Just out of curiosity . . .

[jpskewedthrone]

For the writers out there: Why do you write?

Comments

[calendula-witch.livejournal.com]

Always did. Can't not. :-)

[tchernabyelo.livejournal.com]

Yup, can't put it more succinctly than that.

I've been writing for close on 40 years. I've always dreamed about being "a writer" but only in the past three years have I actually done the things needed to be "a writer", rather than someone who writes. But the prior 35 years were invaluable practice.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

It is my nature; I have to write. It is also my career, so this is how I put beans on the table.

[will-couvillier.livejournal.com]

Because it lets me.

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

Because my head would explode if I didn't. ;P

Also, because I love words. And stories. And beautiful books sitting on shelves waiting for hands to pick them up and bring them to life.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Always done it, ever since I figured out how to make books out of paper towels and scotch tape, when I was six.

the long answer

[cindabilla-cite.livejournal.com]

http://community.livejournal.com/wayfarings/109719.html#cutid1

[janni.livejournal.com]

Because there are stories I want to tell.

[wishwords.livejournal.com]

LMAO because on the days that I don't, I pace the floors. What on Earth would I do with all these ideas if I didn't write?

[ex-paulskem.livejournal.com]

It's fun, I enjoy the (admittedly minor) celebrity it brings, and it earns a few bucks in the process.

[dqg-neal.livejournal.com]

When I stop writing the characters beat me around the head and shoulders and keep me up at night.

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. :) The constant talking drives me nuts.

[jaxom92.livejournal.com]

Because I like to tell stories. I suppose that's the first and foremost reason. I like to entertain people, but in a fashion that exhibits creativity. Unfortunately, there's a whole host of entertaining activities I'm not good at, writing being the least of these.

I also like to explore ideas and "what ifs". I find that my ideas take shape with pictures, like you, but they run the race because the exploration and what ifs are driving them.

And lastly, if the nature of my ideas have any say, I write because I want those who read my writing to think about a subject or idea in a way they may not have before.

So, I guess those are the reasons I write.

[madkestrel.livejournal.com]

When I was young, I was always the odd girl. The one reading instead of sharing lipsticks at lunch time. The one who babysat on Friday nights instead of going to popular parties. The one who wasn't ashamed of having good grades. Everywhere I looked, I was watching for magic to step out and take my hand, but I knew that if I said such things out loud, I'd be even less popular than I already was. Writing was a way for me to explain the way I saw the world, since it clearly was different from how everyone else did, without making my life even more lonely.

Now that I'm grown, it's still my way of searching for the magic that must be tucked away behind porch steps or under a tree's bark. I know it's there, and if I keep writing, I'll figure out how to find it.

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. ::nods:: Me, too. Exactly. (Except instead of babysitting I was running track or working at a vet hospital. :D)

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

OCD?

[anghara.livejournal.com]

[looking around furtively] there are these VOICES, see. And they won't shut up, and they won't leave me alone, and the only way to live with them is to lend them my hands and they sit there in my head and behind my eyes and stare at a computer screen and then my hands move on the keys and words start appearing on the screen in front of me and half the time I - the I that isn't the voices - is sitting back with my metaphorical hands pulling out my metaphorical hair screaming at the currently-in-control Voice, "You did WHAT? You went WHERE? Well don't look at me, I have no idea how to get you out of this mess!"

They leave, eventually, the voices. Once the story they have to tell is safely told. They go off and take up residence in their stories, their books, where for all I know they are lurking still in order to catch an unwary reader who picks a book up, and start yattering unceasingly in that READER's ear.

In the meantime, back in my own head, other voices are already in residence. Insistent and imperious. "Write. Write NOW. You can eat or sleep or have a life later. Not now. WRITE. Now. *RIGHT* now."

And so I do. COnstantly. All the time.

I spent almost a year once being voiceless, in the wake of a horrible real-life situation that left me crushed and hopeless and heartbroken - and the voices went away. And I almost added "insane" to the list of those epithets, before the first whispers came back, before the first command, gentle in the beginning, returned - "Write. Write now. Please. Or we ALL die."

And so I did.

And so I do.

Because I am alive.

[mindseas.livejournal.com]

When I write stories I feel like I'm exploring worlds that exist though no one talks about them. They're important to me, so I want to be able to talk about them, but it seems the only way I can do this is by bringing them to people's attention by writing.

[karenthology.livejournal.com]

Because I love it, and because I plan to make a living doing the thing I love.

[suzannemcleod.livejournal.com]

If I had a choice on how to spend my time until five years ago, it was always with a book ;) then I started writing. Now I get that same *lost in the story/world/characters* when I write that I always got (and still do) with reading, but it lasts longer, and it keeps on going on on inside my head even when I'm not at the keyboard! And sometimes, I get these really cool ideas that are just magic and wonderful and seem to come from nowhere *g*

That's why I write

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

Babes, brewskis, and benjamins. Why else?

[naomikritzer]

Because I like telling people stories, and making stuff up. Because I used to tell my stories by running around a playground saying, "over there is the castle! Once we get to the castle we'll be safe from the bad guys! Oh no, they're gaining on us -- summon the winged horses!" but then everyone else grew up and quit wanting to play with me.

(Then I discovered RPGs. "Why do you write instead of playing RPGs?" is kind of its own question, and I guess it boils down to, "Writing feels more worthwhile when I'm done doing it.")

[sarramaks.livejournal.com]

Because I can go anywhere, be anything and do anything. And there's something in me that would go insane if I didn't.
I'm sure its my way of dealing with a personality disorder!

[hominysnark.livejournal.com]

Beats workin'.

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

I'm on a mission from God.

[ceibhfhionn22.livejournal.com]

I found out I was good and it. And I like to.

[kathleenfoucart.livejournal.com]

Why indeed...

Because I can type pretty darn fast, and why else do I need that skill?

Or maybe because I enjoy it?

Possibly because it's a compulsion... and if I stop, the characters get rather pissy...

Or a combination of everything everyone else has said. :)

[awelkin.livejournal.com]

It's easier to fall into a story I write than a story I read. I like the magical feeling of falling in.

Catherine