It’s not a question I frequently encounter from others, but it is one that I ask myself from time to time—usually out of frustration.
I suppose that others don’t ask me this because I’m passionate about writing and I believe that it shows. It shows in the time and dedication that I have for my writing and in the way that I discuss it with others. And while there is no easy answer to this question that can be written in blog form, I will give my best attempt to explain it.
Writing has a special place in my heart as I would imagine one’s favorite sports team or TV programming would have in theirs. It incites excitement and happiness from within me.
Writing is very much like reading. It permits me to travel to distant places or even to some that only exist in my imagination. It allows me to step into someone else’s shoes and meet new and extraordinary people and creatures. One of the fundamental differences in writing from reading is that I can affect the outcome of the story. Make it my own, like nothing I’ve ever read.
Notice that I say, I can affect the outcome of the story and not generate it. I say this because it’s not only my story to tell. In creating the characters, they begin to take on a life of their own. While sure, in my outline—I may have noted that specific action should occur in the second act. But during the course of developing the story and the characters, that particular scene may not be the organic course for that character. So I adjust to the story, to the characters and their world. My characters are in my head—but I also have to be in theirs.
Although it may sound cheesy, for me, writing is an adventure into the unknown. Character relationships and values are built up during the process, that sometimes make planned scenes impossible, but it also opens the door to new and unexpected ones that add a value to the story that could not have been foreseen. I take this phenomenal journey in a world so different from my own with characters that I have grown to love and some I’ve come to love to hate.
Bare bones of it all, I write because it’s fun for me. But it’s my desire to share that journey with readers, that motivates me to see it all the way through.
I suppose that others don’t ask me this because I’m passionate about writing and I believe that it shows. It shows in the time and dedication that I have for my writing and in the way that I discuss it with others. And while there is no easy answer to this question that can be written in blog form, I will give my best attempt to explain it.
Writing has a special place in my heart as I would imagine one’s favorite sports team or TV programming would have in theirs. It incites excitement and happiness from within me.
Writing is very much like reading. It permits me to travel to distant places or even to some that only exist in my imagination. It allows me to step into someone else’s shoes and meet new and extraordinary people and creatures. One of the fundamental differences in writing from reading is that I can affect the outcome of the story. Make it my own, like nothing I’ve ever read.
Notice that I say, I can affect the outcome of the story and not generate it. I say this because it’s not only my story to tell. In creating the characters, they begin to take on a life of their own. While sure, in my outline—I may have noted that specific action should occur in the second act. But during the course of developing the story and the characters, that particular scene may not be the organic course for that character. So I adjust to the story, to the characters and their world. My characters are in my head—but I also have to be in theirs.
Although it may sound cheesy, for me, writing is an adventure into the unknown. Character relationships and values are built up during the process, that sometimes make planned scenes impossible, but it also opens the door to new and unexpected ones that add a value to the story that could not have been foreseen. I take this phenomenal journey in a world so different from my own with characters that I have grown to love and some I’ve come to love to hate.
Bare bones of it all, I write because it’s fun for me. But it’s my desire to share that journey with readers, that motivates me to see it all the way through.
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