Can writing be fun?

[Sapheron]

Writing recreationally is the awesome part of my life that I'm not forced, told or 'encouraged for my own good' to do by some form of elder person. Personally, I enjoy writing. Whatever stage I'm at I like it... for the first ten thousand words. Then it starts becoming more of a challenge, for the most part.

[Tillane]

I've been writing semi-seriously since I started at uni. I've had a few shorts net-published, and have two novels which sit as yet unpublished (and may well never be). I've always enjoyed writing - wouldn't do it otherwise - and have never considered it to be work. Work is something you have to do out of necessity, and I guess if your friend writes for a living (just out of curiosity, what sort of writing does she do?) then that might change her way of thinking. Then again, if she doesn't enjoy it, why do it? There must be other jobs out there that she'd find more satisfying.

As for the idea that writing purely for pleasure is a waste of time...hogwash. Doing anything for pleasure (within reason, of course) is never a waste of time. It's a flippin' necessity. You only get one life; might as well spend it doing things you love, and if writing is one of them, I say go for it.

Editing...well, that's another matter.

[Spectrum]

Myself, I write because I enjoy creating. The best part of writing for me is getting those good ideas that tie up loose ends and make things fall into place. The most important part for me is the world, setting and background mythology, with the story and characters taking a secondary role. I have written plenty of background material but only a small amount of novel-style story.

I intend to finish my novels and attempt to have them published. But I have no ambitions of making any real money off my writing. Why should I? I study at the university and look forward to a well-paying job as a computer scientist. Through my writing, I want first and foremost to create something, and second I want people to read my creation and tell me how great I am.

[Anastasia]

Hi Tillane,
thanks for your post. I totally agree with you that writing just for the fun of it isn't a waste of time - any more than any other creative activity. I like decorating cakes but strangely no one has yet complained that I don't make much money from it!

Anyway, my friend, she writes all sorts: teenage fiction, factual books about people in various difficult or trying situations, magazine articles, scholarly books about psychology, and she's even done quite a bit of ghost writing for celebrities. She's quite amazing in that she can just write about anything. When I asked her what she wrote once, she said "Anything they'll pay me to write".

However, a couple of years ago she was really upset to be dropped by a major publisher becuase she'd 'only' sold 50,000 copies and they were dropping all their writers who didn't sell 100,000 copies in the first three months. She has almost given up trying to publish in UK, and now mainly publishes in the US.

I'm hearing the same sort of stories from a relative who is a well known writer in the States, despite living here in UK (he is popular here, but most people I know haven't heard of him). He does sell in UK, but the UK publishers are now demanding blood from their writers, I hear, and its all dominated by the dreaded Top Ten. It's not good

Anyway, I figure if I'm to make money from writing, it probably won't be from fiction. I'm pretty confident that I could make a go of it from non-fiction, human interest type books and text books, but ask me in a couple of years when I've finished my degree!

I don't actually think I'd want to try to make money from writing novels. The pressure would just be too much and I'd never be happy with it. My stories are things are write to amuse myself - the sort of stories I'd love to read but aren't published.

[chrispenycate]

I see no contradiction between the two positions; thehard work, agony of rejections and rewrites, and the sheer enjoyment of getting izt down on paper right. The idea that work, being serious, cannot be enjoyable is not a cocept I can handle.
There again,I'm not trying to put food on the table with it; but I will say that any job I've done, I've putmy maximum into it, which almost forces you to enjoy it (no, I lie; my three months working for the inland revenue I was giving no more than I was paid for, and not enjoying it; but that was a lifetime ago)
Work can be enjoyable, especiallly when it's challenging and time-consuming; and the endorphin rush when you succeed repays many hours of slogging over a hot keyboard.
Still, perhaps I'm strange.

[Anastasia]

Originally Posted by chrispenycate

Still, perhaps I'm strange.

Strange is good.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by chrispenycate

I see no contradiction between the two positions; thehard work, agony of rejections and rewrites, and the sheer enjoyment of getting izt down on paper right. The idea that work, being serious, cannot be enjoyable is not a cocept I can handle.
There again,I'm not trying to put food on the table with it; but I will say that any job I've done, I've putmy maximum into it, which almost forces you to enjoy it (no, I lie; my three months working for the inland revenue I was giving no more than I was paid for, and not enjoying it; but that was a lifetime ago)
Work can be enjoyable, especiallly when it's challenging and time-consuming; and the endorphin rush when you succeed repays many hours of slogging over a hot keyboard.
Still, perhaps I'm strange.

I tend to agree, Chris. For me, it's that "bloodhound instinct" of trying to track the thing down, get it properly phrased, and the sheer enjoyment of doing a good job, even though it may be physically (and, for that matter, mentally/emotionally) exhausting. But, like you, I'm not doing it to put bread on the table -- at least at this point -- so I might feel differently if I were under that kind of pressure.

I suppose it depends on the individual, really. And let's not forget that some people simply aren't happy unless they're miserable... that can often be a factor, too.....

[dustinzgirl]

You know, I love to write. i write all the time. Most of what I write I don't even really like, save for a few poems and a few stories, most of which are around here.

I love to research, but only for fun. I hate doing it when I have to do it.

I love to write, but I hate doing it when I am supposed to be doing it, and most often find myself writing exactly what I am not supposed to be writing (poetry instead of deadline articles) and then I get in a bind.

I'm the most undisciplined writer on the planet. I don't like researching agents and publishers and blah blah blah. Its boring and it forces me to write letters I don't want to write, so I just don't freaking do it. I'm a stubborn little cuss like that.

Everyone (some of you darlings and everyone in my family) keeps telling me to send this off and do this and do that, but I don't really want to. I don't write for an audience, even though it utterly lifts my ego when people read what I write and love me for it, I don't want to feel forced into writing under a boxed idea of what I should write or who I should write for or how I should write or what kind of plot I should have or what my characters should act like.

I just like to create a kaleidescope of images that may or may not make sense and may or may not be a clue to my personal special kind of insanity.

But what I don't like, what I really hate, is feeling like I have to write a certain way. Thats why I just gave up on trying to get published anywhere. I figure, to heck with it. I don't have the time or patience to go through and format and write synopsises and write letters and write stuff and hire editors and find an agent that doesn't think Im a quack....

I'm just not interested in that.

So for me, my true writing, the writing I love, is free and unihibited by the predetermined ideal of what and who and why a writer should write.

now, my articles and my corporate research writing is a whole nother thing. That is agonizing work that I don't really want to do, and if any billionaire wants to pay me to write poetry all day then I would do that, but since that hasn't happened yet I have to write for work, and I don't really like doing that. But, someone has to pay the dang bills!

[Anastasia]

Dustinzgirl, you just keep doing what you're doing - and don't let anyone tell you any different (although it sounds like they'd only try that once).

Sounds like you spend a lot of your time writing rather dry non-fiction, so like me, you're looking for a release for your creativity. A kind of safety-valve I suppose?

I went to bed last night dreaming of my story and trying to work out what happens next. I went to bed happy. That's why I write.

[dustinzgirl]

Originally Posted by Anastasia

Dustinzgirl, you just keep doing what you're doing - and don't let anyone tell you any different (although it sounds like they'd only try that once).

Sounds like you spend a lot of your time writing rather dry non-fiction, so like me, you're looking for a release for your creativity. A kind of safety-valve I suppose?

I went to bed last night dreaming of my story and trying to work out what happens next. I went to bed happy. That's why I write.

Writing what I want to write, be it poetry or story has done more for my sanity than anything else ever has.

I write because it makes me feel good, too!

I can't write my dreams yet. They creep me out and while I like to think I am very spiritual and in touch with myself, most of my dreams are just not what I can write. That just feels too personal, to me. And I almost never dream about what I am writing, which is kind of odd, I suppose.

But yes, my writings, especailly my poetry, are a safety valve. If I don't write for fun at least once a day, I go INSANE. and that is a horror novel, right there...lol.

[Culhwch]

Originally Posted by Anastasia

I went to bed last night dreaming of my story and trying to work out what happens next. I went to bed happy. That's why I write.

Well said. I went to bed depressed last night because today I had to get up and go back to work after two weeks off. The thought of getting up in the mornings and staying home to write for a living is one of the reasons I write. I hope that if it ever gets to that point it's still fun.

[dustinzgirl]

Cul, we both posted at 12:15 (my time)

Thats a special kind of magic right there, aint it!

[Culhwch]

5.15 (pm) my time. Who'd know we were on opposite sides of the world...

[Interference]

Originally Posted by Anthony G Williams

I agree that writing because you have to, to make a living, is unlikely to be fun.

I feel I have to write out of a duty to the worlds inside my head and the world outside that, in my most ego-centric moments, I believe should be made aware of what I'm aware of. Doesn't make me particularly good or particularly deep as a writer, but it does mean that the more I do, the better I feel about myself and my talent.

I've been feeling a bit bad about myself recently, but I know that will soon change. The brain never sleeps and that's a curse and a boon ...

[Interference]

Originally Posted by Culhwch

I went to bed depressed last night because today I had to get up and go back to work after two weeks off. The thought of getting up in the mornings and staying home to write for a living is one of the reasons I write. I hope that if it ever gets to that point it's still fun.

My God!! You're MEEEEE!!!!