Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Your motivation

This is topic Your motivation in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Axis Dervan (Member # 9339) on :

Just as a preface I'm not entirely sure if this topic applies to this section, if not I apologise but my curiosity has become unbareable. This may be a strange topic that shall be moved and I'll do so willingly if I'm asked.

My question is: why do you write?

My problem is that I'm usually overcome by self-doubt and wonder if creative writing is the means to my desired end.
Throughout my life I've heard people say that they don't enjoy reading fiction and that they only read non-fiction so they can 'learn something'. I've read both, don't get me wrong, but I've always found that fiction can be persuasive in ways that truth is utterly lacking. I find that lies and surreal contexts can teach the reader more than reading straight up facts.

That being said, I'd like to know what your inspirations are for writing. Do you enjoy the process? or is it the end result that gives satisfaction? I'd appreciate any insight into this because after many rejections i feel the pessimism creeping up on me, and feel it may be time for me to accomplish my end through a different means.

Axis

Posted by Wordcaster (Member # 9183) on :

I do it because I have a passion for it. I love to read fiction and I enjoy writing it as well.

Any success is an added benefit.

Posted by philocinemas (Member # 8108) on :

It's less costly than playing golf.

Posted by BenM (Member # 8329) on :

I like building things.

And I like it when people notice.

But mostly I just like building things.

Posted by mrmeadors (Member # 6378) on :

I write because I can't NOT write.

I've tried. Believe me. You know, like in college when I have an Organic Chem final the next day, and I was up until 2 studying...about to go to bed when POOF, an idea pops up. I knew I *shouldn't* write, but... well, there it is.

Writing's gotten me through a lot of troubles (post-partum depression, my husband's bout of unemployment, bored days as a housewife). It's also gotten me INTO a lot of trouble (burned dinners, NO dinners, messy house, "Oh, woops, I haven't talked to my best friend in 2 weeks," I forget what my husband looks like...). But I can't NOT write. It's like asking me not to eat (oh wait, I forget to do that too, sometimes when I'm on a roll...).

So a few years ago I decided I might as well try to get GOOD at it. Try to maybe make a living at it.

THe closest I came to giving up was last year, when I had... just everything in life go wrong. A sampling: my hard drive died while I was between back-up methods and i lost EVERYTHING. I mean, everything. A month later the boy we were trying to adopt went, for lack of a better word, completely psycho and had to be removed from our home (for the safety of our other son). I gave up. I said, I just can't write anymore.

Yeah. That lasted about three months. Here I am....

Posted by genevive42 (Member # 8714) on :

I've dabbled in writing my whole life, but really started to take it seriously a few years ago. Mostly I do it because I find it fun. Sometimes the process can be frustrating, but when it flows it's fantastic. And the more you do it, the more often it flows.

And I have to say that I really enjoy the result. When I have something finished that I like and enjoy reading, it gives me a good feeling inside, an accomplished feeling.

On a more practical level, I've been a picture framer for twenty years. I manage one of the top independent shops in LA and honestly would not benefit from owning my own; it would just be more headaches and less reward and less freedom. But essentially, I've topped out. While what I do has its challenges, I've done most of it before. To keep from getting bored, I've got to be doing something else. It could be any number of things, but with writing I have a chance at having another career - and I'm sure it's not one I'll get bored with.

On a sidenote: Anyone who says that they don't read X type of fiction because it doesn't 'teach them anything' is walking through life with blinders on. You can learn from everything. In fact, most top authors will tell you to read from every section of the library if you really want to learn.

Posted by Tiergan (Member # 7852) on :

I write so I can sleep at night. I'm not kidding. Its gotten worse. If I have ideas, scenes bouncing in my head. I have to write them or I wake up every 30 minutes.

Since becoming a writer, they have gotten worse. They use to be dreams, vivid movies inside my head. Now, they are pages in a book, words and sentences.

And truth, I love the world I build and the characters within them.

Posted by Reziac (Member # 9345) on :

What BenM said. I like building things. A pile of rocks will do if nothing else is available. My fave toy when I was a kid were American Bricks... building fancy structures out of ordinary toy bricks. Now I build ridiculously-involved stories from ordinary words.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

Sometimes I think it's just habit. I started this, and I can't stop.

Posted by Crystal Stevens (Member # 8006) on :

Facts can be found in fiction all the time. Some writers do a tremendous amount of research to make their fictional story sound like it could actually happen. I've read stories about fictional characters that lived during important times in history or in the shadow of famous people. If the story doesn't play fair with the facts, this type of fiction would never come off well to the reader.

I did this to some extent in my first WOTF entry. I know horses and based my story around them. I stuck to the facts when it came to horses to educate the reader and make the story more realisic.

So, yes, you CAN learn from fiction. Not only facts but about relationships, how people think, how day-to-day experiences can affect some people, etc. It's there in fiction stories and up to the reader to draw their own conclusions.

My motivation to tell stories started very young. I was an only child and had lots of time to myself. Most of that was making up stories and acting them out with my stuffed animals. I also enjoyed telling stories to my half-brothers that I visited on weekends. I took typing in high school, started writing some of these stories down, and it grew from there. And so, here I am; On Hatrack, learning all I can, and aiming for that first publication that will happen if I just keep learning, typing, and submitting my stories.

Posted by akeenedesign (Member # 7816) on :

For me, I write because I love it. I write because I love imagining what people think when they read my words. I used to say I write because I'm good at it, but I don't say that anymore (funny how the better you get, the more you understand how bad you are).

I also write because I feel as if I've been given a story to write. It's one of those stories that feels like it came from somewhere else, outside of me, and that I'm just the vessel meant to write it down. Not that it's a religious thing—the story is about a boy with superpowers—but it feels so big and so "right" that it HAS to be out in the world. I know it sounds hokey, but I don't care. I'm not the kind of person who subscribes to hokiness, which makes it all the more honest, I guess.

At its core, writing is about ideas and relating to other people. Fiction and imagination allows us to empathize with people, to understand fictional situations that allow us to imagine what real situations are for others. You can learn just as much from fiction as you can from non-fiction. Jesus used fictional stories, parables, to teach the most important concepts of heaven and of God to his followers.

That's what I think!

Posted by izanobu (Member # 9314) on :

Because I can't stop.

It clears the stories out of my brain (which just makes room for more stories, doom!).

Also, the money.

But I'd still write if I weren't selling. I'm a better person when I'm producing work. Just ask my husband

Posted by mrmeadors (Member # 6378) on :

LOL Yes, my husband would agree with yours!

Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :

I write because of the unspeakable horrors that commence if I don't.

Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :

Finally taking the time to answer here. I write because I have story ideas that fill my mind. Or that is a I write because I'm a writer. I have stories I know some will like reading, even though that doesn't mean I want them to say I'm the best writer they have ever read even though my one fan said something very close to that on Amazon.

But I would write anyway and have written anyway. For years I wrote in my head and now for a few years I'm writing only for critiquers. But I would hand write as I have done before and use a clay tablet if need be. I see stories I want to express.

Money would be nice and being published would be very nice but as I have come close to saying already even if I was the only one who would ever read them I would write.

Posted by elilyn (Member # 9426) on :

I write because I have two people in my head, a reader and an author. The author knows how the story ends, but the reader wants to know how the story goes.

Edited because I found a better way to say it

[This message has been edited by elilyn (edited March 13, 2011).]

Posted by starsin (Member # 4081) on :

First off...I didn't read through the entire first post. I just read the "Why do you write" statement and decided to leap before I lost the nerve to post.

I write because I have all these little worlds and story plots stuck in my head that have to get out somehow. I write because believe it or not, it's a decent stress reliever. I write because it's nice to be able to be in full control of something in my life...self-esteem booster I suppose...

There's many reasons beyond that...but that's just what I can pull out of the top of my head. And the rest are kinda irrelevant in the long run.

So...yeah. That's me for ya.

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

It's murder...the legal way. Besides, it keeps the voices in my head to a low murmur. Nobody will listen, so I will keep an honest account until the aliens return in their chariots of fire to proliferate human sacrifice and fruity, all-natural mixed drinks. If I don't write, the ghosts will kill me. If I pound the keys fast and hard enough, maybe I'll drown out the forty male cats below my window who are pining for the one female locked up two doors down. I don't write, my brains leaks on the keyboard. For the fame and fortune...definitely for the fame and fortune. Because, if I didn't write, what would I do with two years of research and outlining. I'm a spy, and this is how I send out coded messages. I'll beat those million monkeys yet! Because, just once, I'd like to finish a sentence without being interrupted. I like to lie, and sometimes get paid... Because this corsair has a blade to my throat and is forcing me to wear the nib on this quill until it won't hold ink. Shhh, I'm working my way through the clues. To appease He-who-fell-off-the-turnip truck, so the bulboid revolution may me quelled before it begins. How else will I find my puppy? Even though they work together, underwear don't like to hang with socks or pants, but they're fond of shirts and ties.

And you?

Posted by enigmaticuser (Member # 9398) on :

Looks like the best reasons have been taken...especially by the inarticulatebabbler.

But I'd say like most here that it's who I am. Not writing for me, right now at least, is like not expressing myself. God shared his creativity with us, who can keep it bottled in?

Posted by shimiqua (Member # 7760) on :

The reason I write is because there is a girl somewhere out there with glasses and fluffy hair who is going through something horrible, who needs a chance to escape from her life and live where happy-ever-after's are possible.

I write because someone wrote a great story just when I needed it, and I want to write a great story just when someone else needs it.

~Sheena

Posted by Tiergan (Member # 7852) on :

Well said, Shimiqua.

Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :

shimiqua's motivation isn't so bad either. If we could help someone through something or just help an average person relax and show them that a person can raise above circumstances to do something good-be a better person, would make it worth it.

Posted by Brad R Torgersen (Member # 8211) on :

I write because every time I've stopped, I always find an excuse to start back up again. I also write because I determined many years ago that if I was going to spend so much time on a "hobby" I ought to put in the hours necessary to turn it into something that could pay for itself. Now it does a lot more than pay for itself. There is a decent chance it could become my primary source of income in the next 5 to 10 years. More motivation still. I also write because I know my friends like izanobu are watching and I can't flake out on the Kris Rusch Dinner Napkin Challenge. (smirk)

Posted by Crank (Member # 7354) on :

quote:
I write because someone wrote a great story just when I needed it, and I want to write a great story just when someone else needs it.

Shimiqua has obviously hacked into my PC somehow and stole the motivation notes I wrote for my YA MC. He composes and plays music for the very same reason Shimiqua writes.

As do I, BTW. Where do you think I got the idea for him?! Except, my past beneficiary and its subsequent motivations weren't originally writing-specific. I have always wanted to entertain people in some way. I'm not sure why or when this started (it could be a neurological predisposition, for all I know). Speech impediments keep me from being a confident orator / actor (but I'm not saying I won't give it a shot one of these days). A nearly total lack of athletic ability limited my sports performances. I did make a few people smile and motivate a few others during my music days (and I do plan on returning back to that genre eventually). But, as it turned out, my first efforts at writing as a form of potential entertainment was like an addictive substance to me...I wanted more of how it made me feel. Even during the gulfs of time when I had absolutely no stories to offer, I still wrote something.

Of course, now I have more ideas than I do time. Gee, what a horrible problem.

S!
S!

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

I write because nobody has written what I wanted to read when I was a 13 year old girl geek with ambition and smarts and a heady passion for reading sci-fi. I write what I wanted to read, and I write it for all the young women who aren't really sure what they want to be or who they are, but are eager to figure it all out.

(Yes, my writing could also be subtitled "A Subversive Way To Encourage Women Into Technology Fields Of Study." - oh, and for the record, it's applicable to young men, too, my 9 year old son in particular, but so much of what's out there is written from a male POV, I focus very heavily on female.)

Posted by Grayson Morris (Member # 9285) on :

KayTi, where were you when I was growing up? Your motivation sounds fantastic. All I remember remotely in the way of heroines I felt were "like me" were Harriet the Spy and Meg Murry.

Posted by pdblake (Member # 9218) on :

I write because I just love to, even if no one reads what I've written. I get such a buzz when the words flow out. It's quite exhilarating to write a few thousand words without realising you've done it until you push back the chair and say, "Wow, look at the time."

[This message has been edited by pdblake (edited March 14, 2011).]

Posted by EVOC (Member # 9381) on :

I write because I enjoy telling a story. I enjoy exploring the worlds I create. My motivation comes from getting a chance to share that story with others.

I can only hope my future readers enjoy it as much.

Posted by shimiqua (Member # 7760) on :

Kayti,

quote:
Yes, my writing could also be subtitled "A Subversive Way To Encourage Women Into Technology Fields Of Study."

Make sure and mention that when you apply for that government grant.