What made you want to be a writer?

[Kiersten, Mod]

Give us your origin story. What made you want to start writing?

[Roxanne]

I've always wanted to be a writer, but it took several decades and a severe illness to realize it. I was home in bed, with nothing to do but read. One author's characters had started to annoy me, so I wrote what I thought about how characters' situations should play out. I showed it to a dear friend of mine, who suggested I write a novel. She prodded and browbeat me until I gave in. When I held my first published book in my hands, I knew this was no longer a lark, that writing was what I wanted to do with my life.

[Kiersten, Mod]

That's amazing, Roxanne. I hope the illness was only temporary, and that you have many years of writing ahead. :)

[L.S.]

Back in the days before ebooks, and when not everything was just online to buy, I had this awful problem of not being able to get my hands on every book in a series. So, if I didn't have all the books, I would try to write the ones I was missing.
Pretty soon I was writing my own stuff and my own characters, and I guess I just don't know what else to do with myself.

[Niall]

I couldn't find much fiction I actually enjoyed reading. I got into role-playing games which is, essentially, communal storytelling, and that helped. But I started writing (on a typewriter, no PCs back then) stories I wanted to read. I still do. Luckily, if you're not entirely weird, there are generally other people who also want to read stories like that.

[Melissa]

I always loved reading, and I kept thinking "I could do this better".... so I did!

[J.D.]

My stubborn pride. I started a novel in high school and never finished it. Ten years later, I found my notes and decided to write a book just to prove to myself that I could. I actually enjoy it, but I never wanted to be a writer and still don't consider this my "day job". If my writing does begin to bring in a substantial amount of money, I intend to invest it in another business venture. For now, I only write to clear these insane stories from my head!

[BB]

I've read since I was a little girl. It was a way to escape my life when I thought that I hated it the most. Somewhere along the way, I realized that I had my own stories to tell. Now, when I wake up in the morning and at night before I go to sleep, there is a compulsion inside me to write; to get the stories that are stored in my head onto paper (or type it out, whatever strikes my fancy).

[J.D.]

I said to someone recently I've always been a writer, I just started actually writing it down.

My mom gave me a library card and set me loose at the youngest age. I was pulling in books on mythology, epic fantasy and sci-fiction from the adult section. I don't remember ever browsing the children's section. I read Asimov's Foundation at the age of 10.

I get teased, and tease myself, that I have this massive vocabulary, but I have no idea how to pronounce the words. Because I never heard them said when I was growing up, they were just in the books I was reading.

I probably would have been writing a long time ago if my HS English Teacher wouldn't have hurt me so bad by accusing me of plagiarism because she didn't think I knew the meaning of the words I used in my story. I try not to take it personally now ;)