On writing and passion by Diogo de Souza

I like writing because it is a mental experience. It occurs within the depths of our imagination, and the pen and paper (or, rather, the keyboard and screen) are merely a means of formalizing what’s happening within us. And because it is a mental experience, it is universal.

If there is one thing that can be said to unite us, I think it is the taste for a good story. We all love it. This is why Shakespeare’s plays can be performed in Japan and be a success, and also why we can be moved by a Kabuki play’s grace and subtlety. A good story is a human story, and it speaks directly to our core: beyond any cultural difference, beyond belief and skin color, beyond abilities and disabilities: it goes to our hearts.

Some people think that writing is a solitary thing; after all, we have to create our stories from out of our own imagination, and deliver them in words through our own writing skill. I, however, disagree. I believe that a book – or any told story for that matter – is a two-fold process. Our mind begets it, and the mind of the reader fulfills it. We are only complete as writers within the thoughts of our audience, and when a reader is drawn into our story, what arises is a melding of our own imagination with theirs: a personal experience which is as unique and as varied as there are people in this world.

It is a human process in essence. Boundaries cannot contain it, personal taste and distaste can select it, but not muffle it. Nothing in the world can constrain a good story. Our work, I thing, is one of the human spirit, and what we can touch, and what we can create, can be so emotionally valid for our audience, that who’s to say it’s not real? Who’s to say these characters do not exist?

I believe that the process of writing, which fuels our passion, is one of discovering, understanding, knowing ourselves at our core, expressing this outward, and reaching out to the world… limitlessly.

Best regards,

Diogo de Souza.

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