What If

I have been wanting to write something outstandingly epic ever since I’ve taken interest in literature. The frustrating part is knowing you can write something just as fantastically captivating as something you’ve read, something published. Your goal, at least my goal, might not necessarily be to get published, but it is to write something WORTHY of being published, something other people will want to read, not necessarily get to read. I like to believe that one day I’ll write something outrageously good but my ideas aren’t worth much when they’re still in my head. The hardest part about writing, and what puts doubt in all our minds, is the fear of transferring those ideas to paper. All those moments, feelings, and thoughts are sometimes not always relatable through the same event, so how can a writer produce a story without running off topic, back and forth from time to time and thought to thought the way our minds actually work. It’s unsettling to realize how cohesive and structured a story is because it seems so impossible to write one like it. The themes and the characters sometimes feel way too complex to be written by a mere human being. And that’s where writer’s self doubt comes in, that wretched disease we all have: The belief that my life isn't interesting enough, that my words aren’t technical enough, and that I’m just not smart enough. When did J.D Salinger know he was ready to write “The Catcher in the Rye”? What inspired J.K Rowling to write “Harry Potter”? These are two completely different novels, yet they have the same “classic” status. You can write fantasy, or fiction, or write personally through and autobiography but what is it that makes each of these genres just as good as the other? I won’t even try to answer that question but I will ask this one: How does a writer make something personal global? The truth is that there is no answer, that there isn’t a formula that will give you an absolute answer, but that honesty will find its relevance somewhere. I’ve been through a tough year, to say the least, and I’ve recently been hit again after just standing up straight for the first time in a long time, and it’s a year now that I’ve wanted to write about it all. I know I can write something moving, not only as a way to help me cope, but also something that can say more than just a retelling of a series of events. The problem is that I don’t know where to start and I’m scared it will go wrong if I do decide to just take the plunge and begin; something every writer goes through: the fear of failing. But you’ve got to ask yourself one question; what if J.D Salinger was afraid to fail? Where would Holden Caulfield be?

By: Sabrina Di Lonardo