If I am going to tell you how to be a writer
that will probably entail telling you what writing is
and that means telling you where writing comes from.
And as far as I understand it
writing evolved from Palaeolithic shamanism
and when that had happened
that allowed human consciousness as we know it at the moment
to commence.
Yeah sure, we had something before then
we had awareness, we had empathy
we could perhaps gesture and grunt
but before we could write down the language
we could not retain any information.
We could not utilise our developing consciousness
and thus, the people who had discovered
the wonderful ability of writing
would have had supernatural powers
in the eyes of the people surrounding them.
They would have been able
to send their thoughts at a distance
to somebody else who could read.
They would be able to capture moments
to write down and record events
which would lead to the understanding
of cause and effect and seasonal differences.
These things would lead to science and art
and almost every field of human endeavour
all arising from this old stone age magic.
And when we look at the development
of writing and magic
we begin to see that they're actually the same thing.
That all of the artistic effects
from painting, but especially to writing
all of these effects are things that were regarded
as magical powers in the ancient world
as supernatural powers
such was their force
because they could change the world
they could change human consciousness
and they could change the world that we lived in.
Essentially the world that we are living in now
is one where we have unpacked our imagination
and are living amongst those parts of our imagination
that we've been able to bail out from inside our heads.
Books and writing are capable of changing the entire world
of modifying human consciousness.
You are modifying the consciousness of the reader
and therefore you are modifying the reality of the reader.
Writing will modify the reality and the consciousness
of the entire species
and also, inevitably, will mean modifying the consciousness
of the writer themselves.
The original bardic tradition of magic
was one that was entirely based upon writing and literature
and interestingly
it was much more feared
than just your common or garden witch or sorcerer.
Now, if a magician puts a curse upon you
then your hens are probably going to lay a bit funny
your child might be born with a squint.
These are things that are survivable.
They're not that terrible.
Whereas, when a bard puts a satire upon you
then that will destroy you in the eyes of your friends
in the eyes of your family
potentially in your own eyes.
And if it's a good enough satire
if it is finely-worded enough
then even 200 or 300 years after you're dead
people might still be laughing at you and your absurdity.
That was why satires were feared.
Now, the early gods of writing
the scribe gods
gods like Odin or Thoth
or Hermes
these are also the gods of magic.
And I don't believe that that is entirely a coincidence
that in my estimation, writing and magic
are practically the same thing.
So, I would like to think
that the current generation of aspiring writers
will not sell themselves short in this
that you should never think of yourself
as purely an entertainer for hire
who is lucky to have the work.
You should try to remember
the tradition that you are becoming part of.
You should try to remember
that a writer can change the world
with their writing.
Think of the books
that have completely changed human history
and see yourself in that light
because if you are a writer
then the substances that you are handling
the things that you are juggling
you are having an effect upon human history
and the entirety of the human future.