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Chris Sunami
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Some philosophers have been great writers --(in fact, most of the existentialists are). Sartre and Camus produced some fantastic literature (No Exit, The Plague) and Kierkegaard's library of fictionalized alter-egos have inspired quite a library of books and movies. Plato From older traditions, Plato was also a superb writer, and Chuang-Tzu is a fantastic storyteller. Meanwhile, the list of great writers who have infused philosophical concerns into their work is nearly endless (Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, Robert Heinlein, Samuel Delany, Zora Neale Hurston, Mary Shelley, C.S. Lewis, to name just a few). So there's nothing intrinsically stopping a philosopher from writing well.

Given that, can we refine the problem you're actually facing? I see two possibilities:

  • Your particular philosophical background is not well matched to fiction. If that's the case, you might want to expose yourself to other schools of philosophy (potentially ones quite different from the ones your parents embraced). As alluded to above, existentialism might be a good bet.

  • You're just not that great a writer (yet). It may seem like your philosophy is overwhelming your story, but maybe it's just that your plots are thin, your characters two dimensional, your dialogue wooden, and your descriptions unconvincing --in other words, the same range of challenges every other writer must overcome. If you work on your writing skills, it's possible you might eventually find that your philosophical background is an asset, not a demerit.

Some philosophers have been great writers --in fact, most of the existentialists are. Sartre and Camus produced some fantastic literature (No Exit, The Plague) and Kierkegaard's library of fictionalized alter-egos have inspired quite a library of books and movies. Plato was also a superb writer, and Chuang-Tzu is a fantastic storyteller. Meanwhile, the list of great writers who have infused philosophical concerns into their work is nearly endless (Dostoevsky, Hugo, Heinlein, Delany, Hurston, Shelley, to name just a few). So there's nothing intrinsically stopping a philosopher from writing well.

Some philosophers have been great writers (in fact, most of the existentialists are). Sartre and Camus produced some fantastic literature (No Exit, The Plague) and Kierkegaard's library of fictionalized alter-egos have inspired quite a library of books and movies. From older traditions, Plato was also a superb writer, and Chuang-Tzu is a fantastic storyteller. Meanwhile, the list of great writers who have infused philosophical concerns into their work is nearly endless (Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, Robert Heinlein, Samuel Delany, Zora Neale Hurston, Mary Shelley, C.S. Lewis, to name just a few). So there's nothing intrinsically stopping a philosopher from writing well.

Given that, can we refine the problem you're actually facing? I see two possibilities:

  • Your particular philosophical background is not well matched to fiction. If that's the case, you might want to expose yourself to other schools of philosophy (potentially ones quite different from the ones your parents embraced). As alluded to above, existentialism might be a good bet.

  • You're just not that great a writer (yet). It may seem like your philosophy is overwhelming your story, but maybe it's just that your plots are thin, your characters two dimensional, your dialogue wooden, and your descriptions unconvincing --in other words, the same range of challenges every other writer must overcome. If you work on your writing skills, it's possible you might eventually find that your philosophical background is an asset, not a demerit.

Source Link
Chris Sunami
  • 56.5k
  • 5
  • 87
  • 193

Some philosophers have been great writers --in fact, most of the existentialists are. Sartre and Camus produced some fantastic literature (No Exit, The Plague) and Kierkegaard's library of fictionalized alter-egos have inspired quite a library of books and movies. Plato was also a superb writer, and Chuang-Tzu is a fantastic storyteller. Meanwhile, the list of great writers who have infused philosophical concerns into their work is nearly endless (Dostoevsky, Hugo, Heinlein, Delany, Hurston, Shelley, to name just a few). So there's nothing intrinsically stopping a philosopher from writing well.