A lunatic's job

Writing is a lunatic's job. This according to Warren Ellis, who in an interview some years back when asked why he writes replied:

Why does anyone write? I want to talk about what I see. I'm compelled to. I understand that all writing, really, is about where the writer is today and what they're seeing in front of them, and I'm compelled to bring my perception to the table. It's a lunatic's job, basically. If I wasn't doing this I'd be walking the streets with a placard on a stick and wetting myself in public. The only real difference between me and the signboard guy in San Francisco who rants about the Clintons betraying 16 galaxies and a zegnalogical rocket society is that I get paid for my perception of the world. And I own better suits.

And later in the interview this gem:

How would you describe the relationship between utopia and dystopia in your work?

I think -- I hope -- that both concepts are dismissed as adolescent thinking. There are moments of pure, heart stopping beauty in the most tragic and broken environments. And the loveliest community on earth will not be able to eliminate the dog turd. I have attempted to reflect this in TRANSMET: the understanding that the world can be neither perfect nor doomed. But that it can be better. And the people who get to decide if it's going to be better or not are the people who show up and raise their voices.

And how true is this. Aren't we lucky to be living at this time....the internet - what a wonderful tool! The wise man that said "Knowledge is power" didn't have the internet in mind as a empowering tool but that is what it is.

In what ways has technology affected the way you create or your sense of direction and themes as an artist?

The internet changed everything for me. All the things I wanted to know about but couldn't obtain through traditional media or communications are right there. I would have killed for this when I was 19 with no money and dying to fill my brain with new things from all over the planet. With this electric window, I can literally see across the world.

and a nugget of wisdom to end the interview:

What do you think we need to learn in order to survive this world we have created?

There is such a thing as truth. Non-relative, unassailable, valuable truth. Do not let people relativise the concept of truth into vapour.

Note: The link to the interview is from a post Amit Varma put up in response to a link to an article by Ellis that I had emailed him about. (As the philosphers say: it all comes back full circle. ;))

I should add: I have not read enough Ellis to appreciate his acerbic wit and futuristic examination of the present state of society. Amit did introduce me to his work though his (Ellis's) famed comic book series, Transmetropolitan .. but I have not read it or any of Ellis's other work.