Topic: Why Do You Write?

[-Makenshi-]

WARNING - The text in blue is a 'Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince' spoiler, and the red is a 'Wild Seed' spoiler, both fo which are very excellent books .

Why do you write? What drives you to make these worlds in your head? Or to make characters in worlds you know of?

To me, writing isn't a jumble of words, it's the purest form of communication, a gateway to the soul. When I read Harry Potter, Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy, Wild Seed et al. I'm not only reading a story, I feel as if part of me is touched by it, fulfiled by it, completed just that little bit more by it. I write so I can do this to others, so that I can sleep, eat, and live, knowing that someone somewhere - whether it's my mother in the next room, my sister in Bristol, or someone on the other side of the world, is touched by what I write.

My goal as a writer is to make people cry like J.K. Rowling did when she killed off Dumbledore, to make people fall off their chairs in hysterics like Douglas Admas did when he had God disprove his own existance in a puff of logic, to make people question what they see as truths like Octavia Butler did when she revealed Doro to be as much of victim of his abilities as others - because that is what they, and many others, have done to me.

This crosses over with what I am like online, why I am on this and other Forums and why I will likely never leave them for extended periods of times - my goal is to leave a mark on this world, a mark with my one sinsignificantly small life, and one that will last for an age.

However, this way of thinking has created a very large annoyance: Praise. I have a unique relationship with any kind of praise, a 'love/hate' relationship if you will. Sometimes I will see or hear praise and be spured on to write more, while at others I will slap myself and say 'don't get egotistical' - as if somewhere in my head a monkey is randomly pushing buttons just for a kick (as everyone knows we have monkey's sitting in our brains - the Simpsons said so )..

In short:

I have long sat on the borders of Agnostism and Athiesm, believeing too much in science and fact to believe in a God, but a part of me always open-minded to the idea what there is something that I don't understand somewhere, but if I had to choose a belief what would it be? If I had to decide on a religion which would I choose?

Well, writing would be my relgion - my God would be Douglas Adams, and my Messiahs would be Rowling, Tolkien, Butler and the many great authors of the world, and the only way to pay homage to my beliefs, my God and Messiahs is to pick up a pen and pour my heart and soul onto a piece of paper, in the hopes that somewhere, in this immeasurably vast world, someone is affected by this small insignificant person's words - as I hope I may have done with this post...

~MTWC

[cubbie]

to recieve praise 

[Rogue-Angel]

A glimpse into the heart and soul of a true author... Tank you for sharing that with us Makenshi

I can't say I write for such deep reasons as yours. I don't really have a religion or conviction. I write because I think too much. My head is a jungle of random thougts in a maze of wild imagination. Sometimes a few of those elements cluster together in an amazing fantasy, a storyline that unfolds itself before my eyes. More often than not it's gone already before I fully realised what I imagined, but sometimes a line sticks around long enough for me to write down. And when I do, it expands upon itself, twisting and turning in all directions so that I have to find a way through it and turn it into a story that actually works, and keeps people to reading it. That's why I hardly ever write short stories...

In short, I write to remember what I saw in my imagination. And to acknowledge that my mind is still working 'normally' (normal for me, that is), I always want comments on stuff that I make, be it stories, drawings, school stuff, or a good meal

[Archonbjorn]

Makenshi that posts look veeery similiar to the one on the original writings board . (Well the first parts of it are kinda sticked into my head)

Anyway. . why I write? Because I need to create a characters background for a roleplay (Ain't that right Rogue angel? ) Because I love to fantasize about how I would be in the 40k world. A vicious DE archon. I wrote down about 9 pages so far but am kinda to lazy to finish it.

I write because I love letting my imagination running wild. nce I start typing I get to see what I am typing as a movie in my head. Without knowing how the ending will be I keep typing what I see. The movie has certain major turns here and there where I decide wich one of the 2 paths to take and continue writing the story. Will my best friend backstab me? or save my life versus my own son? Things like that. Writing gives me a great feeling. Thign is that I don't have the time to do it that often cuz there are so many things I also do besides writing. (Like forum surfing and expanding my social network ,school and such.)

I think anyone here that says he has never imagined himself somewhere in a universe where there are things possible that wouldn't be possible in this world is denying it. Flying on the back of a dragon or shooting and slashing trough mon keighs. My imagination is one of my precious belongings if you ask me. without it I wouldn't be much of a person.

[cubbie]

Actualy thats only partly true (for me) I also do it too keep sane: The human thinking process is an innately narrative one, rhe very process of rememberering is the process of ghost writing 

For me, writing is cerebral emesis, brain vomit, little snippets of fantasy born of my internal rewriting of reality. and spewing it onto the page for people to puzzle and laugh over.

I find the process a sanitising purgative and and ego food 

[Trokair]

Makenshi that posts look veeery similiar to the one on the original writings board . (Well the first parts of it are kinda sticked into my head)

that is becouse MTWC posted the same thing here as in his reply on OW

it certainly got a bigger responce here. maybe i should export my discussion mumble thingys to here

[Archonbjorn]

Yup as long as its a ''good debate'' then I would post it here and look for more responses.

[Chuckles, The Space Marine Clown]

When I have an idea, I start writing to see what happens. The characters become real in my head and I want to see what happens to them. Bizaree but there you are.

Oh, and Makenshi, shouldn't that plot spoiler have had a warning?

[-Makenshi-]

Good point, I'll add what books it spoils in a note at the top.

~MTWC

[Vespasian Swiper]

Why do I write?

Its relaxing, entertaining and takes me into - generally - a different world. I like playing around with different styles of characters and writing - and like most characters to not have some stereotypical flaw, but a series of either weaknesses or realistic strengths.

Some of my stuff I do not put on the net - frankly as either its not good enough, or its not got the style I want.

Most of my stuff at the moment is written so it can become a script and maybe work on it in my gap year.

I generally strive for nigh on perfection in scripts and am slowly getting the hand of them - I have Infestation, and Nightfall undergoing a full transition at the moment - and working on masses of 'fluff' for Infestation which will be uploaded bit by bit. And then maybe get a film made (have the contacts - so maybe...)

Also working on a gritty story regarding the hijack of a cruise ship..

Generally the word with my style - when not in a comic mood - is Gritty. Capital 'G'.

It also improves your writing skills as well, which is fantastic during exams and in essays.

I try and make my stuff original - so in some of my GW stuff I am working on I go against the 'flow' so to speak.
I also tried my hand at Starship Troopers fanfic - which was enjoyable, and I'll probably have another bash at soon.

What I see everyday influences me, Nightfall was inspired by CCF camps, and the others generally are based on something I have seen/experienced - or from the depths of my imagination (some things I think up are pretty damn nasty - so I try and place them in the grittier stories, ranging from my most recent 'kitchen' scene to being - literally - torn apart.

For me writing is creating your own world - generally based close to home - but distant enough that you do not spend every waking minute holding you shotgun waiting for the legions of the undead

~Swipe.

[Elderfaust]

Anyway. . why I write? Because I need to create a characters background for a roleplay (Ain't that right Rogue angel? ) Because I love to fantasize about how I would be in the 40k world. A vicious DE archon. I wrote down about 9 pages so far but am kinda to lazy to finish it.

A little surrealistic eh? I view myself as more of an Imperial Guard Sergeant or a colonist.

Why do I write? Simply to put my thoughts on paper. I think of a great story, or am inspired by a great dream, and I write   a novelization about it.

[Trokair]

ok here is my original post from OW to witch MTWC posted the reply as above.

Warning the following is the product of my mind. I deny all responsibility about anything that is contained within. Read at you own risk. You have been warned.

Why do we write?
Why do we?
I for one am a bookaholic. I read on average of a book a week if not more. I can remember weeks where I have read 5 books or more (thought most of the time when this happens the books are shorter and usually as a series or other wise related. Discworld or Abhorsen come to mind). But when reading so much some books come to be a bit predictable. This has become a bit annoying as on a number of books I read recently I could foresee major twist before they happened. (The minor details might be wrong but the general idea I foresaw was generally right) this rather spoiled some of the enjoyment. Also after reading so many books I am tiered of happy endings. (Hence why you will rarely find such ending in most of my work.)

So I have started to write. At first just the odd poem (and they were not very good) but then I started to form the varying fragments that I have imagined over time into a coherent story (or at least slightly more structured then before, coherent might be too strong of a word here). Now that I have written several pages (around 20 to 30 I believe) found to my surprise that I like writing almost as much as reading.

I have always like stories but you would not have thought so several years ago (mainly due to the absence of books in my room ( in fact I have 31 book right now and 3 of them a borrowed and two are from the library)). The reason for this absence of books in my possession when I was small is that I could not read until I was around 11 or 12. There weren’t even picture books or comics just a lot of tapes so I could listen to stories. And now there aren’t many books because I move too much and it would be too heavy (as a result I have about 6 or more library cards (for libraries in 3 different countries).

Ok just had a short break and remember that this is about writing and not reading. So on to why do we write. Well I have found that when I write I enjoy it and its fun. Also it helps empty my mind. Also due to an overload of school work I have been unable to read recently (only I guess 50 pages in over 4 weeks), this has resulted in what I am going to call book withdrawal systems. (Cant sleep properly, finding oneself reading totally pointless things (junk mail comes to mind) because of a need to read and so on…) so I have started writing more because writing is a very good replacement and because in theory I can write a paragraph or 2 here and there when I have a little time (with books if I start I wont stop until the either I finished said book or I have to sleep/eat)
Ok so that was my reason (if that made any sense) so why do you write? It would be interested to know. And should stop now. ( my alarm clocks read 3: 32 am and I have a test first lesson so not good)

[Chuckles, The Space Marine Clown]

You are me is all I can say to that really (apart from the 6 library cards bit)

[Paladin_Magnus]

I write because I think of fasinating worlds of wonder and possibility, I want to share these ideas and tales with others so that they can enjoy them as much I love to write them.  I don't write for praise, I write so that I don't lose my wonder at the world, and to keep my imagination up.  Plus, its great fun to write a good piece of fluff and share it with others, which reminds me; I have to update Silent Night.  gotta go!

-paladin

[Pilotseer]

Why do I write? Well, to be perfectly honest, more often than not I almost write - I have a great idea, I mull over it and develop it during the dead time in my day (ie. time when I can't do anything really constructive, like when I'm on the bus) and then I never get round to committing it to paper. Personally I find that there is a joy in original creation that is fundamental to human nature. Everyone I know likes to create something, to be able to say "I made that". Why we then end up writing prose, rather than poetry, or perhaps painting, songwriting, sculpting, cooking even, is probably just down to our personal preferences (not really sure, need to think a bit more about this bit).
Coincidentally, I know that the reaon that Lord of the Rings, then Star Wars, and also various GW games have been so enjoyable for me is twofold: Firstly they are beautiful, intricate and fantastically realised stories/worlds in their own right. Secondly, and crucially, they are big enough to then accomodate my imagination and creations somewhere within their framework. I read a standard adventure/crisis novel, and it stays on the pages when I put it down. I watch Star Wars, and there are Jedi Knights in my head for the rest of the month, running off on new adventures.
Must try to get more stuff out of my head and onto the forum.

-Pilotseer

P.S.

I have long sat on the borders of Agnostism and Athiesm, believeing too much in science and fact to believe in a God,

Having been a member of fantastic churches based at Imperial College London and RWTH Aachen (both technical/scientific universities) I feel compelled to question the link between science and agnosticism/atheism. Sorry to get off topic, but quotes like that and me are like red rags and the bull.

[-Makenshi-]

I have long sat on the borders of Agnostism and Athiesm, believeing too much in science and fact to believe in a God,

Having been a member of fantastic churches based at Imperial College London and RWTH Aachen (both technical/scientific universities) I feel compelled to question the link between science and agnosticism/atheism. Sorry to get off topic, but quotes like that and me are like red rags and the bull.

There is no scientific proof for God (just as there is no proof of Evolution), there's theories, but these theories do not come close to satisfactory for me.

I also find a lot of what is said in such books as the Bible to be fundamentally flawed, while other things said are right on the money. The rational part of me can not believe in God, but regardless I feel there is something out there that I do not know, perhaps it is some form of 'God', but I have yet to find any religion that satisfactoryly (sp?) explains a God or justifies any of their beliefs.

In short, there may be a religion out there for me, but I have not found it, and until then, I will continue to follow the late great Douglas Adams .

~MTWC

[Kage2020]

Why do I write?  I love it!  It's a wonderful way of painting the images in my mind into the mind of the readers.  While at the moment I tend to write dry articles with minor tendencies towards evocation, I would love the time to get back to writing some fiction.

Incidentally, though, I love scope in the universe and learning something new through the 'fluff'.  That's one of the problems that I have with the BL 'fluff': there is no insight into the universe!

Kage

[Chuckles, The Space Marine Clown]

I've had several ideas recently on that score.

First of all, I had a thought about the effect of absorbing Tau (specifically Ethereal) DNA into the Hive Mind. How about it giving them an increased ability to affect the minds of non-Tyranids? Compel other creatures to do things without the need to subvert them with genestealer cults, things like that. Alarming though isn't it?

The other though I had is of a story involving a Space Marine trip onto a Hive Ship and discovering various bodies captured and investigated biologically to find their weaknesses.

[Corpsman]

Why do I write?

Because story is worth writing? Only times I write, is when idea just starts to live and evolve and doesn't let go.

Such ideas circle in my head, driving me crazy (yes, I have heard that it has already happened, no need to repeat it) unless you put it down. Not even write it to someone, but just write it. To your hard drive or paper with a pencil. Doesn't matter.

Some stories just are persistent and don't let go until you got them nailed down in visible words.

[Mud Man!]

I generally divide my writing into two main sectors.

Fiction I write for the sake of the characters. For me it is the characters and how they react to a given situation, making them human, that makes the story worth telling. That is why, with 40k, I enjoy writing about the Imperial Guard. They are just humans thrown into a situation with no control over it.

I write a lot of non-fiction also. And that almost always has to do with theology, philosophy, history, politics, et cetera. I write in that sector for the same reasons everyone else does, to defend the ideas and ideals that I hold to be true and just.