Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Why do you write?

This is topic Why do you write? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/writers/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000247

Posted by tamalynn (Member # 1304) on :

I've been pondering over this matter because I'm trying to sort through my own answer to this question, and maybe hearing a range of views will help me find some sort of triggering insight.

Why do we write? What compels us to shut ourselves away from the world, whiling away hours of our lives putting down (or trying to put down) our own words and worlds and people on paper?

Is it escapism? Is it a means of living
in a place of our own choosing and creation? (I know that stress greatly increases my idea-creating capacity.)

Is it some sort of mysterious creative force that seeks to vent itself through us? Some urge with no concievable evolutionary value that prods us on?

An addiction to the challenge of creation? A hobby? A way to make the wierdos living in your head stop nagging? Or none of the above...

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.

Posted by chad_parish (Member # 1155) on :

I enjoy playing with weird and new science in my head: futuristic inventions, and the consequences (intended or otherwise) thereof.

Basically, SF is a way to be an inventor (mad scientist, more like) without needing a shop-full of expensive tools.

Posted by SiliGurl (Member # 922) on :

That's a good question. For me, there is no one answer... It is a compulsion, that's for sure. It's also a way of stopping the weirdos from trumpeting around my head. Usually characters and some aspect of their lives comes to me so vividly that I have to jot it down; 9 times out of 10, the character jumps at me fully formed. I start tapping away at the keyboard and when the story's done, poof! the character is gone. I don't "hear" or "see" them anymore.

Lately, my stories have revolved around a theme or an idea that is plaguing me. As I'm working through it myself, the story begins to take shape. I was recently in a car accident (not too serious, so no worries), but it made me stop to think about the individual minutes that led up to that exact moment of impact. If we hadn't stopped for dinner, wouldn't have happened. If we hadn't taken the wrong turn, it wouldn't have happened. Etc. etc. etc. The more I thought along this path, gradually a short story developed about what could happen if someone had the ability to go back and change any one moment of their lives.

And of course, it's also escapism. I love the process of writing. Now, when I first sit down at the keyboard, it's excruciating. But give me about 30 minutes there, and the world falls away... There's nothing but the scene that I'm creating. Hours will fly by without notice, I get soooo wrapped up in this fantastic adventure I'm weaving.

I suppose philosophically, it could also be Man's intrinsic belief that he can create something that transcends himself and is more long lasting than our own tenuous hold on life. But, that's definitely NOT why I write!

Posted by JK (Member # 654) on :

Why I like to write:
1) If I don't write these damn fine ideas, who else will?
2) If I don't write these ideas, my head will explode.
3) It's the only thing I enjoy that I can plausibly do for a living.
4) It's escapism.
5) It's a sadistic excuse to do bad things to imaginary people and watch them suffer because of it.
6) No-one writes the exact stories I want to read. So I have to write them. (Granted, many people write good stories that I love *grin*)
I could probably go on, but that's what springs to mind right now. These aren't in importance order, by the way. Fun should be reason one, because if it wasn't fun, I wouldn't do it.
JK

Posted by epiquette (Member # 1272) on :

Err..uh, no flames please, but...

I am definitely not a writer. I hate writing.

Writing to me is work, and I hate work, as I am about the laziest person around.

But several years ago, an idea come to me that resonated so strongly and the vision was so clear, that I felt compelled--I had to write it down.

Then I read OSCs books on writing.

So now I'm 140k words into a fantasy novel (almost done!) Of couse it is a pathetic shadow of that original vision in my head, but still not too bad. (Really! )
Erk

Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

I don't know about anyone else, but I write because I love to write. I love the serenity, the peace and quiet (when it's quiet enough in my house of 14 people.)

Also, I have an unknown quantity of ideas in my head, most of which, sadly, never get written down because they're so fleeting, and if I don't get them out, I'll go insane. Seriously.

Other than that, I like the idea that I have an entire world at my fingertips, and that said world's existence depends on my allowing it to exist. My WORKING on its existence.

Is that crazy?

Chris.

Posted by Bardos (Member # 1260) on :

For me it's write or die.

Posted by Skolovic (Member # 1341) on :

Writing is a way to create your own world. It puts me in a state of mind to where I'm calm and in control of what happens.

Posted by Cosmi (Member # 1252) on :

i write because i want to communicate a message.

no, that's not it....

i write to tell a story and have the reader arrive at the same message i got when i thought of it.

yes. that's it. that is why i write. i write because there is nothing more exciting than finding something out about life/yourself/others that you never thought of before. and YOU thought of it. YOU drew the conclusion--whether someone else (the writer) intended it or not. it brings immortality to thought--the true soul of any individual.

TTFN & lol

Cosmi

[This message has been edited by Cosmi (edited January 17, 2002).]

Posted by JOHN (Member # 1343) on :

Beyond a shadow of a doubt and without any hesatation my answer would be escapism. My life is boring and tedious and for a few words, or pages I get to be GOD!!!! I think that's actually where some of the best ideas came from.

Take Superman for example. The geeky, smalltown, book worm is actually the most powerful man in the world. The guy who never gets the girl is the worlds biggest heart throb. It dosen't take Freud to figure that one out.

JOHN!

Posted by Ruralpunk (Member # 1342) on :

I'm with Bardos

Posted by kwsni (Member # 970) on :

I write because I'd rather put words down on paper, than talk to these stupid people in my head all the time.

Ni!

Posted by Shy Ghost (Member # 833) on :

For me, it's a compulsion. There is no one sitting around telling me to write. I do it because I feel like I must.

It's hard to explain, unless you're in the same boat.

Posted by Chuckles (Member # 1331) on :

Well, the cynical part of me (motivated by my current state of unemployment and poverty) might well say:

"Because I really need yet another time-consuming and distracting hobby that will never earn me a living"

Catch me in a better mood and I'm sure I'll be able to give a more compelling reason :-)

Take care
-J-

Posted by Saffron Buggles (Member # 1357) on :

When I read, I see, hear, feel, smell and taste the worlds that others portray, even those who's "style" is disjointed.

Those whose writing is able to transcend the reality of the everyday, and mundane, and take me with them so completely that I lose hours at a time wrapped in their narrative, enrich and enlighten me. Inspire me.

That is what I strive for when putting cyber quill to parchment. That flow of ideas, the complexity of character, the painting of a setting to pale the works of the greatest painters, that is the stuff that has kept drawing me back to narrative through the years of procrastination, and self-doubt.

We, all of us, possess a gift that has an unlimited potential, pending those we force upon it ourselves.

For me it's a love of creating, and the sharing of that creation.

Dave