If you haven’t heard of Nitzche’s eternal return I’ll summarize it for you. Nietzsche says that if one day a demon comes up to you and forces you to relive the life you lived up to now infinitely until the end of time you should be happy for that. But if I were to edit this and give it more risk and reward it’d be like this: The demon gives you all the riches of the world in your next life and your memories too but the caveat is that you’ll not remember the names and faces of your loved ones. Destined to travel the world a husk of your former self or die.
We writers are faced with the choice every day. Although not that literal it’s metaphorical. We all want that recognition we see given to our favorite authors. The talk shows, the internet interviews, book run. It’s an ego trip I want to be a part of. What is most attractive to me about famous writers is that the world recognizes, loves, and glorifies them. The choice they had to make was to write with their pen or the borrowed pen of others. The writer’s version of an eternal return doesn’t need a demon, we usually have that part taken care of.
Every time we write we are faced with a choice. To get the safe route of imitation or the risky one of self-invention. When starting your writer’s journey, imitation o is necessary. It’s the training wheels for the bike you’re learning to ride for the first time. The thing is as you get older, you have to let go of those wheels and risk falling. Our eyes are usually on the prize. The recognition, getting published for the first time. We narrate this glorious story of our success that never happened in my head. Yet we forget something about the people we admire, that how they got to the point of greatness they’re at now isn’t by using others’ voices but by mastering theirs.
They have their unique way of using words. They create their own worlds and characters. Unique expression you won’t find anywhere else because what they write is in part imbued with their soul and spirit. They haven’t forgotten the names and faces of the people they knew.
Of course, there are instances where taking the offer of the demon for my eternal return is a blessing rather than a curse. Although I don’t know if I’m too sure about that either. Even in niches that aren’t related to fiction elements of storytelling are required to stand out from the crowd. People at the end of the day, buy you first not the product.
So in the end it’s a choice. you either imitate or self-invent. You either become the next version of your favorite author or risk becoming the next version of yourself. All I know is that they’d be prouder to see me through the stories and not them. Also, I’m not as tall as Neil Gaiman to be the next him.
Thanks for giving me your time. See you next time.
6:02 PM
