Why do you write?

matwilson · Nov 16, 2011

That's a difficult question, but when I look at my work through the lense of analysis, it appears that
I write to identify an absurdity or to educate people or to attempt to expose a bias, or to attempt to correct a miscarriage of justice.

Why do you write?

CaroGirl · Nov 16, 2011

By coincidence, I answered this, and other difficult author questions, in a recent blog post.

I write because I enjoy doing it. I love the challenge of telling a story the best I can and creating characters who are interesting and quirky. Words have always fascinated me and working with them is a true joy.

scarletpeaches · Nov 16, 2011

It's the only thing I'm good at that I can legally be paid for.

crunchyblanket · Nov 16, 2011

Because I'm a huge masochist.

/sits in the corner and sulks.

quicklime · Nov 16, 2011

I write because when I'm lost in thought, focused on the monitor, I can no longer hear the telepathic voice of my neighbor's cat urging me to kill the children.

Seriously, because I like a challenge and am a whore. I want to try to make some cash entertaining people in a field that is very difficult to succeed in, and where if I do make it, I have more money for less work than with my current job.

as for the whys of YOU writing, you may want to look around here for some threads on soap-boxing, because that sort of brow-beating, if it permeates your work, can make it a difficult sell. ymmv, of course, and if you're looking to write political manifestos, that's an entirely different arena where the choir lines up to buy books that will tell them exactly what they want to hear.....hence the success of folks like Glenn Beck.

CaroGirl · Nov 16, 2011

crunchyblanket said:
Because I'm a huge masochist.

/sits in the corner and sulks.

Is this true? Do you really feel tortured by writing? And, if you do, why do you do it? This is a serious question. I really want to know.

Susan Coffin · Nov 16, 2011

Because I love to write. That's it.

seun · Nov 16, 2011

Because I like telling stories and I don't think I'm too bad at it.

crunchyblanket · Nov 16, 2011

CaroGirl said:
Is this true? Do you really feel tortured by writing? And, if you do, why do you do it? This is a serious question. I really want to know.

Oh no, most of the time I love it. Then there'll be times that everythingI write reads back like tripe of the highest order and I wonder why on earth I bother.

In other words, I'm being a whiny git

Anne Lyle · Nov 16, 2011

Because I love books, and I'm a creative person by nature. Why sit in the crowd when you can be in the game?

BotByte · Nov 16, 2011

Insomnia

I started to think of stories in my head to get to sleep. Still do.

By the time those stories were becoming intricate, I thought of writing them down.

MoLoLu · Nov 16, 2011

BotByte said:
Insomnia

I started to think of stories in my head to get to sleep. Still do.

By the time those stories were becoming intricate, I thought of writing them down.

Interesting. That's why I started too.

amlptj · Nov 16, 2011

I write because i dont know anything else. When i was younger (12) I started writing as a way to escape my life and create my own world were anything i wanted could happen. I've never left that mindframe. I write because I enjoy to do so and its my only escape from the world.

Archerbird · Nov 16, 2011

Because I want to see what happens to the people in my daydreams. Plus, it's fun and stress relieving too.

BotByte · Nov 16, 2011

MoLoLu said:
Interesting. That's why I started too.

I was also getting into music, so that fueled the ideas during the daytime.

matwilson · Nov 16, 2011

quicklime said:
I write because when I'm lost in thought, focused on the monitor, I can no longer hear the telepathic voice of my neighbor's cat urging me to kill the children.

Seriously, because I like a challenge and am a whore. I want to try to make some cash entertaining people in a field that is very difficult to succeed in, and where if I do make it, I have more money for less work than with my current job.

as for the whys of YOU writing, you may want to look around here for some threads on soap-boxing, because that sort of brow-beating, if it permeates your work, can make it a difficult sell. ymmv, of course, and if you're looking to write political manifestos, that's an entirely different arena where the choir lines up to buy books that will tell them exactly what they want to hear.....hence the success of folks like Glenn Beck.

In fact, political manifestos are one of the reasons I write, but not because I condone them. I rather detest them.

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but --that's the only thing i endorse.

rainsmom · Nov 16, 2011

Because I don't know how not to.

MJNL · Nov 16, 2011

Because I just can't help myself...

monkeymum · Nov 16, 2011

Because I wonder if I can and I won't know unless I give it a go. I also love the escapism, the chance to be creative and the thought that I might produce something that MG children will actually choose to read.

matwilson · Nov 16, 2011

amlptj said:
I write because i dont know anything else. When i was younger (12) I started writing as a way to escape my life and create my own world were anything i wanted could happen. I've never left that mindframe. I write because I enjoy to do so and its my only escape from the world.

Same reason I used to write songs.

Maybe you should get into music -ever thought of it?

mephet · Nov 16, 2011

Because the stories don't leave me alone until I write them. I write because without it I wouldn't be me, and I would be without direction or purpose.

amlptj · Nov 16, 2011

matwilson said:
Same reason I used to write songs.

Maybe you should get into music -ever thought of it?

Cant rhyme or sing to save my life.

AutumnWrite · Nov 16, 2011

mephet said:
Because the stories don't leave me alone until I write them.

Same here, and once I tried writing them, they were replaced by new ones itching to get out.

emmyshimmy · Nov 16, 2011

I write because I go crazy when I don't. I feel like people are living in my head waiting to get out and I have to write them out. I get really cranky when I haven't had time to write in a while. It's like an addiction at this point. I've been writing at least once a week for 15 years.

dangerousbill · Nov 16, 2011

matwilson said:
I write to identify an absurdity or to educate people or to attempt to expose a bias, or to attempt to correct a miscarriage of justice.

Why do you write?

Because I have a head full of smutty stories itching to get out and destroy civilized society.

Why do you write?

Living the dream

the Juggernaut of Imperfection

all out of fucks to give

Living the dream

Tell it like it Is

Horror Man

the Juggernaut of Imperfection

Fantastic historian

Not a Reader, a Writer

Speling & grammer murderer, Sorrie!

Nightowl

Not a Reader, a Writer

Feeling like an old timer

A Little Lost

Speling & grammer murderer, Sorrie!

Old enough to know better

Retired Illuminatus