iUniverse Blog

In Part 1 of this series of iUniverse blog posts, author John C. Woodcock introduced us to some of the reasons he writes; here he gives us further reasons.

“Another reason to write concerns the craft of writing. An author may spend years developing and refining her craft, excelling at a genre for example. The author’s personality remains relevant here in the sense that the reader can recognize the signature of the literary work. For example, Isaac Asimov’s signature is readily discernible.

But there is yet another reason, one that has nothing to do with access to a body of knowledge or allegiance to an art form or genre of literature. I came across an example of this recently in a movie, Quills (2000), which in part concerns the penmanship of the Marquis de Sade. He is imprisoned in an attempt to control his literary output. But pen and ink are smuggled in; when these are removed, de Sade uses wine and blood as ink; when these are denied, he uses his own excrement to smear words on walls etc. We can see from this another reason to write is compulsion, with no regard for conventions, established genres, or anything else. The writer is seized!”

iUniverse author John C. Woodcock explains why he writes

“I wrote because something was happening to me that forced me to write. My body heated up in an inflammatory reaction that could only be quenched, at least partially, by writing a process going on “within”—not writing about a process going on “within” but writing it as it was happening. My early books express this process in detail and I was too immersed in it to ask the question, “What am I doing?”; “What kind of writing is this?”; “Is it a genre of writing, or at least the beginnings of one?” I simply wrote. The fact that I could eventually ask this question, however, was a signal that, to some extent, the process was becoming conscious of itself and thus reflective.”

iUniverse Publishing says look out for the next installment in this absorbing series about what drives a writer. To learn more about John, his books and his thinking, visit his website. To see all of his books visit the iUniverse Bookstore.