Revisiting "Why I Blog"

Didion comes across mildly schizophrenic and writes to purge her thoughts and fuzzy images into a blank space that she hopes will answer her internal queries, Orwell writes to soothe his tortured soul and spread his propaganda and Sullivan… well Sullivan seems the most sane out of all three. His blog about blogging gives an in depth analysis of not only why he blogs, but the conventions of a blog. Pretty straightforward stuff compared to Didion’s fuzzy cats and lonely boy Orwell.

But in reality, these three writers have more in common than I’m giving them credit for. At their core, Didion, Orwell, and Sullivan all write to express their ideas and make sense of the world around them—as I would argue most writers do. How about I just let them speak for themselves?

George Orwell:

I’m assuming most of you know who I am (one of the reasons that writers write is sheer egoism)…I wrote Animal Farm and 1984, both of which demonstrate my fourth reason for writing: political purpose. I’m not sure that Sullivan and Didion write to spread their propaganda, but it’s clear they still want to alter people’s ideas about one thing or another. Don’t we all? My style used to be much more descriptive, but now I aim to be as concise as possible. However, once I master this technique I’m sure to be bored and move onto something else. Maybe I’ll try Didion’s visual technique and use everyday sightings to inspire my writing. Although, I’m not so sure that lights in a bevatron will affect me the way they affected her…

Joan Didion:

I know my thoughts can be hard to follow. I guess that's just part of my style. I write in a very fluid way that leads me from one point to another until I have the answers I’ve been searching for—the whole purpose of why I write. If I knew before putting pen to paper what I wanted to know, there would be no reason to write at all. I didn’t choose to be a writer, I just am. When something absorbs so much of your time, there is really no more questioning it. I’m a very visual person, so much so that I can see a shimmer around inanimate objects and then I try to find the words to describe what I am seeing. If I didn’t write, I think I’d go crazy. I’m not crazy though, I swear.

Andrew Sullivan:

When it comes to writing I do it all, but blogging is my passion. Many people confuse the purpose of blogs, which is why I laid it all out in a clear and concise way in my own blog about blogs. My style is guided by a need to inform and a need to express my views to the world for people to turn them into a discussion, argument, or whatever they please. That’s the beauty of blogging. It gives people an outlet to get their message out there in a quick fire way. Blogs are messy and unpolished, because they are a compilation of our first thoughts about something. Each genre of writing has its own conventions that should be respected and understood.

Me:

These three writers have a lot of similarities when it comes to why they write, but their styles are as unique as they are. When I think about my own writing and work in the minor I wonder what my key characteristics will be that people pick out. I like Didion’s philosophy that we write to find answers, because I think writing leads to thinking and thinking back to writing. Like Orwell I want to speak to my audience in a compelling way that inspires them to think differently about something and like Sullivan I want to inform. There are so many different reasons to write and so many different ways to create a unique style. I hope that by the end of the minor my writing is as “my own” as it is for the three writers above.