10I rarely make posts like this but today… today I am having doubts. (It’s just been one of those days where you seem in a slump. Sigh.) I’ve been asking myself why I bother to write. So I pose the question to you all:
Why do we write?
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I’m not sure how to answer that. If you mean why do humans write, it’s basically to preserve one generation for future generations as well as to give people something to build on. If you mean why do authors write, some have stories that are burning to be told, some have personal stories they have no other way to get out, some write as a means of personal expression and creativity, some write because they want to see what they’re capable of. If you mean why do we, I, personally write? Then there’s several reasons there. I write because I want to be a better psychologist and story teller. I write because I want to understand the characters and universe better. I write because I want to give to someone what books and stories gave to me growing up. I write because I want to create and it’s something that doesn’t require money to do. I write because I want to give shape to thoughts and feelings and images that wouldn’t fit anywhere else. I write because I want to.
The question was meant to be vague for you to answer as you see fit. I like all of your answers! I read this once, in Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg:
Edit: I have to say that I’ve enjoyed many forms of writing – and that included writing my thesis of my master’s in math. So I agree with you about professional writing, too, no matter the profession.
Because it make you happy, makes others happy, and sometimes it helps to get on idea written down. Or that is my thought. ^^;
It’s a very good, simply said thought. <3<3<3
For the sake of us that are readers? I’ve claimed a million times that I cannot write. In actually, I’m not a half bad writer when I set my mind to it, and editediteditedit. And it drains me. But when I read it builds me up, infuses inspiration to draw or create. It’s probably the same reason when I see some lines on a page or hold a pencil, doodles and drawings come out. Drummers can’t help pounding on stuff or singers stop singing. It’s human nature to create, part of free will and all that. It just flows out of some of us more than others and in different outlets.
You describe creativity so perfectly. :) Sometimes I get that feeling of a creativity bubbling up from within too; then the most difficult part is not putting pen to paper!
:/ Sorry to hear you’re feeling that way. I write because I get itchy and edgy when I don’t. Because it soothes me, and because I feel like I have a story to tell that someone may enjoy (even if it’s just one person). And because sometimes I just can’t have an peace until the story of the moment that’s in my head gets down on a page. Hope the “down” feeling goes away soon!
I know that itchy, edgy feeling well! It’s been following me for over a year, since the moment I wrote down the first chapter of my first story. :) Thank you for your kind words.
Because I can’t not. I HATE WRITING. I HATE IT. WITH THE FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS. IF I COULD GET OUT OF WRITING I WOULD NEVER DO IT AGAIN. And yet, I keep coming back to the page, to eek out a little more. I can’t not do it, no matter how much I want to. There are days when I think “okay, but no one gives a damn about this crap but me,” and for a few days, I don’t write. It doesn’t free me, though. It makes me crazy. The people that live inside of me want to get out. I start talking to them, trying to soothe whatever ails them. I start talking to the television, composing raging hate letters to the programming directors and idiot writers who don’t know what a good story is. I start making my partner crazy with the wild shit I’ve imagined for three days straight with no outlet, because LOOK! So I have to go back to the page, to get them out there in some way, so that I and they can rest easy that they’ll get to live somewhere. Eventually, after what feels like a thousand years, I figured out the answer to the non-question “okay, but no one gives a damn about this crap but me.” The answer I came up with? “and that’s why no one can write it but me.” You have a story to tell. And no one in the world can tell it like you can. Even if you ask someone to take the idea off your hands, it wouldn’t come out resembling what you thought you were asking for. The only way for that story to come out is for YOU to tell it. The next question, therefore, is, “do I care enough about the story to see it through for myself?” Five will get you ten that the answer is yes. How do I know? Because the answer has been yes so many times before. (also, if you stop writing now that I’ve found you, I WILL END YOU)
Can I just say that I love both your answer and the personality behind it? You are right that I’d never be satisfied if the story in my head was written by someone else, not entirely. I also have experienced that kind of crazy when not writing. Really, writers are addicts. :)