Great Writers are Madmen Trying to Stay Sane in a Mad World
Great writers are those among us who are sick and tired of the madness that is going on in the world around us. Perfectly comfortable writers are like doctors in a perfectly healthy society, they are not needed and must soon pack up and go, not send away by anybody but vanquished by their own state of inertia.
Are you mad or just sick and tired of the madness around you?
Why do you write? You may not have given it much thought but one thing separates real writers from lesser mortals, one thing sets apart great writers from millions of pretenders to the throne that are out there in the wilderness. Are you a writer by default or a mere pretender to the throne? If you are sick and tired of the madness going on around you, then you are a real writer!
Real writers are mad!
Writers are actually madmen trying to stay sane, or at least that is how the rest of the world views them. They are social critics who see everything wrong in the world in which they live. To them the world is sick, the world is disfigured, the world is half empty, and the world needs to be whipped back into shape! How does the world respond to these accusations and counter accusations leveled against it by these madmen and women, how does the world treat these men who have decided to right the wrongs that everyone else makes? It ignores them, it ignores those faults and this makes writers even madder and only writing, only writing can help them hold onto sanity.
Great writers are sick people!
Great writers are sick people. It doesn’t matter the nature of their sickness but I must repeat what I have said before. It takes great discomfort for one to master creativity and keep the art of creation going. Real writers are either sick in the mind, sick in the body or sick in the pocket. Whatever form it takes, sickness is necessary for creativity to show itself.
Great writers do not apologize for their madness or sickness!
They know what makes them write, they know what keeps them going but they can not apologize for this, they have no apologies whatsoever for their insanity or sickness. They love it when the world before them is lopsided; they love it when things go wrong for only then can they rant about it in anger. Consider the plight of doctors and nurses in a perfectly healthy society! Writers can not flourish in a perfect society. They have to find either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation in the name of turmoil!
The dilemma of sending a thief to catch a thief
Can writers help save the planet earth? Can we count on the creative people among us to heal the world and right it from wrong? I think we can bet our pens on it. When the oil spill was running out of hand, James Cameron, of all the people, offered to help! By being pathologically mad, only writers can heal the madness that surrounds them, only writers can right the turmoil that has engulfed the world in which they live, but because they are thought of as mad, nobody takes them seriously and if they were to succeed in rectifying what has gone wrong, if they were to be taken seriously, their creativity would die an artificial death!
Great writers never give up the fight!
They know the futility of what they are fighting for, they know how unlikely it is for them to finally win the battle of righting the wrong in a mad, mad, world but they never give up. Real writers are real madmen who never give up the task before them however useless it seems to everyone else!
May the real writers please stand up!
Are you a great writer or a pretender to the throne? Are you suffering from mental, physical or financial sickness? Whatever the case, never ever give up the task writing and thanks for reading this piece of madness!
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August 15th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Bravo Leo
Leo this was an awesome article! I totally agree that a writer to be a true writer, he/she must have a cause for their writing. There must be a reason behind their intricate emotional bond with the world around them. Writers above all else are thinkers. They are the masons immortalising thought and capturing emotion for all to experience! People who live perfect lives could never write for they wouldn’t feel that relentless urge to be heard, to be understood, and more than anything, to be felt….
Great read as usual! (There is a text error in the first third of the article. It must be a glitch in the system, either that or my nets playing up! lol)
Dejan
August 15th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
The only reason that I am a real writer is because I am not a quitter. I don’t give up easily. Persistence is my virtue. It’s a jungle out there and in order to survive, you must ignore all the crap around you and sometimes that means cutting off people that will drain your energy. I am not suffering from any mental, physical nor financial ailments so I guess I am not a real writer. Now, Will the Real Slim Shady please stand up?” lol.
August 15th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Thank you, its the system that brought it up but after fixing it, I find the article acceptable.
August 15th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Wonderful post, I fully agree with all your points
August 15th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Thank you Marlene, and webseowriters. I really appreciate.
August 15th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
I am mad and want to be heard. No! I’m not a quitter.
August 15th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Leo! You caught me out… i’m mad!
I love writing and it is the world that we live in that makes us write, and if the world was perfect there would be no writing. In my opinion.
Emmie
August 15th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Down right awesom Leo. You have that knack for being on the right track. Now write the next truth anc come on back.
August 15th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Good one
August 15th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
What can I say? I think, I feel, I write.
August 15th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Real writers are ad about writing and telling thin this are truth to the world. Good points made in this article.
August 15th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
When I saw the title, Virginia Woolf stole into my mind. I think great writers have an extraordinary observing ability and they dare to write their observations out. When their writings are not favorable, then they will be labeled a madman.
August 15th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
I think I’m mad; what do you say Silaho?
August 16th, 2010 at 2:29 am
Great article. Very well-written, I kept reading it often forgetting to breathe.
I can happily join the club of all the madmen/women, mentally (depressions, crazy ideas), physically (shorter tendons) and financially (after all, I earn less than 100 euro most months) ill.
Though, I gave up ideas of changing the world even before I started to write. I do it just to present my opinions (and support them by the best arguments I can think of) and maybe enlighten few readers to realize that they should always form their own opinions, not let their lives be coursed by others.
August 16th, 2010 at 2:30 am
Great! BRAVO! JUST what I need to hear! LET’S MAKE SOME STOVES! Let deliquescent brethren spread the madness!
August 16th, 2010 at 2:36 am
TO SILENT WASP: I KILLED HONEYCOMB OF FASP UP BETWEEN THE BARRIER OF BACKDOOR SLIDING DOOR LAST WEEK!
(prior to that… a red widow spider… then other spider ate it… then bird tried to eat it… to no avail…)
All the whole time I was smoking a tobacco of computing cloud in its lung-oil release reek of tar gold oil!
August 16th, 2010 at 6:40 am
Its more about passion isnt it?
August 16th, 2010 at 8:35 am
haha, I’m here to say hello to all the mad women and mad men.
I have never find myself a great writer, but I find myself mad most of the time.
I am here to put my insanity to practice….haha..who want to join me? haha.
August 16th, 2010 at 10:59 am
i am mental sick and crazy and i can play with words if i want to a bit more easy then most … *pats on his own back !
August 16th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
I’m just a nice guy who has a keyboard and wants to make the world a more comfortable place. I am not crazy! Well, that’s your opinion.
August 16th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Up the wall bananas yehaw cheers
August 17th, 2010 at 12:08 am
loved this:) One of your best pieces yet. I actually write to keep my sanity. In this crazy world that we live in, I have to vent about it all…or internally explode;)
August 17th, 2010 at 3:46 am
What would we do if we couldn’t write – tho I’m not sure I’m yet ready to accept madness as my lot.
August 18th, 2010 at 5:46 am
crazy news about atlantis!!! a great must read!
http://tinyurl.com/yk999hv