This is a favorite question in writing forums, polls, and interviews. Sooner or later, all writers must answer this question, either for themselves or some curious second party.
It’s a simple enough question, but it can be surprisingly difficult to answer. Even after we’ve answered it, we sometimes find ourselves analyzing and justifying our answers.
Why You Write—Is There a “Right” Answer?
Off the top of my head, I jotted a list of possible answer to this question. We might write to:
1. Make a mark/leave a legacy.
2. Stroke our egos.
3. Proselytize others to a specific viewpoint.
4. Connect with others.
5. Explore and experience life.
6. Feed aesthetic appreciation.
7. Earn money.
8. Satisfy a compulsion (i.e., we can’t not write).
9. Create.
10. Gain catharsis.
11. Express ourselves.
Are any of these answers good reasons to write? Are all of them good answers?
In a word: yes.
Figuring Out the Reasons You Write
I’m willing to bet almost every single one of those answers is true of you, and every other author, to one extent or another.
If you’ve ever struggled to justify your writing to the rest of the world—or even to yourself—you might find it helpful to study the above list and organize the reasons in the order that best reflects your own motivations. Perhaps Exploring and Experiencing Life is your number one reason, while Leaving a Legacy is at the bottom. Identifying your reasons for writing can not only help you justify their value, it can also help you focus your writing so you can best fulfill those reasons.
On the other hand, you may have read the list and nodded your head at the pertinence of the reasons—without feeling as if any of them summed up your reasons for writing. Maybe your reason isn’t in that list. Maybe your reasons change from story to story, or even day to day. Maybe you know you have a reason, but you can’t put it into words. Maybe you don’t care what the reason is. Is that okay too?
In another word: definitely.
Booklife by Jeff VanderMeer (affiliate link)
The always inspiring Jeff VanderMeer made a spot-on observation in Booklife
Why you do something doesn’t necessarily affect the quality of what you do…. the animating impulse behind our need to write often eludes us… in a sense we not only make up stories, we make up stories about why we write.
At the end of the day, what’s important isn’t so much understanding the reasons you write as is accepting that you don’t always need an explicit reason. You’re a writer. You write. And that is enough.
Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! What are the top reasons you write? Tell me in the comments!
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