On what it means (to me at least) to be a writer.
I suppose that I should begin (at the beginning) with what I write. After all, my opinion's pretty useless if I don't have certain credentials, isn't that right?
I write essays for school, like every other student who's forced into the necessary. I also write fiction, because I started writing, and I never got into the habit of stopping.
In my opinion, writing changes you. Not the obvious changes that everybody talks about, like a sudden freedom, as if all your worries have been lifted away (if anything, in my opinion, writing only gives me more worries). But writing changes you, because it makes you a spokesperson for something you believe in.
I believe in writing to tell a story. I believe in writing to express something I see in the world. But I also believe in writing as a soapbox, as a form to get my opinion out there. And writers are the most arrogant people out there, because they're saying, every time they write, that their opinion is so important that you, the reader, should put aside whatever else you're doing, and focus entirely on their opinion.
But when you're a writer, you can't think of anything but to write. You have that burn in your soul, those words that don't come out until you have a pen in hand or a keyboard and a word processing program in front of you, and it comes out, carefully, logically, and even illogically, randomly.
I believe, however, that a writer should want to make a difference for good. It's useless, if you're a writer, and you write without an intention. Your intention could be as simple as wanting people to know that there is a story that you heard. Your intention could be completely arrogant and be entirely about making some money so you can be rich and famous. That's not a good intention for the world, but for you, it could be the best thing that you'd ever achieve.
So there is an intention. Set your intention. Focus on it, and then let the words spin out.
I believe, that writing can bring girls to science. It's such a small thing, such a strained believe, one that is completely irrational. Yet why don't girls study science? Is it there truly a genetic component (as Ari says), or is it completely cultural? Yet at the same time, there is proof that women can succeed in science just as brilliantly as men. Look at Marie Curie, who won two Nobel prizes in Chemistry. The only person to win two Nobel prizes in science. A woman.
And yesterday, I wrote Educational Measures, a fanfic. It's already one of my more popular fics comment-wise (I don't usually get over 10 comments). And it's about physics. Boybands, yes, but physics. And the readers of boyband fanfics are 99% female. That tells me that there are girls who are interested in physics. Boybands as well, but they read a fanfiction which stated that there was physics, and they commented signifying enjoyment.
Comments, like reviews, are part of what allows me to keep writing. Knowing that somebody likes your opinion, without you forcing it upon them to read (it's entirely their choice if they read the fic), is amazingly gratifying. But whats more fulfilling is knowing that maybe some of those girls will think twice before simply dismissing science for humanities when it comes down to picking their major. Maybe some of those girls will find the difference between classical and quantum physics amazing when they take their required physics in high school or college, and decide that maybe a career in science is something worth fighting for. Because science is never easy, not even for men, and to succeed, you have to fight. It doesn't matter if you're writing or trying to derive a thermodynamic equation.
Before, dreaming of writing educational novels to steer girls toward science was a mere whim. But now, I want to do that so much. I've always wanted my writing to change the world, but I'm not arrogant enough to believe that I can write something that will become an international bestseller and persuade people to stop polluting the oceans. I'm not even arrogant enough to believe that a publisher would want to sell my writing for profit. But I am arrogant enough to want girls to read my opinion and see that they can be strong fighters who work towards a goal of making a difference in the world through science.
And even if I do write educational novels, I'm never going to drop my science, my chemistry. Because I've already learned, from writing one fanfiction, that being a chemistry major and loving science does give me an advantage over the rest of the writers in fandom. Because there is no way anybody else in fandom could have possibly written Educational Measures with all those physics references. Because nobody else would delight in the physics as she wrote, because look honestly and carefully, how many science majors in the world also love writing? So few.
I believe I've lost a few of my trains of thought halfway through. But I know, because that's what I do, I write. I know that I can make a difference. And I want nothing more than to do something worthwhile with my opinion. I want my opinion to make a difference and persuade girls that science is beautiful.
Think of the glow of thermite as it burns through ceramic. Think of that trail of magnesium ribbon, burning brightly enough that it leaves a blazing trail through your closed eyelids. I want my writing to be that magnesium strip that sets thermite on fire so it can burn through ceramic.
After all, I'm a writer. That means I'm arrogant enough to believe that my opinion's worth more than everybody else's. So I believe that people should read my opinion and see it as important.
And my opinion is that girls should go into science.
I write essays for school, like every other student who's forced into the necessary. I also write fiction, because I started writing, and I never got into the habit of stopping.
In my opinion, writing changes you. Not the obvious changes that everybody talks about, like a sudden freedom, as if all your worries have been lifted away (if anything, in my opinion, writing only gives me more worries). But writing changes you, because it makes you a spokesperson for something you believe in.
I believe in writing to tell a story. I believe in writing to express something I see in the world. But I also believe in writing as a soapbox, as a form to get my opinion out there. And writers are the most arrogant people out there, because they're saying, every time they write, that their opinion is so important that you, the reader, should put aside whatever else you're doing, and focus entirely on their opinion.
But when you're a writer, you can't think of anything but to write. You have that burn in your soul, those words that don't come out until you have a pen in hand or a keyboard and a word processing program in front of you, and it comes out, carefully, logically, and even illogically, randomly.
I believe, however, that a writer should want to make a difference for good. It's useless, if you're a writer, and you write without an intention. Your intention could be as simple as wanting people to know that there is a story that you heard. Your intention could be completely arrogant and be entirely about making some money so you can be rich and famous. That's not a good intention for the world, but for you, it could be the best thing that you'd ever achieve.
So there is an intention. Set your intention. Focus on it, and then let the words spin out.
I believe, that writing can bring girls to science. It's such a small thing, such a strained believe, one that is completely irrational. Yet why don't girls study science? Is it there truly a genetic component (as Ari says), or is it completely cultural? Yet at the same time, there is proof that women can succeed in science just as brilliantly as men. Look at Marie Curie, who won two Nobel prizes in Chemistry. The only person to win two Nobel prizes in science. A woman.
And yesterday, I wrote Educational Measures, a fanfic. It's already one of my more popular fics comment-wise (I don't usually get over 10 comments). And it's about physics. Boybands, yes, but physics. And the readers of boyband fanfics are 99% female. That tells me that there are girls who are interested in physics. Boybands as well, but they read a fanfiction which stated that there was physics, and they commented signifying enjoyment.
Comments, like reviews, are part of what allows me to keep writing. Knowing that somebody likes your opinion, without you forcing it upon them to read (it's entirely their choice if they read the fic), is amazingly gratifying. But whats more fulfilling is knowing that maybe some of those girls will think twice before simply dismissing science for humanities when it comes down to picking their major. Maybe some of those girls will find the difference between classical and quantum physics amazing when they take their required physics in high school or college, and decide that maybe a career in science is something worth fighting for. Because science is never easy, not even for men, and to succeed, you have to fight. It doesn't matter if you're writing or trying to derive a thermodynamic equation.
Before, dreaming of writing educational novels to steer girls toward science was a mere whim. But now, I want to do that so much. I've always wanted my writing to change the world, but I'm not arrogant enough to believe that I can write something that will become an international bestseller and persuade people to stop polluting the oceans. I'm not even arrogant enough to believe that a publisher would want to sell my writing for profit. But I am arrogant enough to want girls to read my opinion and see that they can be strong fighters who work towards a goal of making a difference in the world through science.
And even if I do write educational novels, I'm never going to drop my science, my chemistry. Because I've already learned, from writing one fanfiction, that being a chemistry major and loving science does give me an advantage over the rest of the writers in fandom. Because there is no way anybody else in fandom could have possibly written Educational Measures with all those physics references. Because nobody else would delight in the physics as she wrote, because look honestly and carefully, how many science majors in the world also love writing? So few.
I believe I've lost a few of my trains of thought halfway through. But I know, because that's what I do, I write. I know that I can make a difference. And I want nothing more than to do something worthwhile with my opinion. I want my opinion to make a difference and persuade girls that science is beautiful.
Think of the glow of thermite as it burns through ceramic. Think of that trail of magnesium ribbon, burning brightly enough that it leaves a blazing trail through your closed eyelids. I want my writing to be that magnesium strip that sets thermite on fire so it can burn through ceramic.
After all, I'm a writer. That means I'm arrogant enough to believe that my opinion's worth more than everybody else's. So I believe that people should read my opinion and see it as important.
And my opinion is that girls should go into science.