Why Do Writers Write?

It’s a well-known fact for anyone who had dedicated at least a portion of their lives to writing: we have a love-hate relationship with our craft. It takes days, weeks, and even years to come up with our first draft.

And then, the real work begins. We tear it all apart. We re-write over and over again. We edit, scrutinizing over every word. We read out loud to see that the sentences flow like music, even though we are pretty certain that nobody would ever sing our prose.

Once we’re done with the painstaking revisions and formatting, we’re still not finished torturing ourselves. Que the beta readers, editors, willing friends (thank goodness we still have some left!) to review our work.

After this, we repeat the editing process all over again. Finally, finished (or so we think, fingers crossed, toes curled). So we decide to rack our brains to shorten our stories into brief, yet fetching synopses. We craft amazing query letters. Or in the case of indie authors, sweat over perfect blurbs, cover art, marketing techniques... Only to find that at first, nobody knows who we are. So we need to market some more. We work, and sweat, and cry, and laugh.

This is followed by the line we all remember from those sweet old tv-shop commercials: “But wait, there’s more!” Because you know what? One book is never enough. Our heads are already buzzing with witty new conversations, exciting characters, and unique worlds we wish we could travel to. Thus, the process begins again.

Why?

Because we love it. It’s just that simple.

We adore our characters, even the antagonists (in some cases, even more than our heroes). We are obsessed with their worlds, stories, and adventures. There is nothing better in this life than to create new ones.

Sharing our obsession is one of the most rewarding things on this planet. If we see someone chuckle over a joke we wrote or gush over a relationship that we made happen… Well, it’s euphoric.

Of course, there are a bunch of other reasons to write. To enjoy solitude. To enhance our creativity. To escape. To teach. To discover. To share. The list can go on and on.

There is nothing like the feeling of finally holding our polished creation in our hands. I am a mother, and giving birth was the most empowering thing I have ever done. Writing and completing a book is a close second.

So yes, we are all slightly insane and obsessed with enjoying something that puts us through struggles and heartache. I have found that the best things in life often do.

You might want to try it sometime.