I just read an interesting article in
Psyche -
How to Plan a Pilgrimage
As I read, it occurred to me that writing a story is like a pilgrimage - long and involving, though taken slowly, step by step.
The writer is the pilgrim, seeking meaning on their journey, and maybe also fulfilling the instinct to travel, and to connect to humanity in general.
I'm replying without having read the article, though I might get around to that later.
I've never thought of writing in terms of pilgrimage, but that's an interesting way to look at it! It certainly applies to how I approach novels.
From Wikipedia: "A pilgrimage is a journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life."
So I don't know if my work is leading me anywhere holy (here's hoping, I guess) but there is certainly sometimes a feeling of being engaged with something sacred. Personal transformation, yeah, writing novels has for sure broadened my outlook. And, of course, there is always a return home—although since I haven't finished either of my series yet, it is perhaps not "returning" so much as "sitting down for a breather".
I love what you said about seeking meaning, fulfilling the instinct to travel, and connecting to humanity.
Writing is one of the most meaningful things I've got going on in my life; that's not to denigrate the rest of it, but outside of deep, authentic human (or animal) connection and interaction, writing is where I find the most juice. I write for the experience more than the finished result, and although I'd love to hold my finished books in my hands one day, that's secondary to the journey. I'm really not much of a goal-oriented person in any area of life, and that applies doubly or thrupply to writing.
Instinct to travel: yeah, absolutely. Writing is a way to satiate my wanderlust and curiosity as much as it is anything else. It's the same reason I enjoy reading, movies, video games, real-world travel etc. but nothing else (save dreaming) carries that same feeling of being in uncharted territory. You're going somewhere no one has ever been before. There's no guide, no maps. You have to get so very familiar with the land, the customs, the natives, to have any hope at all of making it to the end. I guess it's this desire to explore that made me a discovery writer.
Connection to humanity: again, yes. I think writing is a wonderful tool for developing understanding and compassion, for oneself and others. When you create dozens or hundreds of quite complex and diverse characters, some of whom can be quite wicked, you learn to better see how someone might be shaped by circumstance. It teaches that everyone has stuff upon stuff under their skin. Writing conflicts between two or more POV characters has forced me to consider different perspectives on a given situation, and given me some insight into the nature of misunderstanding and reconciliation. Writing has helped me to slowly, so very slowly, take a broader and more forgiving view in my actual life, though it's much harder in the heat of lived experience than in the tranquil theory-chamber of creative writing. It's a neat supplement, if nothing else.
Writing often does feels like a spiritual endeavor, touched by the divine, and then there's the euphoria of reaching your destination.
In what ways is writing like a pilgrimage to you?
Indeed it does! In bygone times, writing was almost purely an intellectual act for me, a clench-jawed act of problemsolving. There wasn't much emotion involved, to say nothing of spiritual bliss.
Now, especially since I started work on my latest novel series, writing often takes place in a kind of meditative state, in that ego and physicality largely dissolves, and there is that feeling of expansiveness and bliss and peace. It isn't meditation in the strictest sense, of course, you could view it as a dissociative episode, or call it flow state, whatever; but for my money it quacks like a Zen duck.
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