Why do you like to write?

[FullFORCESoldier]

I wonder if I'm asking the first question that should've been asked here??

This morning, I almost felt horrified when I asked myself: "Why do I write?" I couldn't answer, and I felt empty.

I went even further. "Why do I like to write? Why do I write at all?"

There might be no reason more valid than "I write because I like it." However, is that really all there can be?

I thought more carefully, and I know that I enjoy writing because my mind experiences a freedom that it cannot experience all the time. Imagination is perhaps the only thing in the world that works best in a licentious fashion, free from any boundaries. To be able to plaster its nonsense only I can decipher into human language... Why is it that I love that so much?

I don't want to ask your reasons for liking it in order to copy your answers and express them as my own to myself. If that were to be, that would mean I do NOT like to write, and I know I DO.

Still, perhaps, I already know the answer, but I'm failing to see it clearly and express it in English. So I ask you this question. What is your answer?

[andromedastar]

To be honest, one answer for me is simply to shut up the voices in my head. I've always said I was born knowing how to read, and writing came not long after. I've had different characters talking to me for as long as I can remember (I didn't have too many friends growing up). For some, these characters translate into imaginary friends, but I wrote them down, wrote down what they looked like, what they had to say to me. That's literally how I got started writing.

Now, I write to yes, get those things out of my head, but also to create something. When I finish the chapter, it gives me a good feeling, that I put my best effort into a work and it came out pretty good.

In part, I write for my readers. It's the same reason I do stage work: if I can take these people away from their lives for a little while, if I can make them forget their troubles for a short time, then I feel I've done a good thing.

[Snow White]

I write for numerous reasons. My main reason for writing up new stories is easy though. I write when I'm unsatisfied with something in a fandom. I think a lot, and often times it's when I'm watching or reading something. I come up with what if's that pester me into browsing the archives on ff.net and if I can't find the idea I feel the need to write it myself so it will leave me alone. I continue writing for myself and my audience though. I feel like I owe it to my readers to write more.

I also get ideas often, so I feel the need to write them down and share them with people. It doesn't seem fair to keep the ideas to myself if someone else may also draw enjoyment from them.

I get what you mean about asking yourself why you write though. Sometimes you just need to reflect and remind yourself of when and how you started. Writing makes me happy, and it gives me a sense of accomplishment.

[skymaster713]

Oh, goodness...I have the feeling this is going to come out sounding slightly shallow. I apologize for that.

I write because, frankly, it's what I'm good at. I'm not athletic, I'm not terribly smart, I'm not pretty, and second place is my second home. Even with writing, I'm no expert, but I do better in it than in anything else, so it's what I do. Honestly, the thing that I seem to do better than anyone is read, and how is that helpful? There is no such thing as a successful job just reading, but writing is a different story. It will keep me off of the streets.

It's more than just being able to support myself, though. I love writing, I really do, even if sometimes I'd rather strangle the beast and leave it dead than continue on (a love/hate relationship, I suppose?). I've never really stopped to wonder why I like to write, just that I do, but now that it's brought up, I kind of do wonder. I guess one thing is that I like knowing that I can create something, that something exists that wouldn't exist if it weren't for me. It makes me feel like I can contribute something, like I'm here for some reason other than to take up space, and that makes me happy. It makes me feel...well, real, I guess.

I really want my writing to have a meaning. Even the simplest things, just one line or less, can have an impact on someone. It may be small, but it's there, and that's important. That's what I hope to accomplish with my writing. It's why I write in the first place - in the hopes that it will create that tiny spark in someone, even if it's miniscule, because that means it mattered. It wasn't a waste.

Goodness...that all really did sound a bit shallow...I'm sorry. Basically, I write because I want to leave something to the world, something that people will like, and the thought that maybe someone does makes me happy. Or, something like that, I suppose. ^^" I hope this helped, FullFORCE.

[sunechirei]

I write because it's my life. I have ideas in my head, and the only way I can get them out is on paper. At first, I started writing as an escape from my life, a way to leave this world and go into my own where I had control over everything. A place where I could think and act like myself, create characters who weren't bound by abuse; ones who had survived the things that I had gone through. It was a way for me to process what was going on in my life. If something good or bad happened to me, I imagined it happening to character in my head.

Eventually, when I learned how to write, I put these ideas down on paper. At first it was just simple, first grade type stories, but about fifth grade I began to develop my own ideas. And I realized I was good at it. I was able to get people to love what I read, even when the writing was so horrible that when I read it now, I laugh. I began to realize that I loved making people react a certain way when they read my writing. I was almost always able to get the reaction I wanted, and when I didn't, I felt horrible, and tried everything I could to fix it.

Basically, I love to write because it's just who I am. It makes me me. It separates me from my family (my mother in particular) and give me a uniqueness that no one else in my family has. Not to mention the fact that psychology fascinates me. Writing gives me a chance to explore the psychological depth of each character; how they would react in a certain situation, how they interact with others, what they like to do, how they deal with sorrow, pain, happiness, and love. It allows me to express feelings that I'm otherwise afraid to show.

Writing kept me sane in a time in my life when nothing else could. It calmed the voices in my head (and yes, I have actually voices in my head that talk to me), made them create persona's, and let me control them enough to stop them from telling me things that no child should hear.

Writing allows me to be free; to be someone I'm not. It allows me to explore relationships which I'm afraid to do myself without getting hurt. It helps me pass by each day without trying to kill myself. That's why I write.

Of course, it's also so much fun for me, but that's only a part of the reason I write.

Just think inside yourself. When did you start writing? What set it off? What do you feel inside when you do write? Do you feel a sense of relief? A sense of happiness? That's how you'll find your answer.

[frappegurl777]

I write because it helps me express my feelings and thoughts. It also makes it easier for me to share them with many people. Writing is also a good output for my overly imaginative brain. When I write on a journal, I can assess my own feelings and review events in my life. ^_^

[bluedemon]

Sept 25, 2011 21:39:38 GMT -5 frappegurl777 said:

I write because it helps me express my feelings and thoughts. It also makes it easier for me to share them with many people. Writing is also a good output for my overly imaginative brain. When I write on a journal, I can assess my own feelings and review events in my life. ^_^

I have to say this would be may answer as well. I write to express myself, I can't really do that verbally so typing it out or writing it out helps me to be more 'open' if you like, and if I can channel that into a story then all for the better.

Why do I write? Because I can, because I enjoy writing. I don't write for other's, I write just for myself (sounds selfish I know, but it's true), if other people come along and look at my work and enjoy it too, then all for the better, but in all honesty I am getting out things that trouble me in such a way that is rather therapeutic and the like. Writing is the only way for doing that for me at least, it gets me open and allows me to let the worries of the day flow out.

[hokutouchiha923]

I write because it's a way for me to get my feelings out; it's also one of my creative outlets. My head's bursting with so many ideas, and I love shaping them and forming them to make stories I can share with others. I have many fanfictions, some original stories (mostly historical fictions), and a couple stories I wrote just for myself.

[Valkyrie]

I write because I sometimes hate it when some stories go the way I don't want it to go. So I write fanfics so I can stop thinking so much about it.

But I also write to show how I see the world and how I want it to be. I once written a fantasy story that dealt with the humans nature of greediness. I don't like it so I wrote that story to make it seem that these people will get punished for their greediness but of course, this is only in my mind but not IRL.

[BookAddictForLife]

Mar 4, 2012 3:29:21 GMT -5 Valkyrie said:

I write because I sometimes hate it when some stories go the way I don't want it to go. So I write fanfics so I can stop thinking so much about it.

I think this is one of the main reasons I started writng as well. I love to read and when I read, all these ideas pop into my head and won't leave me alone, so I just have to write them down.

I also write because it's a way to vent my feelings and thoughts. I feel like nothing I want to say ever comes out right unless I write it. And when I'm upset, writing is the only way I can calm myself down.

And, of course, there's a part of me that writes because I want people to see it, to like it. I want to share my ideas and see what people think. Writing is one of my passions.

[Mystery]

I like to write because it makes me think. Most of the time it helps me organize my thoughts and express feelings that I didn't know I had. I tend to keep everything in and writing allows me to let it out without the feeling of exposing myself. Writing is far safer because I don't have to worry about anyone I know reading it and finding out what I was thinking. Most of what I write will never see the light of day.

Beyond that, I like to tell myself stories and by writing them down I extend its life. It also allows me to tell longer stories because I don't have to tell it in a specific time period.

[TwoSoulsEntwined]

I write to show what the world what I think because I don't agree with many of the current ways. :/
I write to reveal and uncover lies in a more subtle way so people have to work to pick through the webs of lies built around the stories and lives I write about.
I write to free myself from all the imagining and daydreaming that always happen of I come across a new storyline or plot. It affects my grades badly. *headdesk* xP

But mostly, I write because I love it. The falling of words on paper(or screen in that matter) to describe the inner most feelings of myself and my characters... To actually be able to close my eyes and disappear into this world that I created... This is the reason I write. <3