Why do you write?

MillyBecker · Jul 6, 2005

Hi, I'm fairly new here...lurk often, but I'm not real chatty....maybe that will change. I just wanted to pose to you all the question of 'Why do you write?' and tell you my answer. I'm curious to know how many are like me.

I'm probably never going to be famous, at least not for this. I don't care really about making money. I write because I have to. I have these people in my head that have to get out on paper. I don't think I could ever ignore the urge I have to write; to create, to play God to fictional people. I think I'm good, but it wouldn't surprise to me to find out that I'm not.

I've written 2 complete novels. One was 120,000 words; it's sequel was 80,000. I'm sure both could editing (again), but the folks who have read them have had nothing but good to say about them. Yes, and some would have told me if they were bad.

The other night someone asked me if I had written anything else she could read. That's why I write. If one person enjoys it and wants more, tben it's worth it. I'm not doing this to get famous or even rich.

Does that make me weird?

mdmkay · Jul 6, 2005

Does that make you weird???????? uhhhhhhhh no it makes you a writer.

I'm both an artist and a writer and I could actually go longer without painting then I ever could writing. I've written for as long as I can remember. It started out just on pieces of paper, then diaries, moved on to journals, poetry in journals, stories, onto books................what can I say....at least I'm evolving.

Crista · Jul 6, 2005

I write mostly because I can't NOT write. I've been making up stories in my head about imaginary people since I was a very little girl. I've tried to talk myself OUT of writing, but I always seem to come back with another story or another character just burning to get out of my head and on paper. I guess it's just a habit that I can't escape.

A small part of it is ego as well. I get a rush when people read my work and are moved by it, whether it be to laughter or tears or both. I like entertaining people and writing has always felt like the perfect blending of my two loves; amusing people and telling stories.

DeZertFairy · Jul 6, 2005

Hello, Im also new here and my reasons are nearly identicle to Becky's. I get these people ( characters ) in my head and they just wont let me alone, until I get them out. My love of writting started when I had a teacher that was all about creative writting in grade school. I'd set my mind to whatever story and next think I knew I had a notebook full! It only got worse as I got older.
I dont claim to have much tallent, but I used to let my dearest friends ( I dont even let my husband read my stuff ) read and even now they'll ask if I've written anything else.
The only time my characters were even quiet was after my daughter was born, but a year or so ago they started up again, so Im back at it. Who knows, maybe someday I'll acutally finish a project and submit it... just for the heck of it

~Dez

Jamesaritchie · Jul 6, 2005

Why?

I write because I'm good at it, because I enjoy writing, and because I get paid for it. Take any one of these three reasons out of the mix and I'd stop writing in a New York Nanosecond. Life is way the heck too short to spend it doing things I'm not good at, or don't enjoy doing, and there are enough things I'm good at and enjoy that I may as well spend my time doing the one that pays.

I certainly don't have to write. I don't even believe in the concept. Like everything else, writing, or not writing, is a choice.

willietheshakes · Jul 6, 2005

To woo women...

Paul J. Andrew · Jul 6, 2005

In the hope of eventually getting paid to... because I've decided that following the dark side and becoming a retail grocery store manager isn't my cup of anything.

GPatten · Jul 6, 2005

I write because I’m a storyteller. I like to tell about the neat things I see, or think of. I guess I would like to gather a few people around me as I sit on the porch and unfold a story of interest to them. I’d like to watch them listen to something they enjoy listening to.

I may even wish that I could stand up and stuff some corn silk in my nose and around my ears as I dance in front of them, tell a few lines, sing a sone of doo-dee-doo all day while slapping my knee - -one foot up and the other foot down, and continue on with my story. Pass the popcorn out and have a little myself. Chewing and talking, but heck! Ya can’t do that in a novel, can yah?

Can anyone think of how much fun it would be write a book and watch people read it and enjoy your work?

Mistook · Jul 7, 2005

I write because fiction offers the most bang for the buck (so does speak). With painting, you spend a small fortune on supplies, and spend weeks or months to capture one little moment on a finite canvas.

With music you must work out ego issues with several band mates, and logistical issues as to playing out. If not you must learn to use complicated equipment and master several instruments before your vision can materialize. Either way it costs ten times the fortune that painters incur.

Sculpture requires too much elbow grease. Dance is even more physically demanding. Theatre is frought with backstage melodrama. Screenplays are too limiting. Poetry is too mysterious.

I write because, with a cheep word processor, and the strength of my ten fingers, I can give life to the fullness of my imagination, complete with characters, plot, lyricism, scenery, and all five senses, in a nice long story that might just make me a buck.

Garpy · Jul 7, 2005

money, fame, the groupies.....

Garpy · Jul 7, 2005

I write because I'd hate to go back to my old day job. Hang on, thinking about it...I actually don't like writing. I don't like having to force myself to sit down for three hours a day and peck out words....I hate that.

But...I love the fact that people who have read my inane, shallow , artless gibberings...really get sucked into it and enjoy it, and that alone makes it all worthwhile....that and the few sheckles I might earn at the end of the day.

zornhau · Jul 7, 2005

I write because that's who I am.

Hippy-sh#t answer I know, but really it's what I've always done; used the page as a brain extension so the stuff in my head becomes more vivid.

I write seriously because I'm also a craftsman at heart, and because it would be nice to be paid.

loquax · Jul 7, 2005

I'm, sure there's the whole immortality thing about it, too. How cool would it be if people were reading your stuff 500 years after you died... teaching it to school kids.... school kids hating it... oh yeah, that's what I want.

BenMears · Jul 7, 2005

Becky, with such a beautiful signature, one can only hope you will post more often.

I write because it gives me pleasure. Pleasure has to be seen in a "big picture" sense, since if you were watching me day-to-day you might begin to suspect I write because I like pain. But no, there is big pleasure in finishing something challenging, and lots of little pleasures along the way. Each word written can be a source of joy if you choose to look at it that way.

I don't have adoring fans asking me for something else to read. I haven't gotten to the point of reading the stuff over yet myself. But I choose to take pleasure in creating it day by day.

MadScientistMatt · Jul 7, 2005

Well, I've written a few short stories, poems, and even a few aborted starts at science fiction novels simply for the fun of it. I even started on a screenplay about cars after walking out of The Fast and the Furious thinking, "I could write a better script than that," and nearly finished it. But then after talking with a few people who were interested in learning to modify cars, including my girlfriend, I got the idea to write and publish a nonfiction how-to book on the subject.

I've just finished the rough draft on that. But that project kind of got the ball rolling and made me realize that if I can finish one book-length work, I can finish more. So right now I'm writing as much for the fun of it as anything else, but I definitely hope to be able to get readers and money from my writing, too.

Princesstilly · Jul 7, 2005

Why I write

I have always written, it's always been my identity, deep down inside. I have chosen to ignore this identity off and on over the years but I find that when I write I am happy and when I don't there is a low-grade sadness over my life, like nothing else is truly enjoyable unless I am writing.

Writing is what I do for me, like taking long bubble baths, even if it's only for an hour a day. Unfortunately, it is too easy to put myself on the bottom of my "to do" list, so I am just getting back into writing after about a year away.

Leanne

JerseyGirl1962 · Jul 7, 2005

Hmmm...

I guess it's a combo for me. I have stories in my head that I must get down on paper, and I think others might enjoy the ride. Not only that, I would love to become a career novelist because I'm sick of the commute to work and work itself.

It pays well, so I'm not about to give up this job any time soon. :tongue

But my job isn't creative, and the stories I have are the creative juice that keeps me going. I think everyone should have a creative outlet to get through life, whether it's to eventually make money at or just for fun and stimulation.

~Nancy

maestrowork · Jul 7, 2005

As a wise friend used to say (quoting his father):

1. choose something you love to do and could do better than many/most people
2. do it and do it again and again
3. better yet, do it for money
4. quit when you lose your passion for it and move on. Repeat.

ANNIE · Jul 7, 2005

I WRITE BECAUSE

Words are magic, and I want to be a wizard

icerose · Jul 7, 2005

I have always made up stories in my head, characters, worlds ect. Imagination has played a big role in my life. I started writing my first novel when I was 12, I stopped because of a stupid unreliable computer and floppy disks. I picked back up when I was 17 because I had a story in my head and I held the desire to write it. But what helped pushed me into my writing role is this. I married when I was eighteen, right after I graduated early and we had a baby girl before I was nineteen. I went from going to school full time, working full time, going to the gym, taking classes such as martial arts to being a stay at home mom with nothing to do but to take care of a newborn and staring at the TV. I was going insane, absolutely losing my mind. I started writing again and what can I say, I'm addicted. I hope to someday be paid for it, but I love writing and I could not give it up at this point even if I never sold a book ever. There is great pleasure from having others read my work and love it, but I would still write even if they hated it. Writing challenges my mind and my senses and keeps me from banging my head into the wall as I stay home raising my kids.

Sara

DTKelly · Jul 7, 2005

I write because it quells the voices in my head.

Dhewco · Jul 7, 2005

This doesn't seem to equate perfectly with the others, but I write to escape. When I'm putting words on the paper, I'm in that world, on that spaceship, fighting that bad guy. I have a strong imagination and put it to use.

It's what makes revision so painful. That's when I'm in this world and have to concentrate on perfecting my sentence structure, watching for homonyms that I accidently switched, and other such things.

David

aka eraser · Jul 7, 2005

It pays better than fishing.

maestrowork · Jul 7, 2005

aka eraser said:
It pays better than fishing.

Smells better, too.

wideawakesoh · Jul 7, 2005

At the risk of sounding (or being) a little bit rude, I would just like to say that all you who said you're writing for the money or fame who weren't joking should be shot, stabbed repeatedly with a steak knife dipped in battery acid, and then slowly disemboweled one inch at a time with a pair of wooden ice tongs. I'm sorry, but if you're writing for the money, you're writing for the wrong reasons and you're probably not any good anyway. I was very glad to see that most people write for the same reason I do, I'm far too insane not to put the voices in my head on paper, but I was shocked to see that some people actually said they do it for the money. I hate to tell you, but with the exception of those chosen few on the racks at your local bookstore (and compared to how many of us wish we were there, there are very few), most of us will never know the joy of writing for a lot of money, getting paid for what you love to do. You may hack out a living in freelance or journalism, but bestsellerdom is beyond the reach of many of us in the end, so those of you who are writing for the cash may as well quit while you're ahead and save us all alot of time and bad writing. Once again, sorry, but it's the truth. Writing is not a trade of dollars, it is a trade of words, very simply. If you don't write because you love words, your own words will not be loved by others. The late great John D. MacDonald believed that, and I believe it too (not that I'm in the same league with MacDonald, but I'm trying to make a point, so bear with me). Write for the love of it, write for the pride of seeing your story spill out on the page, write to please yourself, and your writing will be a great deal better.

And above all...
Keep writing,
wideawakesoh

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream by night."
Edgar Allen Poe

I LOVE THIS FREAKIN' BANANA!!! :banana:

Why do you write?

MillyBecker

mdmkay

Crista

DeZertFairy

Jamesaritchie

willietheshakes

Gentleman. Scholar. Bastard.

Paul J. Andrew

GPatten

Dang...

Mistook

Neverending WIP

Garpy

keyboard monkey

Garpy

keyboard monkey

zornhau

Swordsman

loquax

I verb nouns adverbly

BenMears

MadScientistMatt

Empirical Storm Trooper

Princesstilly

JerseyGirl1962

I heart Malamutes! :-)

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

ANNIE

icerose

Lost in School Work

DTKelly

The Rememberer

Dhewco

aka eraser

Fish Whisperer

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

wideawakesoh