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I think that one of those things I want to do at some point is to write a story. Like a legitimate book sold on the bookshelves in a bookstore book. Why? Well, actually, I'm pretty sure most people have wanted to write one at some point in their lives. It's also true that most people never actually do that either, so even start for that matter. So why do they want to and why do they not do it?
Most people feel like they have a story to tell. Either because they feel that some part of their life is interesting enough that other people would want to hear about it, or because they think they have some great thought that they should share with the world. The act of printing a story out makes it available to the world. Even if no one reads it, it will always exist in some sense. It's essentially leaving a legacy behind, so that some part of your mind will survive past you and exist when you don't. I suppose you could see the desire to write and publish as a fear of death. People fear obliteration and completely being erased from existence, so they crave the opportunity to leave something behind that will last. But not just anything. If you really wanted to remain a part of the future world, you should go and assassinate someone. It doesn't really require much effort or skill on your part, and you'll remain famous to some extent for as long as our written history remains intact. But it's not that kind of fame or remembrance that most people are looking for. Not that some aren't of course.
No, what most people are hoping to find is something they can do that people will look upon and know who they are. At least who they think they are or hope that they are. But a personality nonetheless. Writing is effectively transferring some of your consciousness to a lasting and tangible state. It's the best thing we have to copying the contents of your brain to a computer and allowing a person to continue life through machines. The person will not live, but a part of that person's essence will. That's what's so enticing about writing. The hope that a piece of you will survive beyond your death.
People want to write, people want to be published because they want to be preserved. Not just their name in a county registrar, but their very soul and being. They want people to know who they are even when they are gone. It's a selfish desire and driven also by the belief that other people would want to even know them. To be a writer, to write yourself down into paper is to believe that you are interesting, that you have something that other people want to know about. Even as I write this right now, it's because I think that I have something within my mind that I think is interesting and I want other people to know about because I think I am awesome like that.
I write because I fear my thoughts becoming forgotten. I write because when I die, my thoughts will be forgotten and I can't stand that. I write because it's the only way I can possibly preserve myself and my mind in a sort of literary immortality. My body and my future will disappear, but the thoughts that I had, a piece of my essence will remain forever.
Then, you must ask, why don't people do this? If there is such a fear of death and such an accessible method of even somewhat subverting it, why not grab on with everything you've got?
  
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I started writing one, not for the reasons of self-preservation. I say this as honestly as I can, I don't fear death. By that, I mean I don't seek for a way to be remembered, or believe in some kind of afterlife, or a religion (no one turn this into religious debate please).
Although we write for different reasons, there are many aspects that are similar. I enjoy journalling my perspective on things because I too see the pity in wasted thoughts and ideas, but only for my own satisfaction. I've never been one to be so hot on "opening up" to others, even though throughout high school I was part of a group called the "Peer Counsellors," which was a group of 8 students from our grade who went through a training process designed to enhance one's ability to guide people to a position where they feel comfortable talking about feelings, and to help resolve issues.
This is not because I'm scared of being judged, but because I frankly don't care. (Meaning I'm either a hypocrite, or this post is very ironic. I'll settle for a mix of both.) I like to carry a doctrine that whatever it is I am currently doing, feeling, thinking, or what have you, is the most important thing to focus on. I don't feel it important to transfer those ideas to the future, or to other people.
Winnie the Pooh is easily my favourite media-liven character. "Never underestimate the power of doing nothing, [of just sitting, and going along]" - Winnie the Pooh. The entirety of his world is about being content with whatever is happening around him
Whether my writing gets a nobel prize, or ends up as a file in my recycle bin makes no difference. It is the act of attempting to process my current being into words that I enjoy. I find some kind of "peace" (pardon all the cliches,) when writing. It's very rare to totally understand how you are feeling at a given time, writing emulates it.
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My reasons for wishing to write are fairly similar. I want to tell my story, share my experiences, and pass on knowledge to the future generations. Also I'm a fairly unique person so I feel an autobiography would be adequately interesting.
Would I want EVERYONE to know my life story? Maybe, but as long as the people close to me know my story, I'm ok with not publishing a book.
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It's not just that i want to be immortalized, I feel like a I have so much to share with the world, it's nice knowing that the words you write will be going through many hundreds of minds.
It doesn't have to be an autobiography, I sometimes have nights where i lie in bed thinking up phrases and ideas about a book or story. Recently I read Wide Sargasso Sea and read about how meticulous Jean Rhys was when writing it, every little syntax was nuanced to have a specific purpose and as I read I tried to discover the purpose for every word and rhyme. The characters also seem to have this desire for "literary immortality", within the novel you can see the struggles between the characters as they compete for narrative dominance (as in: part 1 is narrated by one character and the other character narrates part 2, the second character effectively suppresses the first by seizing narrative control), this leads to the first narrators descent into madness.
Lol sorry if that was a little off topic, but i could see how this blog parallels this story of the author and the novel. It's a good read and pretty short too
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Have you ever heard of oral tradition?!
You appear very naive, and the objective sense of cultural memory and scope you express seems flawed, you and everything around us will always be obliterated by reality.
Write your stories, tell your stories, publish them if they're worthy in book or e-book format.
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I came here expecting a discussion on the concept of character literary immortality, as in how the main character or his party tends to avoid death at every turn, and how a subversion of this concept can be shocking within the narrative of a story. But more than that...
Literary immortality as you describe it is not just about author immortality but story immortality. An author may feel that their work is worth preserving almost as much as their own memory.
I have in my head (and partially written) a fantasy epic rivaling the Lord of the Rings in scale. The only part where Tolkien beats me is his history and languages are better fleshed out, whereas my cultures, creatures, and landscapes are better fleshed out. Should I die, this entire world dies with me. By writing it down and making this story known, the story can survive entirely on it's own.
Compare the Star Wars Expanded Universe, which has grown well beyond its original story thanks to a myriad of different authors (some far better than others; here's looking at you Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole). Lucas has basically lost touch with his own story, and it will still survive the ages in one form or another. Tolkien's story may one day be remembered as an epic like Beowulf, the Iliad, or the Divine Comedy. The author will basically survive by being associated with the work, not the other way around.
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Canada6330 Posts
I've had similar thoughts too, I wanted to leave written memories of my life behind. I probably started a couple times just to give up like two paragraphs in. The easiest thing might be to save chat history but most of chat is 99% gibberish.
Now I'm shifting towards becoming a person worthy of a biography - someone worthy of having someone else write a book about them.
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EPT
