WHY WE WRITE
A very happy new year to you all! I hope you had a lovely, brilliant and fantastic Christmas and new year! It's been a bit of a sad start to 2016. First we lost David Bowie to cancer and then today Alan Rickman. Two marvellously talented people. It got me thinking about creativity and why we do what we do.
The thing about David Bowie and Alan Rickman was that in an industry of amazing, talented people they were both incredibly unique. There was only one David Bowie. Only he could have sung Space Oddity. His voice and songs were so different from anyone else and yet fit snugly within the fabric of music as comfortably as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He was a one off. The same can be said of Alan Rickman. I was never fortunate enough to see him perform in the theatre, but in the film roles I saw him in, there was no one like him. From the villain roles in Robin Hood and Die Hard, which were just extraordinary, to Love Actually, where he brought his own unique style to an otherwise fairly mundane role, Rickman was special. It's what makes him and Bowie such a loss. They were unique.
It got me thinking about why we do it. Being creative isn't something we do for money or fame, it's something inside of us. I write because I love it and because there's nothing else I want to do. I write novels because I honestly believe they can change the world in the same way that film, television and music can. Being a creative person is about making something that only you can do. I write books I hope will make people happy, make them think, and give them somewhere to go outside of their own world. I hope my writing makes a small difference in the world and when I eventually pass on too, I hope the work I leave behind will mean something. Occasionally I get emails, tweets or messages from people who say how much they enjoyed a book or that it helped them through a difficult time. This is what books, films and music is about. Without art life is just black and white. Art is the colour. We need it more than ever and this is why I do what I do and why I feel such a sad sense of loss when people like David Bowie and Alan Rickman die. They were the colour.
There are so many wonderful, brilliant, creative people in the world and when the truly special ones die we sit up and take notice. As we should. Let's celebrate all art and appreciate it's value in society. We write, dance, sing, act, create because it's inside of us and we have to share it with the world.
A happy 2016 to you all.
Hugs,
Jon X
The thing about David Bowie and Alan Rickman was that in an industry of amazing, talented people they were both incredibly unique. There was only one David Bowie. Only he could have sung Space Oddity. His voice and songs were so different from anyone else and yet fit snugly within the fabric of music as comfortably as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He was a one off. The same can be said of Alan Rickman. I was never fortunate enough to see him perform in the theatre, but in the film roles I saw him in, there was no one like him. From the villain roles in Robin Hood and Die Hard, which were just extraordinary, to Love Actually, where he brought his own unique style to an otherwise fairly mundane role, Rickman was special. It's what makes him and Bowie such a loss. They were unique.
It got me thinking about why we do it. Being creative isn't something we do for money or fame, it's something inside of us. I write because I love it and because there's nothing else I want to do. I write novels because I honestly believe they can change the world in the same way that film, television and music can. Being a creative person is about making something that only you can do. I write books I hope will make people happy, make them think, and give them somewhere to go outside of their own world. I hope my writing makes a small difference in the world and when I eventually pass on too, I hope the work I leave behind will mean something. Occasionally I get emails, tweets or messages from people who say how much they enjoyed a book or that it helped them through a difficult time. This is what books, films and music is about. Without art life is just black and white. Art is the colour. We need it more than ever and this is why I do what I do and why I feel such a sad sense of loss when people like David Bowie and Alan Rickman die. They were the colour.
There are so many wonderful, brilliant, creative people in the world and when the truly special ones die we sit up and take notice. As we should. Let's celebrate all art and appreciate it's value in society. We write, dance, sing, act, create because it's inside of us and we have to share it with the world.
A happy 2016 to you all.
Hugs,
Jon X
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