Must we love to write?

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Sarahani

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I don't think that the love of anything will make you an author. Spending time to perfect your art will bring some love out of you but you don't need to have it to be an author not even to be a great author. Love is a feeling, like every feeling it comes and goes now and then. Purpose is more important than love. If you have a purpose you will keep working on it despite the trials and adversities.
 

Kjbartolotta

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"I write because I hate. A lot. Hard."

-William Gass

One opinion, not necessarily mine (it is, but let's pretend it isn't). But goes to show you you don't need unflagging optimism and decency to be a writer.
 

Laer Carroll

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Being a writer is a tough business. You have to work long hours, for little or no reward, and at the beginning with lots of self-doubt. If you don't love writing you'll fail and quit. So, YES.
 

AW Admin

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I don't love writing. I never have. It is physically difficult for me (I'm visually disabled, dyslexic, and have advanced carpal tunnel).

But I discovered in grad school that people would pay me to write or edit for them, and it meant not borrowing a lot of money.

After grad school I continued to write, for the same reason; I can earn a living. I write, and people pay me.
 

Laer Carroll

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I don't love writing. I never have. It is physically difficult for me (I'm visually disabled, dyslexic, and have advanced carpal tunnel).

But I discovered in grad school that people would pay me to write or edit for them, and it meant not borrowing a lot of money.

After grad school I continued to write, for the same reason; I can earn a living. I write, and people pay me.

I'd say this is a rare circumstance. In general, for most of us, if we don't love writing we're not likely to do well at it.
 
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AW Admin

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I'd say this is a rare circumstance. In general, for most of us, if we don't love writing we're not likely to do well at it.

I don't think that's as true of non-fiction writers, ranging from scholarly writers/academics, to non-fiction tradebook writers and journalists, to technical writers.

There's a different kind of motivation for people who have story/plot or, for instance, a theme driving their poetry.

I know a lot of my peers who don't particularly like to write, but it goes with the territory.
 

Jason

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I don't think that's as true of non-fiction writers, ranging from scholarly writers/academics, to non-fiction tradebook writers and journalists, to technical writers.

There's a different kind of motivation for people who have story/plot or, for instance, a theme driving their poetry.

I know a lot of my peers who don't particularly like to write, but it goes with the territory.

I was going to chime in with this sentiment exactly - having done a fair amount of technical writing, I can tell you that while I am not a fan of technical writing as a means of creative expression, I have been perceived by many to be fairly adept at it. My problem is that my creative juices constantly seep their way into the writing and the editing out of that sort of stuff is actually painful to me.

This is probably why I am still struggling with my creative writing (though still admittedly in its infancy relatively speaking), if I am completely honest, is that I've been training for years to remove my emotions, when to improve as a creative writer, those emotions need to be more unbridled.

Technical writing can suck the life out of you if you're not careful and who would want that?
 

Helix

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I'd say this is a rare circumstance. In general, for most of us, if we don't love writing we're not likely to do well at it.

Warning: self-aggrandisement ahead :thankyou:

I think this is very much a YMMV situation. I don't love writing. I don't even particularly like it at times. Same with drawing, lecturing and sciencing. Now, I believe I do those things tolerably well, if only because people keep paying me to do them.

(Not that payment is a particularly metric of good quality, but damn it.)
 

mccardey

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Now I'm feeling sorry for Writing. I love you, Writing. :Hug2:
 

Ari Meermans

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I have unresolved issues wrt writing: I'd rather stand at the ironing board all day than sit down and draft a story—and I loathe ironing. Once I start the revision process, though, I'm in another zone entirely; I'm immersed and can sit and write for hours every day without noticing the passage of time.

I was reading this thread and thinking if I got paid for it, maybe I'd have a different attitude toward beginning projects. But I now realize I'd be fooling myself to think that. All it would do is add a level of anxiety and that's probably the reason I'm resistant to the whole idea of being published.
 

Laer Carroll

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It's rare that any of us enjoy every part of writing a book. But if there's not even one part of the writing that you enjoy, I suspect the eventual product will suffer.
 

CAQuinn

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im gonna stick with ... must we love to write?... ive heard it said that everyone has at least one great book in them.
but if someone doesn't love to write 8 hours a day all week, all year if they can, then live it as a fun diversion...
yes we must love to write!
 

R.A. Lundberg

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I'd say it depends. There are a lot of people who love to write who don't write commercially. I'm sure there are people who write who would rather do other things. I read an interview with a pretty talented guitar player who claimed he did it because it was "the only thing I was ever any damn good at". I've known talented artists who didn't especially like drawing. I'm sure there are writers who aren't necessarily in love with writing. It's just a job for them.
 
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DanielSTJ

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I personally do, but I don't consider it a prerequisite to becoming a writer-- or a successful one.

Just my two cents!
 

MaeZe

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... they said, "only with an unwavering love for mankind and an unconditional trust in the human race's decency--wholistically-- can one hope to become a succesful author." ....
Not sure the ending of 1984 suggested a trust in the human race's decency, as one example.

Dystopian books tend to end on a positive note more often than not but surely it's not a given.

As for "loving to write", that can be interpreted in any number of ways. I'm a started-late-in-life writer. So if one asked, was I in love with writing my whole life, the answer is no. I've been in love with life my whole life.

I am now in love with telling the stories I want to tell, so if that's the measure, count me in.
 

MaeZe

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IMHO, absolutes are the most dangerous words anyone can use when it comes to the arts. "You can ONLY be successful if you fit X, Y, and Z box." "It's IMPOSSIBLE to do [thing] unless you do this first." "You HAVE TO-"

No. Sorry, you don't "have to" anything. ...
Just think how boring the world would be if all writers had the same philosophy and experiences?

It's wrong on it's face for so many reasons, but one of the reasons is thinking those who have lost faith in humanity could not move us by sharing their world.
 

MaeZe

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For some of us, (no doubt it helps to be financially secure) we can have the confidence that what we're writing is not measured by whether an agent or publisher picks it up. I work every day to be a better writer than I was yesterday. That is my measure of success.

I'll be fine if when I finish my WIP it doesn't win the publisher lottery. I believe it's a good novel, not based on an unfounded belief I wrote something I think is great, but because I've worked for years (going on seven now I think) to learn how to be a better writer.

You have to invest in learning. That I believe, though some people are natural born writers who have learned the craft early in their lifetimes. If you have a story to tell and you think it's great, then invest the time to learn. When someone says 'filter words, show don't tell, you don't need to tell the reader twice, use stronger verbs' or whatever, invest the time to learn what they are talking about. That is so much more important than someone pontificating philosophical mantras that have nothing to do with how one learns to write.
 

angeliz2k

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Lots of the best-known writers are extremely cynical about humanity and human nature. For example, in reading Jane Austen, you can sense an underlying distrust and cynicism towards her fellow human beings; it's overlaid perhaps with humor, but there nevertheless. She examines human nature and cuts people to shreds. I think to be a good writer you have to understand human nature, and that's not always pretty. It's perfectly valid to hope that people will be touched at last by the better angels of their nature, but I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that they will be . . .
 

bearilou

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I am now in love with telling the stories I want to tell, so if that's the measure, count me in.

:yessmiley

You said what I was thinking.

Writing is hard for me. I wasn't born a writer. I wasn't trained as a writer. I still have trouble.

I just...do this thing with typing letters in and trying to create coherent and cogent sentences in the pursuit of telling stories.

I like telling stories. They make me happy.

The only way I am able to do that is by writing them down.
 
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