My choice of writing genre is creative nonfiction, specifically the personal essay.
This means that I try to write autobiographically and poetically even if I talk about philosophy and other sophisticated ideas. For example, I use a vignette to share a philosophical lesson, or I talk about philosophy without mentioning it. Instead, I focus on the questions.
I don’t want to remove the “I” from what I am trying to do: understanding the universe and my place in it.
This is the reason why I don’t see myself as a researcher per se. I am a writer with a strong research foundation.
A tension with this way of writing though is imminent between ideas and the writer’s story. Other writers, like James Clear or Malcolm Gladwell, have almost entirely removed themselves from their writing. They want ideas to take center stage.
The reason why I want to use personal essays rather tan pure essays is that I want to emphasize the search and I want to avoid talking about ideas from an elevated position.
Having said that, I actually want to try different genres. I don’t want to be locked in a single way of writing or topic.
Also, I want to write about my life, but I want to do it not in this “I am perfect” way, but in a discreet, honest, and imperfect way.
Another way of articulating the kind of writing I want to do is writing about the inner world and outer world—terms I first encountered from Pico Iyer.
Update this with new insights
I am committing to writing lyric essays that are philosophical in nature, specifically existential in nature (i.e., lyrical philosophy), which are generated through walking.
This commitment should focus my reading.
Methodology: walking Subject: existentialism Form: hybrid lyric essay with photography
My reading list should include the following:
- walking literature
- existential literature
- lyric essays
- hybrid essays (with photographs)