Why I Like To Write

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Grandpa

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
9,724
53,642
Colorado
Why I Like Writing

(and wish I could do it full-time)

It flows for me.

At this hobbyist-style stage, I'm pumping out the tales and not worried about deadlines. I rarely have "writer's block." Sometimes I don't know where a story's going when I start it, but doggone if it doesn't start happening, and when it "pops," it's there. It's an awesome feeling.

Affirmation

We all seek affirmation in our lives, do we not? Unless our ego is so inflated that all we need is our own affirmation, and that's quite unhealthy and dangerous. So when I tell a story that resonates and people tell me, "OMG! Couldn't put it down!" it makes life worth living. (Right now, we won't talk about the "meh" or "boring!" reactions.)

And now we come to...

LACK OF COMPETITION

Sure, I know that maybe Gracious Host Stephen King and Dean Koontz might have a bet out there, "Who's going to get a million sales first from this date?" That's not what I'm talking about.

In my own job, I compete against, well, competitors. I want to work hard, I want to hone my skills, I want to stay on top of current professional trends, and I want to outperform my competitors so that when a potential consumer is saying, "This other jasper or Grandpa?" I want them to choose "Grandpa."

Story-telling is not like that. Just speaking of Uncle Stevie and Dean, you don't go to the bookstore or online shopping and choose one over the other. If you want to read them, you buy their stuff. Story sold, and case closed. Competition isn't part of it.

I immodestly think (because people have told me) that my stories stack up to good-selling authors. Well, grand. But I'm not in competition with them. If you like my stories, you'll buy them. If you like their stuff, you'll buy them. It's not like you're agonizing whether to buy Downy or the store label brand of softener.

But mainly why I like writing.... .

It fulfills me in a way that a wage-earning job can't. When I'm closing in, and the imagery is where i want it, the threads have been tied up, the suspense points have been made, the characters fleshed out, the resolution achieved, and (I hope) the reader is wowed, there's no better feeling. Really, there isn't. It's hard to explain. I've never hit a home run, I've never scored a touchdown in a real game, I haven't bested others in a one-on-one duel that I remember, but typing "The End" when you mean it is a feeling that must be like that. It's inexpressible triumph, no matter how much work still remains after.

People will buy my titles, or not. Regardless, I'm going to keep writing. Whether it's for money, or to keep my family (including my very own Number One Fan) happy, or just because the story is begging to be told, it's going to end up in print. That's how it goes. In the current vernacular, that's how I roll.



So....

I have my next scheduled release. It's already written. It's how this writer rolls.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
100e567b70f0d82e2feff6cd56c72c01.jpg
 

César Hernández-Meraz

Wants to be Nick, ends up as Larry
May 19, 2015
605
4,416
44
Aguascalientes, Mexico
Is there an echo there of the inner mandate to illustrate, César?

Definitely. I draw because I want to, and I could not stay too long without doing it (even if I sometimes have to go without doing it for a few days because I lack the time).

There are things that just ask to be drawn. I may be reading and then I have a picture forming in my head. I just have to translate that to paper (or pixels).
 

Connor B

Well-Known Member
May 24, 2015
766
4,219
30
Why do I write, you're probably asking. I haven't the faintest idea. I sometimes think that I am wasting precious time and mental faculties, chasing a mad fantasy. When I'm not beating myself up, I try to exorcise some demons by punching keys with my fingertips. I hardly get anything done, but the way things are going right now, I may be able to churn something out soon. I'm hesitant about getting published right now. On one hand, I have stories I've been working on for years that are begging for release. On the other, I don't think I can handle being in the limelight should my works be successful. For me, it would be like walking naked onto a stage during a packed night on Broadway.

As I have mentioned, I try to use my stories as a form of therapy. Some are simply based on ideas that pop into my head due to my unfettered imagination. Others come from darker places, like nightmares that I have had since I was a child. I fear that if I put my problems and anxieties and worst fears on the printed page, they'd have me put away.