Just wondering what is everyones different motives for writing? Has it been your life long dream? Do you want to share your story with the world? Or like in the alchemist, do you feel this is your personal journey? Or other? I know it can't be for the money, so im just curious why do you write?
Posted by djvdakota (Member # 2002) on :
It's the money. Definitely the money. That $10 I got for Trip Trap rocketed us into a whole nother tax bracket.
Seriously? Why do I write? I honestly haven't figured that out yet.
Posted by franc li (Member # 3850) on :
My 10th grade history teacher said I was a great writer. And I really like it. And it's the only thing I would feel really excited about telling people that I've been doing as a career (apart from being a great wife and mom... but I mean as opposed to lawyer or scientist or CPA, which are my other most serious options.)
I loved the interpretation we came up with for Trigorin's speech in my high school production of The Seagull :
"I have to write! I have to write! I have to write... I have to write."
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
Because nobody else tells the stories I've thought of that I want to read.
Posted by Inkwell (Member # 1944) on :
For me, writing is a way of releasing my imagination from the confines of my stubborn skull. I am one of those lucky individuals who can fully visualize what they read. A book plays out like a movie in my head...my imagination assigns characters 'actors' with their own voices and costumes. Entire galaxies pass before my mind's eye (as well as I can wrap my consciousness around them, at least). I know several other people who experience this same phenomenon when they crack open a book. For me, writing has a very similar effect.
The main and all-important difference is that while writing I am in complete control of the film as it forms in my head. I can tweak it here and there in realtime, creating new scenes as I go...all the while viewing and analyzing the project as it unfolds. This keeps me writing. The simple delight in creating something no one else has ever seen or heard before. Of formulating impossible situations at a mere whim, and following them to their conclusions (wherever they might be). The hope that one day others will share my enjoyment of the stories in my mind also drives me. I don't know when that day will come, but I am content to patiently wait and prepare...making sure that I'm ready to 'leak' a few frames from the filmstrip of my imagination.
Yeah, that's it in a nutshell.
Inkwell ----------------- "The difference between a writer and someone who says they want to write is merely the width of a postage stamp." -Anonymous
Posted by Josh Leone (Member # 2365) on :
Because I can't think of any other career that I both can, and want to, do.
To stay sane.
Posted by dpatridge (Member # 2208) on :
ditto on mm
Posted by shadowynd (Member # 2077) on :
For the challenge. For the joy of being able to take words and craft them into something greater, something both beautiful and-- hopefully-- memorable.
An artist paints beautiful pictures. Me, I paint with words. And like the basketmaker, I weave too. I weave words into intricate patterns. It is my exercise, my work and my play. But mostly play.
Susan
[This message has been edited by shadowynd (edited June 08, 2005).]
Posted by Thieftess (Member # 1683) on :
Because it's cheaper than therapy, isn't a black mark on my permanent record, and is kind of nice when pays the grocery bill. Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
Why do you write?
Oh! Oh! I know this one!
Because it's easier than not writing.
Posted by Gingivere (Member # 1936) on :
I think it's perhaps the only thing I could possibly be good at for a living, and still be happy doing it. (Well, when it's going well. When it's not, it's like pulling teeth ) I love being creative, but I'm not at all coordinated and other creative outlets just don't work out like I want them to. Writing, on the other hand, will (so it's a bit of a power trip, maybe) and it suits the lifestyle I need. I'm a sort of hermited type of person, and writing should fit in well with that, I hope. Maybe I could find something better, but I've always written short stories and poems and things like that, and I love books. Writing's easier for me than speaking at any rate. Posted by Void (Member # 2567) on :
It satisfies my god-complex for creating.
Posted by franc li (Member # 3850) on :
So why amn't I published? Because editing does not swell in my breast with quite the same force as the writing.
Posted by yanos (Member # 1831) on :
I write because murder is illegal. Sanity is only found this side of the keyboard...
Posted by djvdakota (Member # 2002) on :
Oh, franc li, I'm with you on that one, sister!!
Posted by dpatridge (Member # 2208) on :
yeah... editing is like taking your baby and giving it tough love... it is NOT fun, but if you don't do it, it'll come out spoiled.
i can handle doing minor tweaking without any problem, but when that story goes way out in left field and i have to do major cutting... that just kills me inside.
Posted by Meenie (Member # 2633) on :
How can I NOT write? Is there an option? LOL. Meenie Posted by Dandelion (Member # 2582) on :
I like taking lots of little pieces and building them into something cool.
And if I don't, the characters in my head bang on my skull until I let them out.
Lisa
Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :
I'm with Meenie. I can't NOT write.
Publishing is irrelevant to whether I write or not. I see it as an entirely different facet of things.
I love the editing process. It gives me a chance to clean things up, make things right, make my writing more the way I envisioned it.
I've done painting before. It's not as easy to correct your mistakes in watercolor as it is text editing on a computer.
Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :
I write because of the unspeakable horrors that commence if I do not.
Posted by Ratlance (Member # 1893) on :
Wow lots of comments, and great answers. I just got done reading the Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo, and it made me start wondering why I want to write, and if this is my journey. I won't truly ever know, but I definitly feel it's a start. If you haven't read the Alchemist I highly recommend it.
Posted by Blue_Rabbit (Member # 2634) on :
I write because I am. It's more than a half of my life since I started, and if I count all the little childish poems and half-drawn stories , it's almost 80% of my life. So it's my lifestyle, I guess. Better question would be: why do I bother finishing my stories? Why am I trying to publish? That's a good one, and I am almost certain I wouldn't like the answer.
Posted by StoneyG (Member # 2263) on :
i write because i am sick and tired of all the good concepts for movies/shows/stories that just seem poorly exicuted. i believe that i could do things better.
Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :
Because it's the only way I can torture myself without leaving physical evidence.
Also, I ditto dp's dittoing mm: because if I didn't, I would have long ago gone certifiably insane. And I couldn't handle an asylum. I'd miss my cartoons.
Posted by kwsni (Member # 970) on :
Because it's the only way I can torture other people without leaving evidence.
Ni!
Posted by Monolith (Member # 2034) on :
I write because one day I want to get at least one of the stories I'm writing now published. As well as the challenge to post things on here to see if what I write makes sense to average people.
Besides, I want to become a better writer, and from what someone told me, my writing has indeed become better, and I attribute that to you guys here on Hatrack. Pointing out mistakes and guiding me as to what would work better.
I do take crits seriously and when I read the replies I get, I read it again and most of the times, it seems that I was wrong on how it was worded etc.
But enough rambling, I write because I want to get better and eventually published one day.
Now back to your regularly scheduled forum.
-Monolith-
Posted by autumnmuse (Member # 2136) on :
When I was a kid, I thought about what types of people I admired the most, and why. I decided that writers were very near the top of the list. I was in awe of the ability to write novels. I realized that what would make me feel most happy, to know I had 'arrived' was to become the thing I was most in awe of. Thus, I decided to make being a published author my goal. If someone tells me I am good at any other job, I shrug it off. It is just a job. But when someone tells me I am good at writing . . . my soul sings.
Posted by rustafarianblackpolarbear (Member # 2638) on :
to be honest, i'm just lazy and a bit of a daydreamer. I'm in college at the moment and have changed an arts course for an english literature coursewhich i am finding very easy. I probably won't be a very good writer in the future but if all else fails I can always try for snobby magazine editor or something. Posted by Exploding Monkey (Member # 2444) on :
Self-entertainment that’s half as messy!
I write because I want to do something constructive with my mind. I want to challenge myself and writing is a great way to do that. It engages my intellect. I guess you could call it a 'workout for the brain.'
One of my favorite patients once told me that challenging your mind was just as important to your long-term health as working out was for your body. He was 87 when he died, and one of the sharpest men I have ever met.
) I love being creative, but I'm not at all coordinated and other creative outlets just don't work out like I want them to. Writing, on the other hand, will (so it's a bit of a power trip, maybe) and it suits the lifestyle I need. I'm a sort of hermited type of person, and writing should fit in well with that, I hope. Maybe I could find something better, but I've always written short stories and poems and things like that, and I love books. Writing's easier for me than speaking at any rate. 