THE DOCTOR IS IN

WHY DO YOU DO IT?

A reader directed my attention to Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s prologue to her short story collection The Bedquilt and Other Stories.” In it, she reviews a writing career of over fifty years and asks: 

What has made an adult citizen, who was free to do any of a great many other things, keep up so long the baffling struggle with her own limitations in the effort to get stories told? For that, I meditated, there must have been some deeply rooted driving impulse, and not only a root-impulse, but food to nourish it in the places, persons, happenings of the outer world. 

What was—what is—this impulse? It is to try with all one’s might to understand that part of human life which does not lie visibly on the surface. And then to try to depict the people involved, and their actions, so that they may be recognizable men and women—and children. 

To attempt this means to have one’s primary interest concentrated on, and absorbed by, human beings and their doings. But why that one special concentration? Why not science, or music, or mathematics, philosophy, or one of the myriad other aspects of existence in our cosmos?

 Fisher goes on to explore the factors that influenced her to write. As my correspondent anticipated, her questions sparked many of my own. 

We have discussed in this forum the reasons why we, as a race, may have developed the tendency to tell stories. But as Fisher points out, there are any number of ways of organizing observation and experience that don’t involve narrative. Why do some people become storytellers, while others become philosophers, scientists, or visual artists? Why did you? 

I’m interested in your thoughts.

Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D.,is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer herself,she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. She is the author of Getting Unstuck without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity(Seal, 2007). Her Career Coach column appears every Monday on Inside Higher Ed's Mama, Ph.D. blog, and she is a regular monthly panelist on Litopia After Dark. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.

 

Comments

[Susan Messer]

Excellent question, Dr. Sue. I don't know the answer for myself, but I will surely be reflecting on it over the coming hours and days. One thing I have often heard authors say in interviews is something along the lines of "there was a strong storytelling tradition in my family," or "my grandmother [or mother or father etc.] was a wonderful storyteller, and I grew up listening to these stories." In fact, my mother was a good storyteller--she made stories very funny--but I'm not sure if that's why I became a writer.

[Susanne Dunlap]

A great question, and one I've been asking myself. I don't recall any storytelling traditions in my family at all, only a passion for reading on the part of everyone. For me, writing is less trying to illuminate something about people right now, whom I sometimes find sad and tawdry (I just can't read Jonathan Franzen, I'm sorry, no matter how great his narrative gifts), but in trying to create some alternate existence, a different reality, that is somehow better and more hopeful. I told myself stories as long as I can remember, to escape my limitations and fears. Perhaps that's why I've ended up writing mostly historical fiction.

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawlr7DiBPt9NtJMeWXgBwX6VbHaudEOySAg]

Sue, Great question.

Writing is an addiction for me. It is partly theraputic and partly an outlet for my curiousity about the world. There is something about sharing my exploration of the world that I don't think you can get any other way. Writing is risky and so rewarding.

CJ
www.22wb.com

[Sonsyrea]

Great question Dr. Sue,

Stories have inspired me, encouraged me, relieved me from feeling isolated in my experiences. Stories I've heard at home from grown-ups or in church from the pulpit or in songs answered questions and assured me I could go on, do things differently. Assured me that things could get better - or not. Reading about people in other countries - or other periods throughout history - struggling with the same conflicts as I or enjoying the same small excitements as I - had a way of making me feel better. I write to make others feel better, understand themselves and people in their lives better.