What's the point of writing?

[LotsChrono]

What's the point of writing?

Especially when you pass your initial reason for starting. It used to be a hobby began to create things I would like to read. But, it’s not as if I actually read my own work all that much anymore. Knowing what happens next and why, being the author, ruins a lot of the joy of reading. Even more so when you start seeing things critically—your own works more harshly than any other.

And then you get those moments when you sit there, looking down on yourself, wondering if you’re really the one who wrote something or if something or someone else possessed you, then tossed itself aside, leaving you.

But it’s already a sort of passion at that point. A love-hate relationship, perhaps, but not something you can easily give up. Because, even with all the clutter in your head, you still enjoy the act of writing itself. Being able to tell a story, a world at your fingertips, characters and environments burned from your imagination, plots you’re proud of even when no one else is. There’s something comforting in that.

So you think to yourself, maybe that’s the point of writing. But you still can’t be certain. Then, perhaps, its not the single answer. Perhaps there is no single answer. Maybe each person writes for a multitude of reasons, and that’s just mine.

Well, that’s all for my ramblings. Ignore it if you wish to, but I wanted to share it with someone. If you do not ignore it, then, why don't you answer me?

Why do you write?

 

[BenJepheneT]

I write because i can't draw.

 

[Draconite]

Trying to create a world with infinite possibilities

 

[NotYourTypicalMan]

To become a god that people begged for dem chappies.

 

[LotsChrono]

I write because i can't draw.

Oh you can draw now, perhaps shittily though.

 

[LotsChrono]

Trying to create a world with infinite possibilities

+1 to that.

 

[LotsChrono]

To become a god that people begged for dem chappies.

Have they?

 

[NotaNuffian]

For fanfic writers: CUZ THE AUTHORS DIDN'T FOLLOW WHAT I WANT!

For original writers: CUZ THEY ARE NOT SELLING THE CRACK THAT I WANT!

 

[LotsChrono]

For fanfic writers: CUZ THE AUTHORS DIDN'T FOLLOW WHAT I WANT!

For original writers: CUZ THEY ARE NOT SELLING THE CRACK THAT I WANT!

You're a lyrical genius.

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

One good thing being having a short term memory, you can reread the novels again and start remarking yourself about how shtty of an author you are.

"Why did this happen?" "Why short of chapters?" "What is the author thinking?" and "Keep writing author!"

I always ask this to myself and in five minutes you be like. Did I just ask myself to write more chapters? And we start to have inner conflict and finally decided why I dropped the novel. Because the last author who wrote the chapter got either assassinated or forced to commit suicide.....

Wait a minute....

 

[Alkareel]

I write because I love stories.
Though sometimes it brings me pain and sorrow as my inadequacies prevent others from enjoying my stories as much as I have, when I open my laptop and begin writing, I find myself enjoying it again.
The process of writing, creating your stories, as you said— a love-hate relationship.
I continue to write because I want to see more of my story.
Knowing what happens next and why, being the author, it's not that you're spoiling yourself— you're actually reading it in advance.
You only start to see your work more critically when you've already read it twice, thrice, or more than what your can count on your finger.
Of course you'll judge it harshly, because there will always be room for improvement.

—Authors to our books are like Asian parents to their children,
"They will never be enough." (Taken from uncle Roger's garlic joke)
Spoken from my perspective.

 

[Deleted member 45782]

1. To procrastinate. Escape into a fantasy world from all the stress.
2. Write believable relatable characters and explore motifs/themes more. Sometimes you feel like you can write a better story than some of the ones you've read, or write a different side/perspective that not many really show. Make it connect to readers in some way.
3. To remember. Jot down dreams and journaling so can remember (great to twist into stories too) in the future.
4. Too much work doing other hobbies like paint. Typing it up is much cleaner than all the work that goes into a painting.

 

[EternalSunset0]

To meet like-minded friends. Or to have a topic to talk to someone about. I'm terrible at starting conversations, and I'm not too flexible with the topics I engage in. I mostly just talk about weeb crap or other "normier" but still niche topics like personality.

So to solve those problems, I write/draw something, so I can easily start conversations with "Hey, you checked my work out? How was it?" which could lead the conversation to places where we can talk about our favorite shows, what we like and don't like about them, our personalities, etc.

Now, you got a conversation started and the story does the filtering so you two get to talk about a certain topic related to the story.

That's why I get extremely happy when someone engages with my work and becomes an online buddy out of it.

 

[Spica66]

pant pant. I have a thing for my creations. Writing is one of the ways to express/show them.

 

[Deleted member 29316]

I write because I wanted to tell my stories. And I don't have an assistant if I tried making a graphic novel, so...

 

[Scribbler]

I don't know why I'm doing it. But it never gets easier. It's always difficult. I'm always improving.

At first it was just to see if I could, and I thought it evolved from that. I do it because it makes me feel alive, I thought. But that momentary feeling, that burning passion isn't enough to push someone like me forward. No, at first it was to see if I could, and now I think the reason is the same, only different.

Not to see whether I can write a good story, but whether I can make something better than what I made before. It's a long and endless road; one's art.

 

[hauntedwritings]

Reading is an experience. This is because writing, is nothing else than formal thinking. An exercise to see if we can put our ideas, thoughts and emotions into a piece of art that can capture the imagination of our readers, as they did for us. To make others experience the what we want them to.

Unlike other hobbies, writing has potential that other hobbies do not. Music can make our emotions bloom. Riddles and puzzles can make us ponder. Competitive sports can make us feel excited and tense about the challenge and the possible outcome. Handcrafts such as woodworking are sparked, to see if we can make an idea become a reality that can be witnessed.

Only writing, as a purely intellectual exercise, has such an enormous potential at what it can make the reader experience (excluding movies and rpg-games, but lets be real, they are mostly just adaptations of writing).

So why do we write? Mainly, to see if we know ourselves as well as we think we do. To brave the challenge and improve our way thinking and expressing it. For every line of thought has flaws and blind spots, but in writing we can learn to become aware of them. To see if we can put our thinking into words, and make others experience the very same thing we did.

 

[NotaNuffian]

1. To procrastinate. Escape into a fantasy world from all the stress.
2. Write believable relatable characters and explore motifs/themes more. Sometimes you feel like you can write a better story than some of the ones you've read, or write a different side/perspective that not many really show. Make it connect to readers in some way.
3. To remember. Jot down dreams and journaling so can remember (great to twist into stories too) in the future.
4. Too much work doing other hobbies like paint. Typing it up is much cleaner than all the work that goes into a painting.

1. I can't do that anymore, my work finally has a firm clasp on my balls.
2. Nah
3. Yup, and my wet dreams got kudos in AO3
4. Not really. Reading is a hobby.

 

[SternenklarenRitter]

I write because I love the characters that keep me company in my daydreams, so I want to brag about them. Not that I'm ready to share anything yet.

 

[PhillisCreziles]

The reason for why I write is because I want to change how people view the world and the people around them through my stories and characters. Maybe help readers come to terms with existentialism using my fictional stories for example.