Can writing be fun?

[Anastasia]

Hi Everyone,
I'm interested what you think, as I know there is a real mixture of aspriring writers on this site.

Do you think writing can be fun? Should it be fun?

The reason I ask is that I've just had a very fraught conversation/row with a writer friend of mine. She writes for a living and has been very successful (according to my standards). My plan was to work on my novel over the summer (I'm a student) and see how far I got - no pressure, no deadlines, just some good old fashioned storytelling for the heck of it.

My friend feels strongly that writing is work, and what's more, work you kind of have to suffer to achieve. She talked about how writing is the loneliest job in the world, how you have to sacrifice friends, leisure time, happiness... and that if you write for any other reason, other than because you are compelled to do so, its an utter waste of time.

Another friend of mine says she's being depressive, that writing is one of the joys of life and that getting paid for it (which he has been) is like being paid to play. He thinks everyone should write because its escapism, gets you out of yourself and is a creative outlet. However, his creative writing success has been sparodic and he currently works in the book-trade (not as a writer).

This summer, as an experiment, I'm trying to put absolutely no pressure on myself and do it for fun, and see if that works better than my usual tendency to drive myself into the ground, crack up, and tell everyone I can't write for toffee, that its all a total waste of time and take to my bed.

So can fun be part of writing? Or is the starving artist in a garret closer to the reality?

P.S. I feel I might have a slight advantage as I am actually quite mad - thus cutting out several important steps in developing my persona as a famous writer

[Culhwch]

I'm not a professional, and I've never been paid a cent for a word I've written, so I don't know how much of an expert I am. But my feeling is that, yes, writing is hard work, but, yes, it should be fun. Sure, often it's not, often it's a trial, but if you're not enjoying it then why would you be doing it? There are a lot of easier jobs that pay a lot better money out there. I think this idea of having to suffer to create anything worthy is just ridiculous. It seems to me to be a pretension that some artists - no matter what medium - need to assume to make them feel apart, to be 'special' in some way non-artistic folk aren't. We all suffer, we've all had trials. It's all in your outlook, I think.

[Marky Lazer]

Well, chances are your work will never get published. So, that's out. Now, you know that you "won't" get published, and you better have some fun hacking away at those words otherwise you'll turn mad. If you don't have fun writing, don't do it. Your friend says it's work, but she does it for a living; it's completely different. But I think you shouldn't worry about making money with writing, because chances are you won't. Better enjoy it, and if you don't, go out fishing or something else you do enjoy.

[hippokrene]

I don't enjoy writing, but I enjoy having written.

[Anastasia]

Originally Posted by hippokrene

I don't enjoy writing, but I enjoy having written.

Hmm, you see I have this view that maybe you should enjoy everything you do, or not do it at all. I think I've been influenced by Buddhist thinking, particularly the Dalai Lama's take on life. You know, the journey is as important as arriving etc.?

[Anthony G Williams]

I agree that writing because you have to, to make a living, is unlikely to be fun. There's too much pressure to succeed all the time, because if your next book doesn't make a decent profit for the publishers they're likely to drop you. That's bad, because not only is finding a publisher difficult at any time, it's likely to be even tougher if they know you're already been dropped as a poor seller.

These days, very, very few writers make a decent living out of their writing. The great majority, including many who are well-known and enjoy consistently good sales, need some other source of income to pay the bills.

So my advice is: write for fun. If you enjoy it (as I do) that's great, and worth doing for its own sake. If you manage to sell anything to anybody, that's brilliant - but keep the day job. This article should give you food for thought about how difficult the publishing business is even for a moderately successful author. You might also want to read this

[pyan]

Originally Posted by Anastasia

My friend feels strongly that writing is work, and what's more, work you kind of have to suffer to achieve. She talked about how writing is the loneliest job in the world, how you have to sacrifice friends, leisure time, happiness... .

What a depressing view. not only of writing, but of work generally.

Originally Posted by Anastasia

and that if you write for any other reason, other than because you are compelled to do so, its an utter waste of time.

Bosh, and, if you'll forgive me, elitist bosh at that. I don't know how many people on the Chrons write for pleasure alone, but I'm willing to bet it's a fair number. I'm a professional horticulturalist and gardener, but I don't think that no-one should potter around in a garden unless it's going to be entered for Chelsea!

[flynx]

Only being a web published author (ie no independent quality control except that which I ask for) and then only short stories, I have very limited experience of actually having to write rather than wanting to.

Deadlines for competition entries is my only experience of having to write (failed about twice in a dozen attempts) and except for accepting less than my best as I drew towards the end and the deadline I found it added to the enjoyment/excitement of writing.

Fortunately each attempt was at a time when I was 'in the groove' but I can recall several attempts at beginning a story for one of these competitions and actually giving up after a paragraph or page because I just wasn't interested in what I was writing, however good I thought my inititial storyline was.

Some years ago, a friend of mine was studying to become a dentist and asked a surgeon about the excitement and everyday thrill of slicing people open and saving their lives. The surprising answer he got in return was that eventually it became just a job.

Maybe it's about who you are rather than what you do.

Thanks for those links Anthony, very informative and no doubt helpful/horrific to many would be authors.

[dustinzgirl]

Writing is waaaaaaaaaay fun and one of my favorite things to do.


Except when I HAVE TO DO IT.

[Anastasia]

You guys are a lot of fun and have really encouraged me.

My reasons for writing seem a bit silly: I like to tell stories. I have a heroine who doesn't know who she is, in a world that doesn't make sense, and people who she can't trust, and I have to help her. OK, yes, so she's rather reminiscient of me, with some unusual abilities, but I kind of feel duty bound to help her find a place to belong and a reason for living.

At the moment, she's being shot at by soldiers, and her fellow, potential victims don't seem too keen to help her, and she doesn't know who the heck she is!

So in a way, my writing is a charity project. My heroine needs me!

[andrew.v.spencer]

Every hobby if done full time ultimately assumes an aspect of work. I think I've just paraphrased someone, their name escapes me.

But one doesn't need to suffer, that is a reflection of the teller rather than the tale. There are as many different viewpoints regarding writing as there are writers.

You have to sacrifice friends and lesiure time... er no, you don't. You have to set aside time if you have a day job, maybe a couple of hours an evening, a morning or afternoon at the weekend. But you still get to see your friends or go to the pub. But setting aside time is what you have to do for any hobby you enjoy or love.

If you're a full time writer then like any other job you spend your day doing it.

The tortured artist is usually the nature of the character rather than the nature of the job.

[littlemissattitude]

Of course, writing is fun. Even when I have to do it. Yes, it can get frustrating. Yes, it is difficult sometimes. But even when I'm working against deadline (I do get paid for writing, and I have a deadline every day, Monday through Friday), even when my research sources aren't coming through for me when I need them to (my work writing requires the use of information that is updated daily), even when I'm trying to find the right word and every other word but that word is coming into my mind...I'm having fun, because I'm doing the one thing I'm really good at and one of the things I most enjoy doing.

Someone mentioned not enjoying writing, but enjoying having written...I enjoy the actual process of writing way more than I enjoy having written. I like the feeling of accomplishment of having completed a writing project, of course. But actually working on it, including planning and research as well as the actual writing, is much more fun for me.

[Talysia]

I love to write. There's no better way for me to unwind than when I'm writing, even if it's a difficult piece to write. I find the planning stage just as enjoyable, too.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by Anastasia

. She talked about how writing is the loneliest job in the world, how you have to sacrifice friends, leisure time, happiness... and that if you write for any other reason, other than because you are compelled to do so, its an utter waste of time.

I actually agree with both viewpoints ... in part. In order to write well, it takes a great deal of work and sacrifice; but grinding it out in toil and agony seldom produces anything particularly good.

[scalem X]

I think the 'rough' writing is fun. When you are sucked into your story and end up realising you skipped over two meals, but are still in doubt if you will go down and fetch something. (this is for writing fiction) However, you can't create something publishable by doing just that (Hell, I don't even know how to edit something for it to be publishable). To take it further and make your writing readable/publishable will take effort. That's my 2c.