Q & A - #13 - "Why did you become a writer?" ~ christy_lenzi

I've never been a relativist. When I see the world, I see absolutes. I see truth. I see beauty. I see story. I may not see it all the time and I may not see it clearly, but I know it's there. Or should I say, he's there?

I'm a teacher by nature, I think. When I think of a classroom of fresh minds hoping not to be bored and fighting not to learn something, this thrill shoots through me. With so many kids gelling their minds in iPods, X-boxes, HD-TVs, Wiis, and DVDs (none of which are bad in themselves), critical thinking and the ability to think through the complexities of our world have all but disappeared. The enjoyment of reading has dwindled. Many teens (and adults) I've talked with see thinking as a chore or a job for someone else. They view reading as boring.

I see their lack of critical thinking as having not realized how much power there is right thinking. I see their boredom as not yet having found the right book. I see quality books as one of the keys to unlocking beauty and power. Because they do that for me.

I remember writing my first story my senior year in high school. My honors English teacher decided to break from the curriculum and have us try our hand at writing a couple of short stories. I loved it. I told the nonbiographical story of a young man tired of everything -- football, friends, family -- who wrote a letter to his family and walked into the ocean until it swallowed him. "The Letter" it was called. In college, I jumped into computer science before switching over to English Education with an option in Creative Writing. I told stories about dream sequences of car chases and guns, twin brother murderers, Old West fist fights in musty saloons, senior pranks with helicopter scoops of ping pong balls, and grandfathers dying without faith. The more I learned about telling stories, the more I wanted to tell them better. The more I wanted my readers to read them better. The more I wanted them to "get" the stories the same way I did.

Nothing grips me the way a powerful story does, whether it's a book, a movie, or a life. I don't think that's by accident. Our magnetism toward story and beauty lies deep in the fabric of our humanity, which is another something that science and evolution cannot explain. Why are we so moved by story? Could it be because we sense the workings of a greater story and crave those moments when we feel a part of it? Whatever the answer, I feel when I've told a story that moves another soul, I've done something lasting.
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I'll be answering one of these questions a day for as many questions as I have, so if you've got anything you wish you could know about me, ASK IT HERE.