Ego & the Author

[Paul Whybrow]

A friend recently commented to me, that she admires my determination in continuing to write. I am, by nature, a determined person—sometimes to the point of foolish stubbornness—which I prefer to view as being tenacious or stoical.

I just get on with the job, until it's done, and this includes writing, editing and trying to sell a novel. I have faith in my work. Being British, with a stiff upper lip (above a loose, flabby chin!) I'm also modest, but all the same, I wondered how much my ego was driving me to succeed.

I'm not after fame from my books, and, as a way of making money writing novels is an absurd proposition, so what is driving me on? I'm still enthusiastic, halfway through the fourth of my series of crime novels, but will I be as joyful and driven by the time I begin the tenth in a few years time?

William Zinsser, the writing guru, said that:

'Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it.'

George Orwell observed in his Four Motives for Writing:

'Sheer egoism... Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen - in short, with the whole top crust of humanity.'

They say that one should 'Starve the ego to feed the soul', but I have to remain a bit of an egomaniac to keep writing—and what I write satisfies my soul too.

How much of an egomaniac are you?

 

[TonyP]

Hi Paul

Seems really healthy to ask the questions you're asking, to recognise ego is just a part of being human, to admit to ego like George Orwell did. No one is without ego, although it doesn't get much good press nowadays, but why would we deny its part of what's going on and pretend we are ego-less saints? That only pushes ego into the shadows doesn't it, from where it jerks the strings anyway, and in rather less pleasant ways??

 

[Jay Aitch]

Know thyself. In all things: balance. Ego run rampant creates assholes, or in the worst cases, psychopaths (not just the criminal ones either).

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Indeed. If we had no egos, we'd stop writing after the first rejection. You have to believe in yourself, your work, and your ability to improve.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

I had written short stories before. I started a novel from a place of inward struggle, losing mobility, too ill to continue working at the same job, and the doctor said 'high time you stopped', but it was a shock, and it was alienating. I had to find a way to continue working, new things to do that I could do physically, totally autonomously, and I set myself two tasks. Firstly, learn how to read Tarot to a point where I could read fluently for people never met before, and do so to a useful purpose, and secondly to write a novel. Books have been such a valuable resource, could I put in the mileage myself, even if I wrote an almighty pile of steaming poo? I have not ever regretted either, if that is ego. Money? I would like to not be out of pocket, I would be delighted if teensy royalties kept my children in teabags after I was gone but what I want, really, the not so sneaky little fantasy, is to manifest a made object, a book, in a shop, a cultural artefact retailing at £8.99, but also available as an e-book. And it can be used as fuel during global cooling after the next mega-super volcanic eruption.

 

[Arlene Adamo]

I don't think it's fair at all to say that all writing is egotistical. Certainly it can be if the objective is only to try and sell a product or an attempt to launch yourself into the world of fame-whoredom, but at the heart of it, it's really about being human. All of us are in prison. Locked within our own minds we have no alternative but to reach out with stories. Your sister who wants to tell the story of going to buy shoes. Your child who wants to tell the story of how he tripped and fell in the school yard. We need stories to touch one another through our prison bars.

A writer simply goes further than the average person and takes stories from deeper inside...from the place where dreams happen, and then forces them into a more concrete form...that of the written word. Writing is ultimately about our need to reach out and touch other people. It helps to free us by bringing us closer to others. It is the release of mind upon matter.

 

[Carol Rose]

I just write the stories inside me.