What Makes A Writer Write?

[Reyben]

Gods create worlds.

I want to be a God.

...What happens to the Universe when God gets Writer's Block?

[Interference]

Reality television.

[reiver33]

I think I go with Stylus - an idea will rattle around in my head and then sometimes come surging up from the (collective) subconcious in a greatly expanded form that I struggle to make real.

I don't have to write, and the biggest spur tends to be non-fiction irritation - as in 'that was just plain wrong!' - but those outbursts are easily contained and eventually ignored. Hence my never-written tract on WW2 strategic incompetance...

[chrispenycate]

I really don't know what makes me write.

It's obvious I have no burning need for it; I went forty years without writing anything before ending up in this place, and starting again. My day job suits me well, and gives plenty of outlet for whatever meagre creative impulses I might suffer from.

As you can tell from my critiquing, my tendencies run more towards proof reading than story telling. Certainly I enjoy creating universes; who doesn't? But I'm incapable of interesting the general public in any idea I might have.

Which doesn't stop me writing, in restaurants, busses and aeroplanes, in the blank times while a computer is rendering graphics, in my head (complete with dialogue and punctuation) when I don't have a notepad available…

Even if I suspect the world might be a better place with one good proofreader than a mediocre writer, I have no intention of stopping.

[Blackrook]

I have a story to tell.

[SJAB]

Ten years ago I wanted to see if I could actually write a novel. I did. I then wrote four more, because the first one, though a good story, was technically crap. Each one was an improvement. I learned how to handle a plot, characters and the spelling/grammar was a hell of a lot better.

Four years ago I wondered if I could get one of these novels published. This resulted in a lot of rejections, re-writes and general banging of the head against a brickwall.

This time last year agents started to express interest in my work. One actually offered to represent me, and I have signed with them.

Since then I have edited, re-written and polished two novels way into the dark hours, when my eye sockets were burning

So why do I write?

To begin with to see if I could.

From now on, because it will be my job, (hopefully) and for the first time I will be doing something I love, rather than something I have to do, to earn a crust.

[Interference]

Real congratulations, SJAB - Live the dream for the rest of us at least until we get to live it for ourselves

[SJAB]

Originally Posted by Interference

Real congratulations, SJAB - Live the dream for the rest of us at least until we get to live it for ourselves

Thank you Interference. I am trying too, but now and then the panic attacks start when I think about what I have let myself in for, and can I live up to the faith others are putting in me.

[Interference]

Yes you can, if you keep faith in yourself. They saw the quality in your work, remember, and you put it there. Your talent is proved already, all that's left to do is to show it off.

[Blackrook]

It would be easier to tell you all the reasons I don't write.

[Majimaune]

Originally Posted by Reyben

Gods create worlds.

I want to be a God.

...What happens to the Universe when God gets Writer's Block?

The Dark Ages.

Originally Posted by Blackrook

It would be easier to tell you all the reasons I don't write.

Go on then

I feel it only fair I share why I write.

I write as a release from this world and all the problems here. To make the ones I love immortal and most importantly...I'm a dreamer.

[GodSplitter]

I would say for me its the aspect of escapism which wets my appetite to write. Where normal day to day life can seem to just pale in comparison to worlds you can create within your mind.

Sometimes, its like an itch on your back that you can never seem to get rid of. I just get the impulse to scribble pen to paper, its just a force of creation. As with most creative people in whatever field they are in i.e. sculptors, artists, painters - you just can't pinpoint the reason as to why do what you do.

Ideas can come from anywhere and at anytime. I've found myself scrabbling for a pen in the queue at WH Smiths just to jot down that line or passage of writing, before it is lost in the continuum of subconscious thought.....

[Robby]

Why do we write? Jeez ...

This question often escapes my internal dialogue and instigates a battle that awakens my motor functions. But I fight back, refusing to believe that a busy social life would make me less ‘boring’ and more ‘sociable’. And after each victorious battle (perhaps loss to those who don’t understand), I trek farther into dream-world. I often find myself lost there, and creating a way to move forward ... but I never travel alone. The people there are my closest friends, and some are my worst enemies, and I care about the choices they make and the things they say. Above all, they’re all needy beggars without a mind of their own. So, being the brow-beaten fellow I am, I let them rule mine.

Love-hate ... a story can begin with everything and still end with nothing. It can start with nothing and become everything. Like anything we do, if we do it for long enough, we suffer in some way.