Theo Semper
Thursday, October 7, 2010
outlaws named Robin, Will, and Little John. I was best friends and partners with young detectives affectionately known as the Hardy Boys. Even before that I had fun with Dick and Jane and their dog Spot. See Spot run.
More recently, I've spent years at Hogwarts School of Magic. I've taken a ride on a packed windjammer on the Windward Passage and became a slave in the Southern United States. I spent years as an architect and builder in early England when the Church and the State were both inseparable and unable to coexist in the Pillars of the Earth.
I have been taken on these and countless other journeys by some of the greatest writers ever. And I am amazed at the alchemy--the ability to take an alphabet of just twenty-six letters and twist and contort them into millions of permutations, transforming them into yarns of tales and adventures. They possess the ability to take me from the travesty of my reality and land me in the middle of a phantasmal existence if just for 300 to 400 pages.
I envy them. I wish I could write like this. Wish I could take a normal sensible person and have him open a book and suspend reality long enough to live in a world of wizards and witches. I wish I could enchant that individual so much that they would think of another normal person from the non-wizard world as a muggle. Make them believe that quidditch is actually a real sport. That is an amazing talent. A talent enjoyed by one of the most successful novelist of the past decade. Yes, I wish I had J. K. Rowling's skills.
My favourite writers are ones who make reading easy. Those who grab you and sit you down with a book opened, turning page after page, sinking deeper and deeper into the story, falling in love with characters, despising the antagonists, racing to the end of the story, and when you get to the last page you feel both satisfied yet wanting for more. The ones I hate are those that fall in love with the language more than the story. Classical writers are like this, mostly learned and arrogant, given to the use of expensive college words and old style writing. Moby Dick is one of those classical stories that I promised myself I'm going to finish. I have tried several times. I got as far as setting sail and just cannot get past the distracting writing style. But I will push though. Before the year is over I will finish Moby Dick.
Anyway, I was talking about writing. The reason we write. Some of us write because we have a lot to say. Most of us write because we love words, language, and creating alternate realities. It is art. Some of us do it quite well. In fact, Montserrat has produced some wordsmiths of its own.
Jeevan Robinson, The Editor of MNI-Alive, writes because he's a journalist. But that's not all. He writes because he loves to write. He writes because he has something to say. He writes because he loves his country and speaks up when he finds injustice and wrongs' that need to be exposed.
Warren Cassell writes because he's a lawyer and that's what lawyers do. They create hundreds of pages of 'briefs' and other legal jargon. But Warren writes because he has a passion. He is passionate about Oprah, her show, her path to success and her personal habits that guide her along that path. So he writes it.
Chadd Cumberbatch writes because he's an artist. He has a story to tell; lots of stories that cannot be told in a single novel, so he tells them in poetry. He makes his words dance with each other until the beautiful message is transferred if not quite understood. Like David Edgecombe, he writes for others to speak, to perform on stage. He puts his words in other people's mouth. He writes stories that are better performed than read.
Brenda McCartney writes for the love of it, also. Her Poetry celebrates women. Her daily blogs celebrate life, her country, and often times they simply celebrate words. I find her prose refreshing.
Sir Howard Fergus writes because he loves to write. He writes because the history of our country has to be recorded. I am grateful that a man who has lived it and who loves it has recorded a large part of our history. Thankfully, his words will become the window to our children's past.
I write because I enjoy it. Amazingly enough I rarely have anything to say. I have no great words of wisdom. I have no wonderful yarn to spin. I have not lived enough to be a recorder of history. One of my favourite writers is Jim Shahin. He writes for American Way Magazine and usually he doesn't have much of anything to say either. Yet every time I get on an American Airlines flight I grab the in-flight magazine and turn the back page to read the nothing he has to say. That's the kind of writer I aim to be. Even though I have nothing to say, I hope people would want to read it anyway because of the way I say it. I write because I love it.
These home grown writers have much in common with the international bestsellers. We all enjoy words. We enjoy the magic that these words create when we perform our alchemy and transform them into something special. We enjoy knowing that someone is reading what we have to say. And enjoying it. Or learning from it.
As for me I write because it allows me to finish what I have to say without interruption. Whether you read it all the way through is up to you.
About the Writers:
Warren Cassell's book, OHabits, is available at: www.ohabits.com.
Chadd Cumberbacth's book, Ya Ya Surfeit is available now. For information check http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ya-Ya-Surfeit/103682856335533.
For information on LeAP, Brenda McCartney's book of poetry check out her website and read her daily blog at http://acacia.mccartneyhouse.com.
David Edgecombe's book, Heaven and other Plays, is out of print. I have a copy if anyone wants to borrow it. His hit play, Heaven, is part of the CXC curriculum. He is currently working on a couple of screenplays.
Sir Howard Fergus is a historian and celebrated author. He has several books in print.
Jeevan Robinson is Founder and Managing Editor of MNI-Alive.com.
Theo Semper likes to masquerade as a writer. He is a regular editorial contributor to MNI-Alive. Look out for his first novel coming later this summer.
Editor's Note: Theo Semper is an Editorial Contributor to MNI Alive
