What do you love most about writing?

I love how I can struggle for an idea, then when it comes, it just clicks, and that one idea launches a tirade of other ideas, sometimes so fast they nearly drown me.

I get carried along with it, and only remember to grab something and pulll myself out when one of the kids says they're hungry.

I love being lost in writing.

For me, it has to be becoming engrossed in another world so far removed from the 21st century. Instead of wondering about the rent/bills, going to work in the morning etc, I am firmly rooted in Ancient Rome for the next few hours.

And of course there is no bigger thrill than when I'm in the zone.

Heh, take this with a grain of salt - I've been feeling a bit discouraged of late.

But, I wish I liked the writing process in and of itself but if I'm really honest - I don't. For the most part, writing stuff down and then wrestling with the words to get them to do what I want makes me feel like I'm testing the integrity of brick walls with my head.
What I really like about writing is just being done with the damn thing. I like going back over what I've written and being able to say to myself, "Not bad! Not bad at all. I'm getting better."
I also like seeing my story done, in a nice neat package ready to be sent off somewhere knowing I did the best I could do and then letting go of it while jumping into the next shiny new project with fresh enthusiasm.
Maybe I'm more of a dreamer than a writer.
Still writing though. These ideas need to be purged one way or another.

For me,it's the process of creation. I start with an idea and for the next few hours,it slowly becomes a novel.

I especially enjoy creating characters that reflect my cultural background and bringing them to life in genres where you don't usually see them.

It's also escapism. I close the door,turn on my playlist and immerse myself in the fictional world I've created.

Writing is just plain fun for me. I enjoy it,never think it's hard and when I am in the zone,I can go for hours,totally happy.

Plotting is my favourite time - everything is possible and I just love the feeling when everything sort of falls into place and you get this enormous sense of flow.

I also love it when I write and just enter 'the zone'. You know, when you don't look at the time or the wordcount or anything because the words just pour out. Those moments are the ones I write for.

I like looking at something and thinking: "I did this" too, but it's the actual creation, when you're basically the God of your own universe, that keeps me writing.

I love the escapism and creating unique characters and situations. With fantasy, anything is possible. Also, I love the excitement I feel when I write a great chapter, or even sentence.

However, sometimes the actual task of writing is difficult for me. I either can't focus enough to jot down a comprehensible thought, or I fret over the quality of my work, which tends to discourage me from moving forward. I'm getting better at overcoming both of these obstacles, but it's still a struggle at times.

What I love best is when something I wrote makes me cry, because that's what I do when I come across something so damn right.

What I love most is having a secret world to hug to myself and that I'm the only one who knows this little group of people and what is happening to them. At least until I'm ready to share.

I love creating characters that take on a life of their own and can genuinely surprise me. That moment when the training wheels come off and they begin saying things I didn't expect, doing things I didn't neccessarily want them to do; that's when the magic of writing really starts to flow for me.

I also love the sense of creating something from absolutely nothing. I mean come on, I'm creating worlds, lives, scenes with every word I type. I've always had a strong imagination, and if I didn't have this kind of outlet for it I'd probably go mad.

"The zone" for me too: that's the best.

But I also like doing research and finding just the right little fact that sends me off creating a new complication or subplot that fits just so.

And I enjoy the tail end of the revising process, where I'm picking better verbs, deciding to break one long sentence into two, switching the main and subordinate clause, etc. Not because it's the end, but because I like the polishing itself....that whole "lightning/lightning bug" thang.

... basically when a story just comes out good and is entertaining and the hope that readers will feel likewise, or at least feel like they haven't wasted their time in giving it a read.

I like that 90% of the time it's a solo activity--more so now than before because I can do research without having to leave my cave.

Finding out how the story ends. Sometimes it surprises me. Puma

Putting words into sentences, piecing them together into a perfect recipe for a story, it's like creating delicious meals that the flavours come together so well. I can't describe it, words to me are like eating a delicious meal.

Why do I like writing?

The reason why I started writing was to put a story down. I didn't care how, but I wanted what I had on something. Writing was the only "free" way I could do so.

I write to this day because I still wish to put a story down. I have the entire creative process before me, with acquired skills and my extensive personal knowledge.

What I love most about it would probably see my characters grow.
As a writer, I don't think of my characters as a combination of words; they are real to me. I give birth to them, watch them grow and learn. They make mistakes, take on challenges and face the world with open arms. I see them through life and death.

I'm a storyteller. Writing is just so very therapeutic for me. I love expressing thoughts, feelings, and viewpoints through writing. I love creating different characters and examining different personalities and situations, like the "what-ifs." I love entertaining and presenting visuals with my writing, planting a seed in the minds of readers.

(that felt good)

hmmm. I'm with Rubay, pretty much. I guess the best thing is that you can create something without having to buy any materials like paints and canvas or a quality instrument.

I love that moment AFTER the week where you sit and think and think and think until you have a migraine because nothing makes sense, your ideas are all over the place and you can't figure out what you're doing, and then you just... i don't know. something clicks and grab you a pen, and start answering all your own questions and something so much better than your initial idea comes out and it makes you NEED to write it down.

Shoot, what's NOT to love about writing? I mean, if I had a dollar for every time somebody offered me beer and sex and suitcases full of cocaine-crusted cash for my latest short story, I'd...

... oh.

Oh, wait.

I've made a terrible mistake.

Fallen said:

I love how I can struggle for an idea, then when it comes, it just clicks, and that one idea launches a tirade of other ideas, sometimes so fast they nearly drown me.

I get carried along with it, and only remember to grab something and pulll myself out when one of the kids says they're hungry.

I love being lost in writing.

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This is what I was going to say. I love that feeling when things just start clicking and I start to feel very clever

I love the chance to know so many interesting people (ie, characters) so very well, to feel their emotions along with them. It's a kind of emotional connection you can't have with any living person, not so deeply, and I love it.

I also love creating-- making something that didn't exist before, and ideally something that will have value and meaning to others. It's a wonderful feeling.

That magical moment when you re-read something you wrote a few weeks ago and it doesn't suck

Phaeal said:

What I love best is when something I wrote makes me cry, because that's what I do when I come across something so damn right.

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This this and also this.

I like the rough draft stage because I'm just playing around and discovering things. But deep in my heart I know it's a rough draft, and I'm already dreading revisions.

Revisions are work. I do not look forward to them. I find them difficult and sometimes demoralizing. Revisions, I suspect, are why I'm so often in the "likes having written more than the actual writing" camp.

But when I stick it through, and I do the revisions, and I keep working through the blocks and the imposter syndrome and the moments when I discover my self-esteem bucket has sprung a leak and all the rest of the mostly internal barriers... there's that moment when I know the story is done, and it's right, and it's a real honest-to-goodness story.

That's the moment when I'm reading the I-hope-it's-final draft, and I come to the end, and I start to cry.

And that's why I love having written even more than the actual writing. So I keep writing in order to give myself those moments of having written something that's so right that it makes me cry.... Kinda glad to hear it's not just me.

Writing.

TTCleveland said:

That magical moment when you re-read something you wrote a few weeks ago and it doesn't suck

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And this. I really love this feeling.