Hello guys and welcome back to #alexjostories! I think we officially have a introduction sentence. Haha! So, I guess you figured out from the title what are we going to talk about today – Manifestos and what do you want to do as a writer. As my next deadline for Uni is to write a Manifesto/Creative Statement of Intent, I figured out that I should write an article for all my fellow writers that are a bit lost with this aspect. My teachers aren’t really sure what are we supposed to do for this thing but I have to write 2,000 words about what I want to accomplish with my work. You and I will figure it out together today in this article.
So, let’s start from the beginning! What means a Manifesto? A Manifesto as google says is: a public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate. In my understanding, a manifesto is an essay or a work written for the aim of explaining a movement. It has a purpose in the art world and it’s done by more writers that started that specific movement or became part of it.
Well, on the other hand, my assignment is called Creative Statement of Intent which in my opinion is completely different. The teacher at Uni think that this and a Manifesto are the same things. A Creative Statement of Intent (oh… such a long term!) is a work of a single author, stating what he wants to accomplish as a writer, the kind of relationship he wants to build with his readers, and what does he want to write about. Obviously for my assignment I am going to write something completely different than what I am going to tell you now, because I don’t think that my teachers would actually like my actual view on it.
What should you write about? My personal opinion on this is that you should write about anything, experience everything, listen to everything and not settle on a certain thing that you feel more comfortable with. If you started with romantic story, good! Next you should write a crime story. Experience in the fictional world and also in the real world, as much as you can. For example, my teacher said that music can’t shape your writing. Music can’t inspire you as other authors and their opinion might inspire you. I totally disagree! If the bowl of soup inspires you, than write about it. Write because you love to write.
What about the readers? I think that you should write in first instance for yourself and then think about your readers. Once you feel proud about your work and you will love it, other people, your readers, will love it as well. You can not make everyone happy in this world. Throughout your career as a writer you will find people that won’t like your fiction or poems at all. Don’t try to change their mind. If you like it, nothing else really matters. Go for it!
What do you want to accomplish as a writer? Don’t listen to what others want. For example: ‘Oh, my favourite author said that through writing we should change the world, so I should do that as well.’ No! If you feel that you should do that then do it, if you don’t feel like it, then don’t. The motivation behind your writing should come from deep down inside. You should feel it! It’s like the moment you make a mistake in your plot. You can feel that is wrong. You can feel that you need to change it. It’s the same with your motivation as a writer. You can feel it.
My take on what you should do as a writer is: do what makes you happy. Write because you love to write and you love to create. Don’t do it because of pressure or because you heard that it is a good way to make money. Do what you feel in terms of writing. I hope this helped a little bit, guys! I am an aspiring author as well, so I don’t know exactly which path I should take, but slowly I’ll discover as you will! See you on the next article.
Have an awesome week! #seeyousoon