Writing Is Us

Stephen King observed that writing, at its essence, is magical. It has a unique power to transport images, ideas, even emotional states from an author to a limitless number of readers undiminished across time and distance. To illustrate this point, King in his memoir, On Writing, says the following, “Look—here’s a table covered with a red cloth. On it is a cage the size of a small fish aquarium. In the cage is a white rabbit with a pink nose and pink-rimmed eyes. In its front paws is a carrot-stub upon which it is contentedly munching. On its back, clearly marked in blue ink, is the numeral 8.” He then asks, “Do we see the same thing?” and the answer is yes. Allowing for small variations, King has demonstrated how the medium of words enables a fanciful bunny to hop directly from his imagination to ours.

I have loved this explanation of authorial telepathy ever since I first encountered it in my early 20’s. It captivates me all over again in the retelling, but I believe that excellent writing, including that of Mr. King, does one thing more: it brings along a piece of its author with it. When we read we form relationships, not just with texts, but with the authors who create them. One doesn’t need a biography of Toni Morrison to experience the depth of her feeling or the breadth of her vision of humanity, when there is a copy of Beloved nearby. This is why Early Bird Essay and Tutoring grounds our writing partnerships on what of themselves our writers are bringing to their work. We believe that developing the writer’s voice so that it is resonant of its creator is as important as fine-tuning sentence structure or making the right paragraph breaks. Writing is more than communication, or even expression. Writing is us.