Why Write? | India Writes

Truman Capote: Inner music of words

March 7, 2015 - by India Writes Network

“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music that words make.” – Truman Capote

Joan Didion – I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking

March 4, 2015March 4, 2015 - by India Writes Network

I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear. Why did the …

Enid Bagnold – writing is the Streaming reason for living

February 27, 2015 - by India Writes Network

Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. … It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to …

Elie Wiesel: Going behind the veil

February 22, 2015February 22, 2015 - by India Writes Network

Acutely aware of the poverty of my means, language became obstacle. At every page I thought, ‘That’s not it.’ So I began again with other verbs and other images. No, …

Donald E. Westlake: Writing begins with language

February 20, 2015February 20, 2015 - by India Writes Network

In the most basic way, writers are defined not by the stories they tell, or their politics, or their gender, or their race, but by the words they use. Writing …

Paul West: Do not burn with gemlike flame

February 20, 2015February 20, 2015 - by India Writes Network

Of course the writer cannot always burn with a hard gemlike flame or a white heat, but it should be possible to be a chubby hot-water bottle, rendering maximum attentiveness …

William Saroyan: How do you write

January 18, 2015January 18, 2015 - by India Writes Network

How do you write? You write, man, you write, that’s how, and you do it the way the old English walnut tree puts forth leaf and fruit every year by …

Alice Hoffman: Love is possible and real

January 14, 2015January 14, 2015 - by India Writes Network

I wrote to find beauty and purpose, to know that love is possible and lasting and real, to see day lilies and swimming pools, loyalty and devotion, even though my …

Richard Ford: Writing is dark and lonely

January 14, 2015January 14, 2015 - by India Writes Network

Beware of writers who tell you how hard they work. (Beware of anybody who tries to tell you that.) Writing is indeed often dark and lonely, but no one really …

Geraldine Brooks: Seeking emotional truths

January 14, 2015January 14, 2015 - by India Writes Network

Write what you know. Every guide for the aspiring author advises this. Because I live in a long-settled rural place, I know certain things. I know the feel of a …