Introduction
I don’t consider myself a writer.
I’ve written about this, and I stand by it. It just so happens that I use writing as an outlet for my thoughts and opinions, and it just so happens that I publish them here for people who are interested to read them. I don’t believe that this makes me a writer — I don’t think of my writing as a craft, I don’t edit, and I don’t see the need to analyse my writing style or “improve” my writing.
I don’t consider myself a writer.
Today, I was walking back from class with a friend, and she told me that she was going to drop the class because we had to write weekly responses to questions, and she said — and I quote —
“I can’t write.”
I was appalled. I was sure she knew how to write — the act of choosing words and placing them in a particular order to bring a point across. She’s been through the American education system, one where English is the language of instruction, and she has done reasonably well on tests (at least, reasonably well enough to be admitted to UC Berkeley, the highest-ranked public school in the US). What does it mean to be unable to write?
“I don’t have any thoughts.”
Oh, so that’s what this is about.
But, I knew it wasn’t just that — we had just been walking past club booths on campus, and we were making comments on clubs that we found interesting, and those that we disapproved of.
I never thought that one needed much to write: really, I believe that only two things are needed.
You need some thoughts.
Well, one needs something to write about. Sometimes this seems very difficult to find, though the sources for thoughts are endless. One’s own daily experiences are perhaps the most accessible source; that’s how I came to write this, for instance. One’s conversations, observations, perceptions; they could spark endless amounts of thoughts that could be written about.
Some people have told me that they don’t have many thoughts because they have no opinions, and that I find hard to believe. An opinion doesn’t have to be a consequential one; surely, you know if pineapples belong on pizza or not (they don’t) or if everything is soup (it is) or if the Earth is a giant room (it is). These opinions are valid thoughts that one has.
Thoughts could also come in the form of wild ideas, stories that develop in one’s mind. Imagining a scene, the characters, the setting, the plot — these are bases for thoughts that can eventually be written about.
You need some willpower.
First of all, why write? This question of motivation is an important one. Maybe you’d like to express your opinion, or explore an idea — but you need to know what you’d like to achieve. Without this, I’ve found that retaining one’s willpower becomes significantly more difficult.
Transcribing one’s thoughts into proper writing is no easy feat. Think about an argument, for example: we start with a point we want to make. Let’s say, pineapples don’t belong on pizza. And then, ask yourself: why? Why do I think this? What experiences have I had that make me believe this way? Have I been influenced by others? Why do they, in turn, hold the opinions that they do? How has this changed how I view myself, the people around me, and the world at large?
[Such are some interesting questions that no one has written about pineapples belonging on pizza. I hope that someone writes about this eventually (as much as I despise pineapples on pizza, I am not passionate enough to this cause to devote time to this topic.)]
The daunting part of writing, I have heard, is finding content to write about. To this end, I’ve always felt that asking questions and trying to dig deeper into one’s mind helps immensely in formulating ideas and content to be discussed.
Some of my friends have also told me that I’m extremely cool for being a writer, which I vehemently disagree with: I am not a writer (are my friends even reading my Substack?), and I don’t think I’m particularly cool. Writing, to them, just seems like a gargantuan task — how could I possibly be doing this “for fun”? To be honest, I view writing as a mental workout: sometimes I feel rather unmotivated to start, but by the end, publishing a post comes with an unmatched surge of pride and endorphins. Writing allows me to visually acknowledge the thoughts and words that I’m outputting and it makes me know that I can create.
Concluding Thoughts
This is my first Substack post of the year. For weeks I’d put off writing (I still have those Substack draft tabs open) and I don’t think I’ll ever publish those pieces. But, this conversation with my friend literally happened this afternoon, and I have written a Substack post in the same evening.
That is to say, I don’t think it’s realistic for one to be writing every day. There isn’t a periodicity with which writing should occur, and there shouldn’t be. Writing shouldn’t be a pressurising activity, but rather the opposite.
It is rather horrifying, to me, when people tell me that they don’t write at all. That they are scared of writing, and that they don’t know where to start. As a Computer Science major I have met many people who tell me they don’t want to write essays (which is why they are STEM majors) and they actively avoid classes that require any semblance of essay-writing. It is such a shame that STEM education has become so dependent on the teaching of facts and knowledge and technical skill that people forget how to write, and they don’t want to write at all. It is terrifying that people are scared of writing their opinions down on paper, and that they are scared to challenge themselves and spend time on it. All the time, people are looking for “easy” humanities classes where they don’t have to write many essays, avoiding the concept of writing altogether.
And so what? For me, writing has always been a way for me to formulate my thoughts coherently so that I can better present them to others and have a more fruitful discussion on them. I find it rather problematic that people don’t want to “think” — they don’t want to consider the world around them, and would much rather focus solely on technical tasks. The problem arises when products are created without thinking about their impacts — I believe that most modern technology today has been produced and released without enough concern for their impacts on the world, and there is an ever-pressing need to catch up on regulating such products and technology. This, again, could be alleviated with some critical thinking and consideration, which comes with well-formulated thoughts.
Will forcing people to write solve this problem? Not exactly. Forcing people to write just puts another task on their plate; analysing one’s thoughts should not be made into a task but rather a habitual reflection on one’s beliefs and values that allows one to understand the world better and make better decisions in it.
Yet, to me, writing is not a difficult task per se. I enjoy just starting with an idea and seeing where my mind goes. I understand that this is scary at first but I have eased into it over time, especially in the past year. It is such a shame that people are scared of it; may this never be me.
for me, all of my substack posts have been written in times when i felt overwhelming urge to actually get up and go to my laptop. in those moments, the thoughts i have to share appear clearly in my mind and they linger and annoy my brain to do something about them. so i resort to writing them down. those moments are rare (as u see from my lack of posts recently).
this post of yours made me think about the times i write outside of this app. and you’re right, i do write a lot. my notes app, google slide presentations, and physical journal are testaments to this. but i guess where i empathise with your peers is when it comes to sharing one’s writing.
part of the reason why i don’t write a lot on this app is because i don’t feel confident in sharing them or because i don’t think they are worth sharing. people here feel the need to write “thought pieces” on substack. as the name implies, these pieces of writing ought to be somewhat thought-provoking or sensational.
most of my thoughts end up in my whatsapp chat reserved for my closest friends, expressed as short paragraphs or two-liners rather than full length essays.
different mediums and context require different forms of writing and we are more comfortable with some than others. i mean, text messages technically count as some form of “writing”?
when your friends talk about choosing their academic path according to the assignment word count, i relate to that fear or insecurity about writing in an academic setting, for an exam where the eloquence of your sentences affects your grades.
i don’t doubt your friends have opinions, stories, or thoughts to share. but the act of imitating the language of those A-grade research papers or those great authors we are all exposed to in reading, that’s the challenge.
i would say part of the reason for this is because of the lack of practice. it’s true that your peers have gone through the american education system as you have the singaporean one. but if you think about the writing we do for our grades, it is so different from research papers or full-length essays expected at the university level
i mean, GP/history/economics essays offer little capacity for one’s personal thoughts and are often subjected to a specific “structure” that the teachers recommend you follow if you want your 70RP. don’t even get me started on creative writing which we long abandoned in primary school.
anyway, these are my two cents on this topic. but, i do agree that people should be writing more in any capacity whether in shared platforms or in private.
ironically enough, this comment is the most thoughtful thing i’ve written since i can’t remember when. so, thank you for providing me with this piece that triggered the overwhelming emotion to actually write all this.
this might be my new favorite slippy slide post-
it reminded me of a nature editorial paper ("Writing is Thinking") i read a while back which agreed with your premise that writing isn't necessarily its own task or art form, but more of an... integrated extension of being a Thinking human who has Thoughts. who possesses the ability to group together loose thoughts into a cohesive narrative. so in that case, like you said, writing is also an exercise of logic and reasoning. you get to create structure where there is none opposed to operating within or manipulating an external algorithm.
as i was reading this i was also repeatedly struck by you insisting you weren't a writer despite unironically having produced more writing than self-proclaimed writers (ahaha). it is funny, but also i love how writing is Like That, so multifaceted and lowkeniunely ingrained within the foundational human experience (perceiving, interpreting, and having the meta-cognition to think about what you're thinking of thinking), so it is normal to write and people *should* write. i guess there are the writers who are thinkers, but also by default creators. and then the writers who are thinkers, and creators, but consider themselves artists, too, (and they are), and the latter is why the idea of being a "writer" might be so oddly mysticized in our day and age.
and mayhaps why you don't consider yourself a writer, since in an ideal world, the former definition of a writer (a person who has Thoughts and Arranges them into a narrative of sorts) should not be an additional label at all, but synonymous/included within the realm of being a Human Being.
also, for the record: you *are* really cool for having a substack