# Why Write? - The Purpose of Your Work



## TheSaintsAreComing (Jan 24, 2013)

I'm sure everyone has been asked (or asked themselves) the question. "Why do I write?" Of course, we do it to pass the time, pay the bills, express ourselves, or some other hidden purpose. 

What I want to know is _why_ do you write? What do you want your reader to take away from your work? Are you just trying to entertain them or do you have a deeper, more profound reasoning? Maybe you're trying to impart some personal wisdom on them. Perhaps you want your reader to take a look at themselves, to ask the hard questions in life, change the way they see things.

This is the dilemma I'm facing, not only as a writer, but as a person. What do I want people to take from me? So, I'll ask you the same question. Why write?


----------



## dale (Jan 24, 2013)

i like showing off to myself. and if it serves my purpose that way, then i hope to show off in front of others and hope it
serves its purpose that way, too. in other words......vanity. all vanity.


----------



## TheSaintsAreComing (Jan 24, 2013)

Just as valid as any other motivation.


----------



## Kitana (Jan 24, 2013)

I'm simple really, I write to tell stories and entertain. I  love to create the characters and their stories and writing is fun and  for me and an escape of sorts. <^.^> I was an avid reader of  fiction when I was younger and though I've slowed down in reading these  days I now wish to create stories others may enjoy as I did.


----------



## Pluralized (Jan 24, 2013)

I like the possibilities of always being able to create something that is mine, and is a product of my mind. Plus, I enjoy learning all the rules of grammar and punctuation, though I'm unsure exactly why.

Also - It's a healthier escape from reality than alcohol or drugs. nthego: Or hookers.


----------



## Saeria (Jan 24, 2013)

For me it is one part vanity to two parts necessity. Ideas roil underneath my skin festering like an infected pimple. It itches like hell and the only way to relieve it is to scratch. Writing is perhaps my greatest joy and my worst vice.


----------



## dolphinlee (Jan 24, 2013)

There is a section on the site called Catfish soup. this is where members are 'grilled' about their writing. This would be a good area to research to find answers to your questions. http://www.writingforums.com/catfish-soup/


----------



## Lewdog (Jan 24, 2013)

I write because if I didn't some less talented person might and their work could possibly dumb down society.


----------



## Leyline (Jan 24, 2013)

Because if I didn't write I wouldn't even be me anymore. I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. It's an essential part of me.

As to the purpose of my work? There isn't one. The stories are their own reward, and each of them have their own purpose.


----------



## Sam (Jan 24, 2013)

Because it's cathartic.


----------



## FleshEater (Jan 24, 2013)

Why not?

No...really...that's why I write, no kidding.


----------



## tepelus (Jan 24, 2013)

I write because I have stories in me that want to be told, and I learn the craft of writing so I can tell them in the best possible way so others can enjoy them. Or at least hope they do. :single_eye:


----------



## Vertigo (Jan 24, 2013)

I write because I like it. I've always enjoyed reading, and a few years ago I had that "I can write better than this" moment and started writing. On and off I've been at it ever since. I create the stories (or at least try to) because I want to see them created so that I can read them.


----------



## OWenDavis (Jan 24, 2013)

It's a creative outlet. I've tried music, painting, photography and now I'm trying my hand at writing. Plus I find the sense of creating something as deep and substantial like a novel as satisfying as writing a whole album. The prospect of having a finished product is exciting.


----------



## TheSaintsAreComing (Jan 24, 2013)

Wow. I love the response I'm getting on this. Personally, I just write for the sake of telling a story. They (generally) have no significant meaning to them, and that is where I get self-conscious about it all. Good to see that others are doing it for the same reasons 



dolphinlee said:


> There is a section on the site called Catfish soup. this is where members are 'grilled' about their writing. This would be a good area to research to find answers to your questions. http://www.writingforums.com/catfish-soup/



I have actually panned through it, but thanks for the heads up!


----------



## Potty (Jan 24, 2013)

Money.


----------



## FleshEater (Jan 25, 2013)

You always forget to add women (or men, whatever your preference) to that Potty.


----------



## Potty (Jan 25, 2013)

They come with money. Need money first.


----------



## squidtender (Jan 25, 2013)

Because I've been doing it for twenty-five years . . . that's who I am. Even if I was the last person on earth, I'd still write. Think of it like a sneeze--it's going to come out, so I might as well shove a word program in front of it


----------



## Potty (Jan 25, 2013)

squidtender said:


> Because I've been doing it for twenty-five years . . . that's who I am. Even if I was the last person on earth, I'd still write. Think of it like a sneeze--it's going to come out, so I might as well shove a word program in front of it



Yea that's pretty much what we all think of your writing...









Love you.


----------



## squidtender (Jan 25, 2013)

Potty said:


> Yea that's pretty much what we all think of your writing...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Like a sneeze, or wishing no one was left on earth to read it?


----------



## Potty (Jan 25, 2013)

Snot on a page


----------



## Tettsuo (Jan 25, 2013)

I write because I have something to say to the world.  I write because my work is a part of me, and I'd like to share a piece of me with everyone.  Finally, I write because I love how it makes me feel.


----------



## Freakconformist (Jan 25, 2013)

Pretty much  because I have stories and characters in my head and I feel that I should do _something_ with them. Some of them have been up there since I was 13-14 years old and new ones are being added all the time. I also feel that I have some talent and I should stop being afraid to use it. 


Here is a quote I saw the other day about writing from Carl Sagan.


----------



## Circadian (Jan 25, 2013)

I write mostly because it's fun and if I don't get all my ideas out, my head will explode.


----------



## Jon M (Jan 25, 2013)

Sam W said:


> Because it's cathartic.


----------



## Leyline (Jan 25, 2013)

Potty said:


> They come with money. Need money first.



You must be doing it wrong.


----------



## OWenDavis (Jan 25, 2013)

Circadian said:


> I write mostly because it's fun and if I don't get all my ideas out, my head will explode.



Hey you should probably go see someone about that.


----------



## JosephB (Jan 25, 2013)

Never have understood the need to ask this question or answer it. I might care about what you right -- not so much about why you do it.


----------



## TheSaintsAreComing (Jan 25, 2013)

JosephB said:


> Never have understood the need to ask this question or answer it. I might care about what you right -- not so much about why you do it.



In the usual circumstances, nobody really will care why you're writing  what you're writing, so long as it's good. That's the view of the  reader. I'm asking the question as a writer concerned about the  reasoning of what I do. Is it a silly question to ask myself? Most  definitely. Unfortunately, that doesn't make it any less pertinent to  me.


----------



## Akoya (Jan 25, 2013)

To share.  I wish to teach.  I wish my characters stumble and break to give the reader courage not to. 
I wish to show that although the world is rough and cruel; beauty, light, and glory will always find a way through.  
To help a generation realize there is something bigger in this world than their phone or music.  There are things more passionate than any one person, things worth being passionate about and for.  
I want to help a world realize there is something bigger, reasons larger, than the selfishness of human nature.  We can overcome, we can love, we can be great, but if we never try we will fail by default.

During Nanowrimo I was discouraged by my story.  So I spent a day trying to figure out why I wanted to write and wrote it down.
I want to write.  
I have been told to find my passion and, I admit, I denied it.  How could my passion be writing when there are so many who are writers too?  I want to teach, and learn.  I want a career where I don’t have to wonder where my rent is coming from and I want to feel accomplished at the end of each day.  And, I want to write.
I want something with passion.  A book where each page reviles something new and each character teaches a lesson worth learning.  I want to change a generation’s worth of thought and make them happy I did so.  I wish I didn’t, but I want to write.
I want to invent worlds that are relatable and not so out of reach.  I want someone to conspire against good and give it hardships to encourage them later.  I wish to create a moment that is timeless; a moment you treasure, simply because it is spent with friends.  I want to write.
I want to make every moment memorable.  From start to finish there is a feeling for the situation and people who trudge through and still manage to have hope.  Hope, even in distress, love mixed with fear and compassion where none is deserved.  Somewhere there are characters that make mistakes and say the wrong things.  I wish to create these things.  I want to write. 
This is not something to be taken lightly.  It is not a hobby or a weekend smattering of words.  This is something time-consuming and emotionally tolling.  It cannot be done with bunny slippers and in a few short morning minuets.  This is a notebook with multiple pens, scribbles at every possible moment, one-handed food driven, coffee express lane to years of work.  I wish I had chosen an easier path but that would not be worth fighting for.  
So here I sit; both hands on the keyboard, unsure of where to go next.  I only have one thought in my head.  I want to write.

 If only I had a plot.

-SLD: Aka Akoya
​


----------



## Bloggsworth (Jan 25, 2013)

I write because I can, and being a generous chap, I share...


----------



## TheSaintsAreComing (Jan 25, 2013)

Akoya, that's the kind of answer I was hoping to see, but I lack a real desire to achieve it. I just want to tell stories for the sake of telling stories. Is there something inherently wrong with that?


----------



## squidtender (Jan 25, 2013)

TheSaintsAreComing said:


> I just want to tell stories for the sake of telling stories. Is there something inherently wrong with that?



Not at all . . .


----------



## Mairead27 (Jan 26, 2013)

I have been writing all my life and I've been wanting to be a writer since I was a little kid. I guess one of my elementary school teachers instilled that in me. After all, telling stories seemed to be the only thing I was good at. 

But I think I truly write in order to communicate. I'm introverted so its not like I'm commanding attention everywhere I go. So writing helps me get my word across or just simply to share with others. Whether its writing in my personal journal or a novel, I have to write almost everyday. I get the impression that if I didn't, I'd explode somehow.


----------



## Akoya (Jan 27, 2013)

Saints: Nope, I know there are a lot of good authors out there who write for the sheer pleasure of writing. I do it all the time with my short stories.  I have one though, its the one I put my soul into.  The one that when I finally manage to publish it will be like seeing myself in every store window it is advertised.  Like my Kindle is a mirror into all that I am and believe.  It is something I fear, and something I fear not ever getting a chance to do.  I believe we all that story in us, we just have to find it.


----------



## rotsuchi1 (Jan 28, 2013)

For me its the feeling of creating something. You make your own world, and characters - you decide what happens to them and what they go through.


----------



## garza (Jan 28, 2013)

To pay the bills. Now I've mostly retired I've turned to fiction writing as a hobby.


----------



## Tony-The-Tiger (Jan 30, 2013)

I think I write mostly because we are all trapped in our little prisons of perception, and acts of creation called from nothing but our minds allow us to connect to something outside ourselves.


----------



## dolphinlee (Jan 30, 2013)

Writing is a way of having fun. It is exciting. It gives me a high. 

I love sitting down in front of the computer and starting something not knowing where I am going to end up. 

Writing is like doing a 2000 piece jigsaw without any idea what the picture is. As the words are written the picture becomes clearer.  

Writing is like being a detective finding clues and where they fit into the whole.


----------



## kinetika (Jan 31, 2013)

Tony-The-Tiger said:


> I think I write mostly because we are all trapped in our little prisons of perception, and acts of creation called from nothing but our minds allow us to connect to something outside ourselves.



This, and the other poster who said vanity are a combination for why I write -- aside from self-expression, of course. I always lived in my head, mostly because I find the 'real' world to be dull. Yeah, I have traveled to some beautiful places in my life, and there is adventure out there, but the kind of life I wish I could live -- what I ultimately want out of physical life -- is impossible because of physical restraints (e.g. magical ability, flipping between genders, having certain characteristics, and the like). 

I started off as an artist (not a real great one), and then I eventually moved over to writing around 2004 because I found myself wanting to write stories/biographies about the characters I'd draw. I enjoyed getting lost in my stories (the fantasy one, in particular), creating my characters, experiencing them, and at times, being my characters. In a sense, I get to live my madness in my stories... without consequence.


----------



## Nickleby (Jan 31, 2013)

I write things that I would most want to read. What I read these days doesn't satisfy me.

In addition, I seem to have reached the point where I don't want to write in someone else's style or build on their ideas. I have my own ideas now. It may be a sort of hubris, but I've been writing for 40 years, and it's about time. Other writers reach that point much earlier.


----------



## Mutimir (Feb 1, 2013)

The purpose of my writing is to entertain, to inspire and for fulfillment.


----------



## PiP (Feb 1, 2013)

TheSaintsAreComing said:


> I'm sure everyone has been asked (or asked themselves) the question. "Why do I write?"



Good question :?

I write because I enjoy losing myself in a story and love the creative process.


----------



## LamentableBard (Feb 2, 2013)

I have an overactive imagination and an insatiable urge to share it with others. Some stories just need to be told and they won't leave you be until they're out for all to see. Luckily, I find all the heckling enjoyable... Except for the editing. Urgh.


----------



## Olly Buckle (Feb 2, 2013)

The question implies a commonly held mis-belief, that people have single, simple motives for what they do. 
Because I can, it is one of the few creative things I think I do fairly well, I think.
Because my Mother spent her life talking about it and teaching literature and literacy but hardly got round to any actual writing (Apart from half a dozen letters a day)
Because there are ideas going round inside that have a whispey, unformed structure, until I confront them and write them down.
Because I have read so many books and want to make one of my own.
Because I see things in other people's writing, tricks to expand a description or a character for example, and think "That's neat, but it would be better if you used it to ... "
Because people praise me for it and it gives me kudos.
Because I am old and I would like to leave something behind for my great-grand children to see something of me if they look.
Because I have friends who are creative, artists, musicians and authors, and they treat me as an equal and not simply an admirer.
Because if I don't all that thinking simply vanishes into nothingness, less than dust, and that is the essence of me.
Because nothing is simple, but by ordering it and writing it down I improve my understanding of it.
Because culture is cumulative, and whilst what I know and understand may not be vital or central to the culture, it is my contribution.

I expect I could come up with some more if I think about it, remember to make your characters multi faceted, one dimensional characters with a single motive can be very boring.


----------



## JosephB (Feb 2, 2013)

Finally, someone says "praise" and recognition. I suspect that's what motivates a lot of people -- but no one wants to say it out loud.


----------



## Olly Buckle (Feb 2, 2013)

> Finally, someone says "praise" and recognition. -- but no one wants to say it out loud.


I was as direct and open as you can be, for which I take it 'Out loud' is a metaphor, the literal being impossible under the circumstances. In that case these two ends of the phrase constitute a *Tautology* 

Unless, of course, you are referring to me as 'no one'  

I would take it more that people have looked for a single, central reason and if figures among a mass of other 'lesser' reasons they also have not told us about, did you post earlier? I'll look back when I have finished this, if not I bet you can think of some good ones I have missed.


----------



## JosephB (Feb 2, 2013)

Yes -- out loud is a metaphor. I figure it's a writing site -- so I should be able to get away with using them. 

No, I didn't post earlier. I have my reasons -- never felt the need to talk about it. The whole thing seems self-indulgent. I prefer to let the writing speak for itself.


----------



## Mutimir (Feb 3, 2013)

Every party has its pooper.


----------



## JosephB (Feb 3, 2013)

Heh. If this is your idea of a party, you need to get out more.


----------



## Mutimir (Feb 3, 2013)

Spoken like a true PP.


----------



## JosephB (Feb 3, 2013)

Thank you.


----------



## Matthew (Feb 8, 2013)

Because I must.

(not long enough? Okay, for some of us, we _need to create_. The stories fly into and out of our minds on a constant basis... then, some stick around for weeks, months, years. It is those stories which _must_ be writter or our heads would explode off our shoulders. What a mess that would be...)


----------



## philistine (Mar 5, 2013)

In no particular order, and in varying precedence: vanity, expression, necessity, the prospect of immortality, to entertain, to escape, to impart wisdom and ideologies...


----------



## Angelwing (Mar 5, 2013)

I like to write historically based stuff (well or that somehow involves history) because I like history. I actually _enjoyed _writing a 7 page essay in an English class because I did it on the Battle of Stalingrad, so it involved research and learning a lot about it. 

Right now though, I like writing my futuristic fiction novel because the thought of potentially having my name on a bookshelf-on a story that I spent months (heck, it could be years) pondering, writing, and re-writing-would feel like such a self-actualizing feat. 

Maybe I'm generalizing too much here, but it seems like writers tend to be more introspective. I know I am at least, and no I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I just find it it easy to ponder silently, whilst others may not (to my annoyance sometimes!). I'm generally a patient person, so I can consider different aspects of the story, think through the plot, etc without rushing to clack away on the keyboard just to put a quantity of characters down on paper.


----------



## Morkonan (Mar 5, 2013)

TheSaintsAreComing said:


> ...Why write?



I write because something needs to be written.

That might be a story. Or, it may be a message that is expressed by a story. It may just be what a particular sort of character feels or it could be just be a new bit of entertainment for a reader. Whatever... It doesn't matter. All that matters is that I think it needs to be written. It also sort of needs to be read, for it to be of any practical use to anyone else...

I like giving good things to people. I don't like accolades, though acknowledgements are always welcome. It's nice to know that someone noticed, after all. But, I don't seek fame or fortune. If I did, I'd be a politician or some other sort of celebrity. I just think there are some thing out there worth writing and it'd be nice if I could write them and give them to other people. Maybe they'd like them?


----------



## Angelwing (Mar 5, 2013)

Matthew said:


> Because I must.
> 
> (not long enough? Okay, for some of us, we _need to create_. The stories fly into and out of our minds on a constant basis... then, some stick around for weeks, months, years. It is those stories which _must_ be writter or our heads would explode off our shoulders. What a mess that would be...)



The snippets of potential stories going through a writer's mind are like fish going against a swift current. Some can do it, others fall away.


----------

