through and feeling was the most liberating way to write. Similarly, I found out that I could never write anything the way it really was. I realized that even the best writers can never create a moment exactly how it was, that you can only get so close. And for most people that proximity to perfect - to exactness -  is fine. For most people it's fault isn't even acknowledged. For me and probably most published writers I never feel like I can write something perfectly. I can never do a feeling or a moment justice and it's the most frustrating thing in the world. I guess that's why I like this quote so much. Sometimes I feel like not writing something down is so much better than trying to get it perfect. It'll almost never sound the way it feels. Words sometimes diminish things and taint them. Certain things are better left untouched and felt, rather than bloodied by words that are sheerer than the subject. And that begs the question: Is it possible to be proud of your writing even if it isn't perfect?I'll probably be up all night.

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