When I don't write, fiction starts to leak into the real world. The last time I went for twelve weeks or more without telling a story - for reasons that are not relevant, but had become self-fulfilling - I ended up getting stalked around Hammersmith by a one-eyed tramp with two pet ravens. He shouted at me in Old Norse. I'd see those ravens every day, waiting for me in unlikely places.
It was only by writing him down that I was able to make him go back on the page.
This is difficult to say, because it sounds glib, but when I don't write I go mad.
I feel like I ought to have a good answer to that, and I don't.
I write because . . . I've always written? Or at least always made stories up. And the stories get better when I write them down, because then I think them through in more detail. And I like being able to look at the result and say "I made that."
I like that answer and I will henceforth adopt it as my reason for writing!
I used to write because my mind bubbled with stories and I thought they were interesting and entertaining and I wanted to share them with others. Writing them down was the only way to do that, but it became apparent over the years that publishers didn't share my enthusiasm for what I produced. A few years ago I stopped writing because there didn't seem any point, but the stories were still there in my head. So, I've decided to keep at it and, as you say, even if they're never published, at least I can point to my finished novels and say, "I produced this!"
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It was only by writing him down that I was able to make him go back on the page.
This is difficult to say, because it sounds glib, but when I don't write I go mad.
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The commonest cause is that I read something and I see a clear reply: most of my writing is answers, onspired by the questions of others.
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(and also because writing is incredibly cathartic and rewarding for me.)
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I write because . . . I've always written? Or at least always made stories up. And the stories get better when I write them down, because then I think them through in more detail. And I like being able to look at the result and say "I made that."
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I used to write because my mind bubbled with stories and I thought they were interesting and entertaining and I wanted to share them with others. Writing them down was the only way to do that, but it became apparent over the years that publishers didn't share my enthusiasm for what I produced. A few years ago I stopped writing because there didn't seem any point, but the stories were still there in my head. So, I've decided to keep at it and, as you say, even if they're never published, at least I can point to my finished novels and say, "I produced this!"
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Also, it makes me happy.
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