why i write

[[deleted user]]

Hello
I am new to Goodreads, but it feels very familiar. Here is something I wrote for a fellow writer's blog.Hopefully readers and other writers will enjoy it.
Drop a line if you'd like to know more about what I'm up to.
Onward,

Stephen Black
http://kcsbooks.blogspot.com/2010/05/...

[Jason]

Well said, Stephen.

I love your insight that, "Writing happens to me," as that is how I feel about it most days as well. When someone asks me why I write I usually can't think of an answer other than to try and explain that there is just something inside me that compels me to do so.

[[deleted user]]

Yep... but as we know there are those days when 'writing doesn't happen to me.'(insert frowny face emoticon here)

[Jason]

I try and tell myself on those days that it just means my subconscious is working things out for me : )

What I tend to find more frustrating than the days when the words aren't coming is when I realize that what I'm working on isn't working.

Which happened to me yesterday actually.

[Frank]

You guys are on it. Reminds me of a quote from a writer who said that asking writers how they write is like asking cows how they make milk. Substitute "why" for "how" and it still makes sense. All I know is that days I can't write are lopsided and lacking.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks to Frank, I've discovered Goodreads lacks 'like'...

[Marianne]

Hi there, it's interesting thinking about why we writers write, especially given the majority of us tend not to get a lot of financial reward for what we do. For me, like Jason, it's more of a compulsion. But in my case I think the compulsion is driven by a desire to want to say something/to be heard.(it's paradoxical, don't you think, that we writers spend so much time alone in order to communicate?) Aristotle said "storytellers are dangerous" because they wrap/hide their ideas in the emotional language of a story and so disguise them. That's what it's all about for me. And "writing doesn't happen" for me, cause that seems rather passive. I have to sit done and make it happen. And some days are more productive than others, and there are other days when I seriously doubt what I am doing. But ultimately, there's something incredibly satisfying about taking the merest of scraps of an idea and turning into something tangible like a novel, especially one that others may like to tread. Cheers:)

[[deleted user]]

Marianne,
Thanks for sharing that, especially the Aristotle reference and your last line...

[Marianne]

Hi Stephen,
oops, I meant "others may like to "read", not tread! ;o).
I just had wee look at your book "Obama Search Words", I love the title, it does what a good title should do - intrigues without being too baffling. Was it difficult to think of? How did you go about finding it? I struggle with titles, such an important smal collection of words! (btw anyone else find titles difficult?) The book is also non fiction. I also just wondered if you, or anyone else here, think that fiction writers and non-fiction writers are motivated by different things? Hope that makes sense!?
Cheers

[Ann]

Jason wrote: "I try and tell myself on those days that it just means my subconscious is working things out for me : )

What I tend to find more frustrating than the days when the words aren't coming is when I re..."

[[deleted user]]

Marianne, thanks for beautifully drifting onto one of my books while staying on topic. The check is in the post :)
Seriously... I wish I could tell you how I came up with the title. Actually, I first wanted to write about Obama using food as a starting point. I built this website: www.obamajalanjalan.com I started the project well before he defeated Hillary for the nomination. Very few people in Jakarta had heard of him when I went there for research... Anyway, things started happening... and the next thing you know, I found myself writing about a man who became President of the United States.When I'd started writing, I thought that he would have an interesting career, but I didn't think he would run for President so soon, let alone win. Using food as a means of portraiture would've reflected my own interests and would've also been 'evergreen'.
I fear I am starting to ramble... the title just "happened". It sounds musical and factual and hopefully reflects the variety of discoveries I made while writing, researching and experiencing the book itself.

[Ann]

I totally agree with you Jason. For me, writing comes as natural as drinking a cold glass of water on a hot summer's day. But when I am not thirsty, I do not crave water.

When I am in the mood to write, I write. I do not force the feeling nor can I explain the flow of the pen when it hits the paper.

[[deleted user]]

As for fiction and nonfiction, I enjoy them both. “There is nothing more mysterious than a fact clearly described” Gary Winogrand.

[John]

I tell people I write, because I'm terrible at bowling. Truth is I'm a bit of a klutz at everything - a fact I've learned to live with (you should see me dance). I write much better than I dance. Oh and never ask me to sing.

[Stuart]

I think I write because I'm opinionated and a frustrated educator who never got to teach. I write, rather than speak, because in writing I can revise my thoughts and present them coherently (almost), something I can't do in speech. Once the words have escaped our lips, they are out there in the ether, never to be retracted without long and difficult explanation. But when we write, we have the opportunity to edit our initial thoughts and transform them into something close to what we actually meant to say.
But I also write because my imagination is insistent and bullies me into expressing the ideas that engage my intellect (such as it is). In a sense, writing is a compulsion and it's true that I feel more alive on those days when I've turned out a goodly number of words formed into sentences I've not previously formed.
I also, however, love the editing process with its facility to transform the raw words into poetry or the brash phrase into something touching and sensitive. At present, I'm having a little difficult as I wrote a novel during the NaNoWriMo session last year. I completed 112,000 words in the month, intending the piece as a comedy thriller. But now that I'm editing it to turn it into something readable, I find that the humour has all but deserted me. If anyone can suggest a method whereby I can recapture the comedy, I'd be eternally grateful.

[Stuart]

Jesper wrote: "I'm not a writer per se, or at least I don't think of myself as one. I've never been published, I've hardly even shown what little I have written to anyone bar a few people on a (very small) forum ..."

You'll never know if you don't try it, Jesper. And your English is a lot better than that of some people for whom it is their first language.

[M.T.]

Stuart that really rang a bell, I am so much more articulate written down than standing up.

Cheers

MTM

[Stuart]

MTM wrote: "Stuart that really rang a bell, I am so much more articulate written down than standing up.

Cheers

MTM"

I used to be a staff trainer and had to really learn my subject to make sure I presented it well. But it was a bind and, although I enjoyed the passing of information, the standing to deliver was a real trial.

[[deleted user]]

Jesper...get on with it! In the beginning everyone is terrible.There's no way to improve unless you show work to people. From your post I think you have the potential to be a good writer, maybe a great one... but you need to show people if you are serious...

[Sheila]

"Writing happens to me," too, which is just as well as I'm not nice to live with if I can't find time to write.

[Kathleen]

When I write, there is a sense that I am creating without clearly defined boundaries. In this way, I am like a toddler yearning for her unclothed freedom in the absence of fear or hesitation. No limitations in a field of expansive openness. Pure bliss is what it is.

I write to give space to this creative force that simply is. That part of me that wants to be inventive and re-shape what has already been scribed, not in rebellion, but in attunement with the enchanting spirit that lives within me.

I write to reframe the pictures that no longer seem to fit. To add more organic flavoring, blend the colors, add more textures to this sensual experience that we call Life.

If the world is truly my canvas to paint myself into it, then I am inclined to experience it more fully. I write not to simply fill in all the empty spaces, but rather to embrace each blank page as an opening to an even greater reality.

I write to savor the textures of each and every moment. It’s not just a craft. It is part of my inmost being. It is who I am.

[Sherri]

Writing doesn't just happen to me. It finds me going about my business, ambushes me in an alley and pummels stories out of me. I have to write or these characters would take me over!

[[deleted user]]

again I wish this thread had a 'like' button.... It is great to read about the relationships that other authors
have with their craft....as cliche as this sounds, 'thank you for sharing'

[[deleted user]]

Jesper...

This is not a like button:)GET WRITING!

[Stuart]

Stephen wrote: "Jesper...

This is not a like button:)GET WRITING!"

Agreed, Stephen. Jesper - get writing!