This is a simple question with potentially un-simple answers.
So, I’ll just ask it:
Why do you write?
More to the point: why do you tell stories?
I’ll hang up and wait for your answer.
Apple-Obsessed Author Fella
Apple-Obsessed Author Fella
This is a simple question with potentially un-simple answers.
So, I’ll just ask it:
Why do you write?
More to the point: why do you tell stories?
I’ll hang up and wait for your answer.
Anthony Elmore says:
First, because I like to make stuff up. Second, I’m a recovering Fundie who’s still obsessed with morality and the story-scape has proven the best place to investigate these issues. Third, although it may be a pipe dream, I believe I could eventually make a living at it and escape the cubicle maze.
September 19, 2012 — 4:31 PM
TheOtherTracy says:
I write because I used to think I could write. Up until a few years ago, I’d go on spurts of writing, churning out flash fiction like it was going out of style. I even went so far as become part of an online writing community, working to try and get praise, comments, and goodness for my words.
Spurts like that never lasted long.
Now, I’ve grown up. I felt like I had something that was burning a hole inside of me, and I had to get it on paper, er, screen. Turns out that thing was a pretty good tabletop RPG. Difference between writing it and writing everything I’ve written in my life is this: I wrote it because I wanted to. Whether it was awesome or crap, I wanted to write it because I wanted to write it; not for praise, not for a paycheck. Just for me.
I was happy to find that people are digging it. It’s still for me, though. Now that the writing-for-me mechanism is in place, every time I get a good idea, I work to write it. It feels good knowing that I have the discipline to get through a piece of writing, to go back and refine it, to give it to an editor, and then to work to make it shine.
It’s for me, but I put it out there in case other people will enjoy it.
September 19, 2012 — 5:12 PM
Sparky says:
Because people need stories, whether they know it or not. Because sometimes you need a dose of the unreal. Because it can be fun. Because why not? Because I bloody well can. Because people I admire do it so well.
September 19, 2012 — 6:59 PM
Liam Hayes says:
In the vein hope that sometime in the future, after I’m long buried, an alienated and socially ostracized scholar will find my ramblings and birth a mad cult based on their teachings. I don’t ask for much.
September 19, 2012 — 7:47 PM
Patrick Regan says:
Because I don’t know how not to.
September 19, 2012 — 8:40 PM
Wendy says:
I write because it makes me feel powerful. I know that sounds haughty, but I don’t mean the kind of power that dominates. I only mean that, when I’m writing, I feel more alive inside my skin than I do when I’m not. I’m adept at bumbling stuff up in real life. I’m clumsy and forgetful. I second guess myself and lose sight of important things. I lose my temper and my resolve. But when I’m writing, really focused on writing, everything narrows down to me and the scene in my head as it’s forming on the page and all the electricity in between. I’m at full power.
But why do I want people to read what I write? Would I write a story if I didn’t think there was a chance someone would read it? No. I wouldn’t. This part of the equation–the imagined reader–seems to have nothing to do with the power I mention above and yet, when I really think about it, it’s pivotal. (At least it is to me.) A fire needs three things–fuel, heat, and oxygen. And a story needs its words, its writer, and its reader. Without all three, the spark won’t catch.
So, in short, I like to play with fire.
September 19, 2012 — 9:24 PM
Elise Valente says:
I have ADD and a ridiculously inventive imagination. If I didn’t write down all the stories and random “what if’s” running through my brain, I’d probably implode. That would be a nasty, messy sort of way to die, and I’d much rather a cleaner death.
September 19, 2012 — 9:51 PM
Steve Buchheit says:
I tell stories because I’m human, I write because stories without an audience is just masturbation.
September 19, 2012 — 10:36 PM
Nicki Hill says:
There’s a quote by Rob Schrab in the foreward of “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: Director’s Cut” (an excellent, very dark graphic novel) that I love: “There’s a little monster inside all of us, a little wolf-faced monkey that needs to be satiated.”
My wolf-faced monkey has just always needed a playground. And so I write. It’s much cheaper (and more fun) than therapy.
September 19, 2012 — 10:44 PM
Paul Baxter says:
If there’s something you can do, and you can do it well, and you enjoy doing it, and others enjoy you doing it, that is answer enough.
September 19, 2012 — 11:21 PM
Levi Stribling says:
Chuck – love the questions. I write because it’s all I want to do. I want to tell the stories of the places I live in in my mind. I want to feed life into characters or have them feed life into me. I want other people to hear their voices, to see what I see, to taste what I taste, to walk and run where I’ve been.
I want to fill my head with more of it and never stop.
I want to know that after I die, at least I can go to a place where I can just create day in and day out forever. I want to be as fucking crazy as I can when I write and not give a shit about who reads it. i write to conquer my own fears about who will judge me and how I’ll feel about it.
I write to explain and confound, to fuck up and resolve, to erect and destroy, to rape, cut up, and bury, to make whomever I want immortal or seconds away from death. I want to wrap chains around the emotional reeds of my readers’ emotions and shake them into a fury.
I write for reasons like these, and endless more.
September 20, 2012 — 1:26 AM
Alex Beecroft says:
I write because otherwise I would sink into depression. A day without writing feels like a day without purpose, but more than two weeks without writing feels like a life without purpose.
September 20, 2012 — 4:41 AM
Laura Libricz says:
I write because it give me a rush.
September 20, 2012 — 4:49 AM
Jim Franklin says:
I don’t have the godlike power needed to create and destroy worlds, lands, people and lives without consequence, in real life.
It’s all about the power, baby….
September 20, 2012 — 5:07 AM
Dylan C. says:
The answers are pretty simple, in my case. The reasons for them are the complicated parts. I tell stories because I want someone to learn from the things I’ve learned, to lead something of a better or more interesting life as a result of watching my characters learn through doing. I also tell them because stories are a really deep and abiding comfort to me, and if I can give at least that to someone, then I’m happy. Plus? It’s just plain fun.
September 20, 2012 — 5:30 AM
Ben H. says:
I write because I enjoy doing it. I’ve always loved storytelling, plotting, writing, etc.
I’ve always been told I’m good at it.
It’s fun.
When I got serious about my writing occured back in March. I’d been waiting for a video game to be released for ages that was the third installment in a trilogy. I’ve spent hundreds of hours playing the first two games and I was looking forward to an epic conclusion. That game was Mass Effect 3 and when I finally beat the game I was more disappointed then the day my childhood was ruined when I found out Santa Claus wasn’t real.
It was at that point that I realized if hacks such as the people who took over as main writers for Mass Effect 3 after the original lead writer left midway through the second game can get paid to write crap this awful that I was in the wrong profession.
September 20, 2012 — 10:05 AM
Hobbes says:
Because it’s the only answer I’ve ever had.
What do you want to do? What’s your ideal career? If you won the lottery and never had to work again, what would you do? Write, write, write. It’s all I ever really want to do.
September 20, 2012 — 3:16 PM
R Thomas Allwin says:
Because I have to.
There’s too many ideas circling in my head, and my mind almost always runs on full speed. When I can’t get stuff out (one way or another) it affects me negatively.
September 20, 2012 — 3:40 PM
auroranibley says:
I like characters. I like getting into other people’s skin and looking out from behind their eyes, and trying to figure out how and why they would behave in ways that I myself might not.
Also, I hate my job.
September 20, 2012 — 3:48 PM
Chris Horne says:
Because I don’t know how to tell stories with my mouth. Not spontaneously anyhow. The stupid shit in my head needs to be thought out, laid out on the page. It’s the only way I really understand how to communicate with anyone else.
September 20, 2012 — 5:46 PM
Marla Rose Brady says:
I write to enhance my pyschic abilities and to enhance my own self-healing. Self-healing exists only when you can look into yourself. It never rests in the hands, hearts, or souls of others. It is only within self.
September 20, 2012 — 8:01 PM
Luke M. says:
I write because if I don’t, the stories in my head will just keep bouncing around in there, running into each other, and never go away. I love putting those ideas down on (e)paper, and it’s nice to be able to make room for new stories by getting the older ones taken care of.
I have stories to tell and I don’t want them to never see the light of day.
September 20, 2012 — 8:45 PM
Jamie Beckett says:
I write to pay the bills. I write because I like it. I write because telling a story appeals to me on so many different levels. And I write because I know the fiction I produce will live longer than I do, while the non-fiction I write will help my readers live a more fulfilling life. There are other reasons, but that’s a good start.
September 20, 2012 — 9:07 PM
Amber J Gardner says:
I write so I can put smiles on people’s faces. And get attention. And love. Love the love.
Not so much the hate…
September 20, 2012 — 9:36 PM
Tim Whitcher says:
To make my Mother worry.
September 20, 2012 — 11:32 PM
Jen says:
I just really love the whole making order out of chaos aspect of writing. I love the challenge.
September 21, 2012 — 12:36 AM
Christian Frey says:
Because, in my head, I’m still arguing with people I haven’t seen for years.
September 21, 2012 — 1:27 AM
Jeremiah Boydstun says:
I need to read like I need food and water. I simply can’t do without a good story every single day of my life. I write because I want to be a part of that old human tradition of telling stories. It’s one of the most ancient, enduring, and important things we do as human beings. We need to eat, to multiply, and to tell stories. It’s virtually encoded within our DNA. So, on an innate level, I have to tell stories. On an intellectual and emotional level, I love literature so much that I feel I need to put my love into practice, so to speak, rather than just admire from afar. And I think that’s what other writers want—for us to carry on the tradition, to carry on the love. We also take a little bit of each writer we read and it becomes a permanent part of who we are, influencing how we see and interact with the world. Writing becomes a way for us to pay homage to these influences—these teachers who have helped us not only to be more human but to help us come to terms with and make sense of the human experience. Writing is friggin hard, it hurts, it requires sacrifice, but the joys and the satisfaction are also limitless—-sounds like a good metaphor for life.
September 21, 2012 — 1:31 AM
LD Silver says:
I write because it makes me happier. I can be happy without it, sure. But writing increases that happiness and makes me feel more complete.
Plus it’s a lot of fun. 🙂
September 21, 2012 — 8:18 AM
Pierre Poulin says:
I write to share emotions with others.
September 21, 2012 — 12:21 PM
Casz Brewster says:
I write because I don’t know anything else to do. Sure, I can bartend, but I always left the bar and wrote stories about the people I made rob roys, manhattens and fuzzy navels. I’ve been told since like 9 that I’m very good at it. People seem to think I weave some magic when I tell a story, and so I do. I think that’s cool. I am a sucky person to live with and to behold when I don’t write; therefore, when I write I am happy, whole, healthy and a lot more fun.
September 21, 2012 — 4:49 PM
Mitchell Bryan says:
I write because it’s a really enjoyable activity to do.
September 21, 2012 — 7:11 PM
Trey Holliday says:
Because if I don’t tell my stories, nobody will.
September 21, 2012 — 9:41 PM
pill talk says:
Next best thing to beating off.
September 22, 2012 — 1:31 AM
Jared Domenico says:
Because It was made abundantly clear to me that I am not a welcome addition to the human species.
Rather, the contrary.
I write because I am constantly thinking. I am thinking of the worst thing that could happen to me at any given time, and when I change some of the variables I get an entertaining story.
And also because I like advanced technology, and people doing terrible things to each other with advanced technology.
September 22, 2012 — 3:50 AM
Jeannie M. Leighton says:
I write because I like all that torture and angst and feelings of inadequacy.
I write because, if I don’t, the voices in my head start chewing on what’s left of my brain.
Maybe I’m a reverse zombie, an eibmoz. Ew, that’s creepy. I better stick to writing.
September 23, 2012 — 3:34 PM
Otter says:
This is an interesting question and I’m still working on my answer, but I find I process things best while writing about them so–oh! There’s one possible answer.
I write to process the things that happen to me and the way I feel about them. I write to make the world around me make more sense. I write to put my opinions out in the world. I write because it allows me to get things that are bothering me or distracting me out of my head. I write in order to feel productive. I write because it is personally satisfying to do so, whether it’s good or not, whether I finish or not. I write because I am more eloquent in text than out loud. I write because I have friends with whom I can share the experience of writing. I write to get better at writing. I write in order to more complexly imagine the people around me.
October 9, 2012 — 7:32 AM