The Square Peg 2.
Perhaps one of the most basic ways that writers vary from each other is simply why they write. It is easy to say, ‘to write that book’, but why ‘that book’? What are you trying to achieve?
Many writers develop a love for writing at an early age, as teenagers or even younger, and I often hear other writers talk about their love for writing. That may be their primary reason for writing. I have never had a GREAT love for writing. Yes, I enjoy it. I wouldn’t do it otherwise, but there are other reasons why I write.
As a youngster, writing for me was simply something you had to do every so often. That was it. No thoughts about writing anything other than what I had to. Loved math, enjoyed drawing, mad about sport, but no interest in writing.
It wasn’t until I was teaching that I began to read fantasy and then science-fiction. At this stage, I began to have some thoughts about writing, but nothing really serious. I did begin one story which I’ve never finished but may return to one day.
Then came the series of events that had me wanting to walk out into the Simpson Desert without water. I didn’t have the courage to do that, so I retired into my own private little cave away from civilization. (Obviously not really a cave, just a house out in the countryside.) Writing was my excuse. Looking back, I can admit that now. At the time I had convinced myself I was serious.
Why don’t we see you? Why aren’t you looking for work? Why don’t you …?
Nah, I’m writing.
I was trying to, trying to finish that story I’d started. It was hard going, and I was spending more time playing computer games. Eventually, I put that idea in storage and decided to write a short story that I had an idea for. Just over three months later I had finished my first manuscript. The short story was in there somewhere.
Well, one manuscript assessment later and that story is also in storage. After some moping I decided I needed to actually learn something about what I was trying to do. Perversely, writing was bringing me back out of my cave.
Now I skip ahead to my second ‘Year of the Novel’ course run by the QWC and led by Dr Kim Wilkins.
At the first meeting Kim asked that question. Why are you writing?
I panicked, not having the vaguest idea what to say. When the finger was pointed at me, I blurted out the only idea that had popped into my head at that moment. ‘It’s my way of having my say.’
It still took me a number of years to finally accept that idea, but I had hit the nail on the head. Certainly, I had always had some vague idea of satire, even back at the very start, but I had never really concentrated on it, and often allowed those other aspects of writing a novel to distract me.
Now I accept that I’m not out to write that GREAT novel. It doesn’t bother me if my story isn’t the most fantastic. I wouldn’t know how to invent those fantastic, unforgettable characters, or create that world every reader wants to visit. Certainly story, characters, setting and every other aspect of writing are part of what I do, and I need to develop them as well as I can. But, for me, writing is simply a matter of getting things off my chest and having my say about the crazy world we live in.
So, I’ve reached a point where I’m concentrating on blogs. They’ll mainly be nonfiction, which is something I’d never thought I’d be writing, but some may be flash fiction, or perhaps a crazy mixture of both. They’ll all be at least a little satirical and about those things that keep clogging my mind.
I most certainly never claim to ‘know the answers’ but perhaps I may get some people to think about certain ideas a little differently.
I still intend to finish as many of my ‘book’ ideas as possible, but they’ve become a secondary part of my writing. And if I can get a little enjoyment doing what I’m doing, that’s success enough.
So, why do the rest of you write?
Just about writing. Yep, just my ideas.
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