By Adeola Aderounmu.

A writer is someone who can transform her chaotic thoughts and opinions into meaningful expressions. A true writer does not write but she is inspired to write. It is almost impossible to set out to be a writer. Writing is something that exists inside and what a writer has to do is to create a piece from the fountain that flows inside. One of the important things that a writer needs, in order to transform the rumblings of her mind, is the time to write. Indeed, allowing for the sufficient time, an excellent essay or story will derive its impetus from within. The sufficient time in this case could be from a few minutes to many years depending on the story line.

Inspiration that leads to true writing cannot be forced. However, it is possible for it to be triggered. Reading is probably the best concept that can trigger the inspiration of a writer. True life experiences are compelling sources of inspiration. Listening in its various ramifications is also a good but probably a lesser trigger for inspiration. In the absence of true inspiration, plagiarism and unneessary writings may be the unwanted outcomes of wide reading. This is why the impetus from within is a hallmark of a true writer. Indeed, the ability to write concisely and meaningfully is a gift.

It is astonishing that a writer will benefit from what she has published by reading through them over and over again. It is not impossible for a writer to ask herself some questions such as these: when did I write these stories? How long was I thinking about these before they became a whole? Writing can take different forms or shape, but it is not impossible that the entire content of the write-up (essay, book, poetry etc) is formed even before the first word is written. The entire writing is like a journey but the road to the destination is already revealed to the writer at the onset. This is what makes inspirational writing to be distinguished from that which is forceful or impulsive.

Impulsive writing is very common among editorial writers or columnists. Surely, impulsive writing is an integral part of writing which requires staying in touch with local and global details no matter how minutes these details are. It allows for (comparative) analogy and empirical treatments of topics or situations. It is possible for almost everyone to engage in one discussion or the other but it is impossible for everyone who engages in discussions to put their chaotic thoughts to paper in order to derive meaningful opinions. This is where the role of writers becomes imperative.

There is nothing wrong with impulsive writing. It is a way through which journalists, for example, have been able to act as watchdogs in many societies. It is a reactionary method which, when meaningfully utilized, help to keep ardent readers or the general public abreast of important information. The problem here is that some impulsive writings are unnecessarily long and tiring to read. In our modern world, people want to read facts as quickly as possible and they would not be interested in a piece that is unnecessarily long. Dividing a long piece into several parts could be beneficial but the first part must be enticing enough otherwise the readership tumbles.  

I thought of the best way to end this piece and the idea of a disclaimer cropped up. However, it is unnecessary to indicate that any similarity of this essay with any other one elsewhere is simply coincidental because it took a few months to put these chaotic opinions together without making reference to any literature.

A big thank you to wordpress.com for this avenue.