To tell a story, one must live it. Because until the storyteller has lived the story, even if it is in his mind and imagination. He must breathe the air of the characters, and feel the emotions of their victory and betrayal, love and loss. Words, just a few of them put together, create a spell on the reader to feel something. How can that not be magic? That’s the story of all of art. Painters, poets, architects, and writers, all want to portray an emotion, relive an exhilarating experience, or explore a wild imagination. Aesthete are privileged to experience them, live another life, expand the horizons of the human mind, and even go beyond it. A work of art can also bring a change of heart. It can define the course of one’s life. Give meaning to one’s daily strive.
Coming to writing, every mind has a different appeal. Every age has its genre, characters to relate with and curiosity to be fulfilled. Start a story, and open the door of imagination, there are a million pit stops, and if you really want, there’s no exit. Much like our lives, spread across time, space, memories, and dreams. The blank sheets are the space, the ink is time and we are the pen walking miles and miles. Never running out of ink and pages. One book ends, another opens and pages fill. One story becomes someone else’s. One’s story inspires someone else’s. One’s betrayal becomes the motive for another. And sometimes, one’s forgiveness can give meaning to countless.
An exchange of stories, that’s what life has all been about ever since we learned to speak them. They are everywhere and in every walking notion of life, people sitting down together for a cup of tea, lovers walking out on dates, the faithful going to the masses, the generation glued to the screen. Everyone catching up with a story or making a new one to share. All busy filling the pages of life worried that they might run out of ink or stories. But we’ll never do. Because, the first story ever told was a spell, a spell that will never die. And all these words here are now the curse of that spell. A curse or magic enchantment, we will have to discover. Perhaps, this is the beginning of another new story, like every other, trying to connect to the very first one.
Note: This was written as an exercise on freewriting for a creative writing course hosted by Maria Hoey.