Those of us who write are quite mad. In more lucid moments we know it, but most of the time our reality is skewed. There are any number of examples. If you write, you know it to be true. I recently read a study of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. Dick had drug addiction issues throughout his life, but he also experienced severe abandonment issues as a child. As an adult he had mystical experiences that sound quite, well, mad. Whitley Strieber, who is still alive, has been subject to fits and mystical experiences throughout his life as well. Some of his fiction is bizarre, but not as strange as his non-fiction. The list could go on and on. Writers see the world differently than others. We write and find that others don’t share our point of view. We die and, if we’re lucky, then we become famous. Those who made great statements in their fiction often began, and ended, obscure. Poe was pilloried in h...
Blog of a struggling writer.