Finding Inspiration - Reasons to Become a Writer
I recently watched Robert Benigni’s The Tiger and the Snow (La tigre e la neve) and I was struck by a particularly great scene where Benigni’s character, the poet Attilio de Giovanni, tells his daughters why he chose to become a writer.
Daughter: How did you become a poet?
Attilio: How do you start? I was small, younger than you are now, eight or nine. I was with my mother, I loved her so much… We were at Uncle Giustino’s and there was a small forest. Do you know what happened?
Daughter: What?
Attilio: A little bird flew by, singing, flying lower… *tweets* … and lower… *tweets* He landed right here on my shoulder. I swear! He’d chosen me, of all people. I was afraid he’d fly away, so I pretended to be a tree. I didn’t move a muscle. I started to feel my heart beating, thumping actually. Buh-boom, buh-boom!
Daughter: And then?
Attilio: It flew away. I wanted to tell my mother: “Mamma, a little bird, flying and singing, landed on my shoulder and sat there for an hour!” She said: “I thought something awful happened” and carried on chatting.
Daughter: That was mean of Granny. Didn’t she like birds?
Attilio: No, Granny wasn’t mean, and she did like birds. It wasn’t her. It was me. It was my fault for not telling the story properly, for not making her feel what I’d felt. I was so upset I told myself: “There must be people whose job it is to use the right words, put things in a way… who, when their hearts beat, can get other people’s hearts to beat.” That day, I decided to become a poet.
Daughter: My heart beat.
Other Daughter: Mine too. But Granny’s didn’t…
Attilio: If the words aren’t right, nothing’s right.
Are you a writer? If so, what inspires you to create and tell stories? Let us know in the comments below!
Happy Friday, friends.
At Deluxis Entertainment, we are devoted to the art of storytelling. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. When we launch, you’ll be the first to know.
