In “Why I Write” essayist and fiction writer Joan Didion discusses how she became a writer to discover what was already in her mind. She suggests, provocatively, that some things and memories have shimmering qualities. These “shimmering” qualities, if we recognize them, identify stories that need to be told. According to Didion, good sentences also contain this shimmering power.
Originally published in the New York Times Magazine, Didion opens her essay by stating: “In many ways, writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself on other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind.” Do you think this is true? How does writing fit into your life right now? What do you want to say? And, does the possibility of putting yourself on the page frighten you?
Version 1:
Here is a web version from LitHub. Easier to read than the PDF, but you have to deal with many annoying ads:
https://lithub.com/joan-didion-why-i-write/
Version 2:
Below is the pdf. Apologies for the tiny font. If you are reading on a device, you may have to zoom in.
Joan Didion Why I Write