No matter how many books I read or how many words I write, I will forever be amazed at how whole universes and stories are constructed seemingly out of thin air from people’s minds. Writing to me is as close to magic as one can get. It’s easy to read or watch a piece of work and think nothing of it, but I encourage everyone to sit back and marvel at the fact that those stories were carefully curated from one person’s imagination.
I see writers as their own sort of magicians. They weave together words to form a whole new world. They craft into existence fully fleshed-out characters with flaws, personalities and dreams. They time-jump, flashback and switch points of view. Writers hold entire worlds of their own making in their hands.
I’m guilty of racing through books like it’s my job (I wish it was), and I often don’t think about what I’ve read once I’ve finished the book. Good books, I find, both feel so real that you don’t think of the craft of it, yet simultaneously, make you respect the magic of the writing. When a piece of writing can make me think, “This is so creative, how did the author come up with this?” while also feeling fully immersed into the story as if it was real, that’s when I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot. Even when books don’t hit the nail on the head, I still can respect all the mental work that went into creating it. Just think — all those words printed on the page were written, letter by letter, as the author pulled ideas out of their mind, brainstormed where to go with the story, and settled on which scenes to include.
It’s easy to forget the beauty of writing, both when reading and during the writing process. When I’m furiously typing out a scene on my notes app, full of typos and grammatical errors, it certainly doesn’t feel like magic. But to step back and see that there’s a story I’m creating from random ideas, I re-acknowledge how impressive it is.
Even when what I write doesn’t end up being top-notch, I still try to give myself credit for the fact that those stories came from my mind. In the day-to-day, it might not feel like being a writer is magical, especially with the struggles that come with it, but I stand by my belief that creating a story from nothing is always something to marvel at.
