Failure is a part of life as much as success- this is the half-truth that is fed to people every day to keep them going. The truth is life is a failure. No matter how hard you try, ultimately you will die and fade away. Death is the biggest fear and failure of mankind. Death is not in our hands. Death we cannot get a grip on. No matter what we do in life, death makes us all equal and turns us into nothingness.
But before we reach to this inevitable failure, there are other failures in our path that we come across in life. For each person, for each profession, failure in life can mean absolutely different things. The failure of a writer is never equivalent to the failure of an industrialist. Actually a writer’s failure is one of the most pathetic forms of failure. There is no way out of it. A writer’s failure is an internal one, something that they need to harbor inside. And do you know what makes a great writer? It is the ability to turn this failure, this grief, into words.
As a writer, you should be aware of the failures that will come across you in life. It will help you stay on guard and be prepared to take failure head on.
1. The failure of words
Writing is an exhausting occupation. It drains you mentally and emotionally. Once you pour out all that you feel onto a blank page, the emptiness inside is haunting. It echoes and makes you feel its presence, all the time. The more honest your writing is, the more this emptiness will increase. Because when we succeed in translating our feelings into words, we have nothing more left inside to feel. Words are that powerful.
2. The reverse failure of words
But when words fail you, when you cannot grasp the right string of words to describe what you feel, what is going on in your head, in your mind- that’s failure again. And that is the writer’s paradox. You find the right words, you fail. You do not find the right words, you fail. Failure will inevitably come.
3. The failure of obscurity
A good writer pours out his or her entire life in the books that they write. Hours of hard work, failure and not to mention sleeplessness and a trembling bank balance- all of it is spent behind a writer’s work. But now, with the commercialization of literature, new writers are invading the horizon every day. So, once a writer stops writing, due to death or lack of life, obscurity will slowly engulf his/her existence. No matter how hard you try, how good your literature might be, you will gradually be lost in the hustle-bustle of new writers and new works.
4. The failure of failing your loved ones
Writing literature is not even considered a profession. It hardly has any money or profit. Unless you successfully publish and sell your books, there is little hope for you to make a career out of literature. But that should not be the case right? Most famous authors were not famous in their lifetime. I assure you that no one will buy this logic. Especially your family and your loved ones. A writer’s family life is hence often scattered, fragmented. Even your partner will fail to understand, unless they are also striving for the same cause.
5. The failure of incompleteness
And finally, the ultimate fear, of not writing enough. No matter how many books you write, how many poems you pen down, you will always be left with the feeling that there is still something inside you that is left unsaid, untold. This feeling of incompleteness is what eats up a writer from inside and leaves him/her feeling like they have hardly achieved anything in life. Like I said, a writer’s failure is very different.
No matter however much precaution you might take, failure will inevitably reach you, in one form or the other. However, by being aware of what to expect, at least you can put yourself into a position to deal with it.
Editor’s Note: This article was first published in January 2015.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/215888_10150217537488939_1231540_n.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Abhinanda Banerjee is a full-time freelance writer and stage actor. She’s an avid reader, culinary enthusiast, and lover of everything about the sixties.
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