Why Do You Write?
George Orwell. ‘Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.’
Why do you write?
George Orwell gives four reasons below.
They are taken from his book, ‘Why I Write.’
How many apply to you?
I can relate to (1) ‘to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc.’
(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen — in short, with the whole top crust of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After the age of about thirty they almost abandon the sense of being individuals at all — and live chiefly for others, or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong in this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money.
(ii) Aesthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed. The aesthetic motive is very feeble in a lot of writers, but even a pamphleteer or writer of textbooks will have pet words and phrases which appeal to him for non-utilitarian reasons; or he may feel strongly about typography, width of margins, etc. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from aesthetic considerations.
(iii) Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.
(iv) Political purpose. — Using the word ‘political’ in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples’ idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.
Orwell died in 1950 but I believe his thoughts apply as much to his uncertain times as they do today.
Very interesting, but extremely difficult to answer. For me, I write because it's something that has stuck with me through all of my phases. Yoyo's lasted a week. Pokemon cards lasted a little longer. But for some reason writing has stuck. I think it can be the most rewarding and wonderfully immersive thing anyone can do. Somehow you're creating something out of nothing, and isnt that an amazing thing to do? I think so!
I write because in a world full of people I seem to not have a voice, ideas, opinions. In a book I can (sometimes) get these across to people who are interested in what I have to say. I write because I feel if I don't I would explode. My characters often come to me in a daydream like way and they are so opinionated and passionate, there is a story there and I must write it. I write because there are issues no one wants to talk about, and I can address these issues and maybe save some poor soul who doesn't know how to ask for help or how to even approach it at all. I write because it makes me happy.
And I write because its all I think about. From the moment I wake to the moment I fall asleep, I think about what should happen in the next chapter, what should happen at the end, how the characters will grow and change, how they will be destroyed and consumed. My characters become my family and I must finish their stories. Books are the one (drug) I can't get enough of. Reading, writing, creating. Its in me, its what I do.
'Smothered by drudgery'? Oh yes we are!
My original 'best of intentions', to right a literary wrong, has degenerated into a determination to finish the stories of my two main characters. So it's probably sheer bloody-mindedness for me :)