Thursday 6 May 2010

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO WRITE?

I'm sitting here, after completing two books in full: I'm in the middle of a mind-blowing experience because of the most random cosmic collision. Three events happened simultaneously: the first was something my partner said, the second was a line of lyric and the third was a line of text I was reading when I heard the two sets of words:

He who-must-not-be-named was talking:
"Why don't you do something different?"

I was playing Muse:
 "...your time is running out"

 reading a Stephenie Meyer interview
  "...if I can write a book anyone can"      

I announced I was writing a book before I'd ever opened a word document.

If I'm ever asked why I decided to write I think I should lie - I could just blame Muse.

But I'm asking the question anyway: What made you decide to write?

14 comments:

  1. It is a very good question that I have no good answer for. I had a story inside of me that I couldn't let go of. The only outlet that made any sense, was to write it down. And so I did. Two and a half years later, I havent stopped yet.

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  2. My husband dared me! He now knows better to never do that again! ;)

    xoxo -- Hilary

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  3. One day I sat down, opened a pad and got a pen and just started writing. (No computer back then.) That ended up not being in the first book I finished but it was the impetus that got me started.

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  4. Hi DL it is an odd feeling knowing there are whole worlds inside your head: they don't wait very patiently. Good luck with the book and the Spartan number.
    Hilary, there is something about a dare that is hard to resist. ;)
    Hi Anne Imagine writing a book by hand? How did books ever get written? I do have enough notebooks to sink a large ship. I can't plan without paper and pen but I find it harder to write without a computer. Even a laptop feels all wrong.

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  5. I started out writing fanfiction. I only did that because the stories I wanted to read for my favorite show, didn't exist. (I'd been reading lots of XFile fanfic, but there was nothing for my show.) So, I had to write it. The first stories really stunk, but enough people read them and gave me feedback that made me think I could do this. After ten years of writing fanfic, I finally ventured into original stories.

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  6. "blame muse." I like that! I don't know who to blame. Maybe Charles Schultz. I loved Snoopy, typing away on top of his dog house. I started to draw him, and then decided to add some text to those papers flying out of his typewriter. I was six years old, and have since stopped drawing but words are won't let me go.

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  7. Good question, but I'm afraid I can't answer it. I've always written stories in my head, and every once in while they'd make it down on paper. One day I was cruising the Internet, found Agent Query and thought "Hmmm, maybe I should try writing one to publish." So I am :)

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  8. I've always loved reading and writing, for as long as I can remember. Who can resist making up your own world, your own people, and making them do what you want? There's nothing like it!

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  9. I simply had to get it out of me.

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  10. I felt like it was time. I hid my writing for so many years and I felt like "my time was running out." If I never tried to do this I woudl regret it. Music helped too. Muse and Silversun Pickups are to blame.

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  11. Great question!

    I honestly don't know why I originally started writing - I don't remember not writing! It's always been a part of my life and I can't imagine it not being there.

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  12. I've always been a big reader. I can't remember a time when I wasn't writing. Even as a little kid I was scribbling out novels and news stories!

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  13. I started writing when I was around fifteen, I think, but that was a long time ago. As far as I can recall, I had these elaborate stories floating around in my head and I needed to get them on page so I ask my mom to buy me a typewriter and I've been dabbing in the world of fiction ever since.

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  14. Hi Mary imagine launching straight into scripts for you favourite show - wow. Writing novels must seem easier.
    Lynn - Snoopy? I liked that dawg. The intense look on his face when he was writing was so truthful.
    Hey Jemi, don't you think it amazing that the words we type can be translated into real books. It is quite a thought.
    Susan, Wendy , Talli and Sherrie I don't think it is a coincidence that we all wrote from such an early age. The way words painted worlds in books was magical. I remember trying so hard to make my stories the beautifully detailed versions of life I found in books.
    Christine - I am glad you are taking the time to write and let the world flow out.

    Writing is learning - there is so much to learn, and to love, about writing. I just had to do it.

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