It's a seemingly simple question, but one I find difficult to answer myself. I think we can safely rule out fame and fortune as a motive in the vast majority of cases. In my own case, I've got several other projects that bring me instant feedback, gratification, and for much less work. Yet I always write. I think it's quite simply my favourite way of expressing myself creatively. It allows a freedom that no other craft does, especially since I write within the genre of fantasy.
There was a time when I thought it was just a matter of ego. As they say, "everyone wants to be a writer, no-one wants to write", and I'm sure ego plays a part for everyone (after all, we all work on the assumption that people will care about what we create). But writing is something I find I really can't "escape". I used to go and get lost in other projects, but my characters and plots would always be there in my mind nagging at me until I finally said "damn, I've got to write these things".
The above sounds like I'm an unwilling writer, but that's not true. I do enjoy the process when it's going well, and I've yet to find a feeling to match that of sitting back and looking at a finished work. You know, in many ways I don't really care who likes my stories (although obviously I hope people do like them), I just enjoy the fact that I'm gradually building up a series of works. Something I can look back on and say, "yeah, I worked bloody hard, I got my ideas down on paper, and they're there now. I made them". I think that's my reason: the satisfaction of having achieved something that has such personal importance to me.
What about you?
There was a time when I thought it was just a matter of ego. As they say, "everyone wants to be a writer, no-one wants to write", and I'm sure ego plays a part for everyone (after all, we all work on the assumption that people will care about what we create). But writing is something I find I really can't "escape". I used to go and get lost in other projects, but my characters and plots would always be there in my mind nagging at me until I finally said "damn, I've got to write these things".
The above sounds like I'm an unwilling writer, but that's not true. I do enjoy the process when it's going well, and I've yet to find a feeling to match that of sitting back and looking at a finished work. You know, in many ways I don't really care who likes my stories (although obviously I hope people do like them), I just enjoy the fact that I'm gradually building up a series of works. Something I can look back on and say, "yeah, I worked bloody hard, I got my ideas down on paper, and they're there now. I made them". I think that's my reason: the satisfaction of having achieved something that has such personal importance to me.
What about you?