What is writing to you?

[TheLlama]

This is a question that goes to the very essence of you as a writer, maybe as a person. It's a simple question with an often-hard answer. What is writing to you? Why do you write and for what purpose?

 

[Lugion]

Spoiler

Well, that was embarrassing...

For me, writing is many things. It is a way of release, to be sure, but that's a small part. I get a certain thrill from creating anything, and when I write, I can create whatever I wish. I am omnipotent as far as my stories are concerned. I can recreate worlds from the ground up, picking and choosing what facets of the real one are included. Then there's the characters. It is a great pleasure when I begin to truly care about my characters, when they begin to become real people and not just figments of my imagination. I've always had a very active imagination, and writing helps me exercise it.

 

[Kihote]

What is writing to me? I’ve already thought about this one, long before I even joined this site. For me, writing is a chance to share the stories of my friends. I have long found that my characters are each special to me, much like real people. I would day dream of so many, and each one came from a day dream. I can never sit down and design a character, instead I zone out and something is pieced together. Something unpredictable, which makes him or her alive to me. Some of them fade away, but others stay with me and I feel the need to tell the world what they went through. I am not a creator of anything, I am merely a story teller telling what they have shown me.

As for why? I thought about this one so much after doing a few chapters of Chaos Theory. At first I thought it was just to write. It was such a simple concept that I never questioned it, but then I noticed that I felt glum looking at the low views and immediately jumped to the conclusion that I wanted attention, that I wanted people to look at my writing and say that I was awesome. I was actually sickened by this thought and became slightly depressed. Then I saw a few reviews and realized why I wrote. I didn’t care whether they said I was a good writer or not, but if they enjoyed the story. If they liked it, even if they said they’d seen better, then I was happy. The reviews that filled me with the most joy, though, were the ones speaking about my characters. I clearly see why I write now, I write not for myself, but for the readers and my characters alike. I want to give the readers something enjoyable, and I want them to meet my characters. To let others know those wonderful people I call my characters, that is why I write.

 

[an illegible mess.]

writing is an art, a hobby, a career, a lifestyle, and a fun and creative way to imagine stories made by your own mind and put them into words on a sheet of paper or typed on a word document. writing is very important to me; without it, i don't think i'd be doing much right now. it gives me a sense of accomplishment, and i'm sure it gives others a sense of accomplishment. it is a powerful force that can make you cry, laugh, get scared, get sickened, as well as many other emotions. it brings fictional characters to life and broadens the minds of people; some books give different views of life to people. i think it is the best creation of man-kind.

 

[LightningTopaz]

--It is a way to let my imagination run free
--It is a way to explore what isn't explained on my favorite shows--or what could it be.
--It is a way to make friends

 

[Kyuuketsuki]

It's just a hobby, to me. I know there are many who write because they want to pursue it as a profession, but I just consider it a hobby; something to do so I can entertain myself when I'm bored. This is probably why I write many stories, and rarely complete any.

 

[Safe]

A way to reveal my creative ability, and learn from what I didn't know I already knew.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Writing is my hobby, it is my study, it is my career, it is my life and obsession and love.

Writing is my soul.

 

[Flaze]

It's a hobby for me, but it's also a way for me to let stress out. When I'm feeling bothered about something I usually write it off. It's also a way for me to use my creative overload since I always have new ideas popping inside my head.

 

[Oblivion]

Writing is many things. It is a method of expression, it is a form of entertainment, it is a form of communication. I think the most important part about writing is that it can be whatever the author wills it to be.

For me specifically, however, it is a way of expressing my innermost beliefs and thoughts, ones that I dare not share even with my most trusted of friends. It's a way to steadily release that dark, brooding being inside of me, lest it take over my mind completely.

 

[TheLlama]

When I first started writing as a serious hobby, it was because I had always enjoyed creating things with my imagination; worlds, charcaters, concepts, religions, languages, cultures, you name it. Writing proved the perfect outlet for those tendendencies; thus I love writing.

But recently I've begun delving into the reasons for why I enjoy creating stuff, which is the basis for why I enjoy writing, and I've found that, in many ways, it's just a way to escape reality. I'm diagnosed with several disorders (intrusive thoughts, bipolar and disocciative disorder), that all serve to make my life rather depressing at times. While I find reality to be the most fantastic place ever, at times I just need to escape it, and my own imagination, and thus writing, is a great way to escape this, to create worlds and charcaters that I can live in when the going gets though in this world, and it works very well.

So for me, writing is treatment, it's therapy, it's what gets me going when the going is tough.

Also, it's a great outlet for me to explore new concepts, foreign ideas, cultures, minds. To constantly broaden my horizons as a human being; to learn, to experience. Curiosity, learning, broadening our horizons... such are the greatest virtues of mankind.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Agreed, Llama_Guy: creation and learning epitomise that which is most good in humanity.

Interesting that you should call it therapy. On reflection, I guess I could say the same. I've suffered chronic major depressive disorder, and possibly other such mental burdens, and writing has always been enormously helpful in coping with and overcome these things. They say that art is often borne out of depression! In fact, if I avoid writing for too long, I suffer an intellectual slump, and what you might call withdrawal symptoms. Better than being addicted to anything else, I suppose~

 

[diamondpearl876]

Writing is also a way for me to escape reality. I have been rather anti-social for pretty much my entire life and am very limited in my abilities to properly interact with the outside world without being frustrated/anxious/disappointed. Writing is my way of living from afar, through people that exist in my head rather than the ones that I can't seem to socialize with in real life.

I am also very passionate about being able to express oneself through words--whether it be through singing, writing, what have you. Writing is my way of doing this. The feelings/thoughts/ideas that you can invoke in someone through mere words alone is simply beautiful.

 

[TheLlama]

Agreed, Llama_Guy: creation and learning epitomise that which is most good in humanity.

Interesting that you should call it therapy. On reflection, I guess I could say the same. I've suffered chronic major depressive disorder, and possibly other such mental burdens, and writing has always been enormously helpful in coping with and overcome these things. They say that art is often borne out of depression! In fact, if I avoid writing for too long, I suffer an intellectual slump, and what you might call withdrawal symptoms. Better than being addicted to anything else, I suppose~

We're all addicted (or "addicted") to something, be it cell phones, arts, science, learning or conventional drugs. Or so I like to think anyway

But yes, it's therapy. Or "therapy", it doesn't cure my problems as much as it offers an escape. But it doesn't hurt my ability to perform daily tasks, rather, it improves on it, so it's not harmful anyway.

And I've very heavily perceived a link between creativity and increased exposure to depressive disorders and tendencies, which is really fascinating. maybe it's cognitive, but there's also the cultural impact; creative people are often different from their peers, and as such often end up on the outside of their school socially, leading to an increased frequency of depression and other psychological issues.

 

[Pride]

Writing is a way to represent my creative skills. It allows me to open dimensions into different worlds, and explore all kinds of possibilities.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

And I've very heavily perceived a link between creativity and increased exposure to depressive disorders and tendencies, which is really fascinating. maybe it's cognitive, but there's also the cultural impact; creative people are often different from their peers, and as such often end up on the outside of their school socially, leading to an increased frequency of depression and other psychological issues.

I hear it's actually been scientifically documented to a certain degree, though it's not always the case. I'd hesitate to identify a single cause for it, but I think the socio-behavioral theory fits better than the cognitive theory. I say this based on my own experience: my creativity is due to my isolation from the norms of my peers, and does not wax and wane each time I get depressed.

 

[TheLlama]

The cognitive argument was more general; i.e. you're generally creative, not only when you're depressed - but there's a correlation between inhibiting general creativity and being disposed to depression and other such disorders.

It's, as you say, most likely a multifaceted case; there's more than one cause and more than one effect.

(but we're kind of straying from the topic, now P

 

[RaiThunder]

Writing is a lot of things to me. In one sense, it's a release. It's putting all the interesting ideas I have, and getting them all out. It's crafting the characters whose voices speak to me and creating the worlds I wish I could explore. In another sense, it's a way of fighting. It's a way of creating characters like me, who are POC, who are LGBTQIA, who are outside of the exclusionary 'norm' of things. Writing my own work allows me total creative control, so I can tell the stories I want, the characters I want. So I can avoid a romance and focus on friendship, or create a romance that makes sense to me. I write because if I don't, I'll never see the stories I really want.