Why do you write?

...for me, it's something I've done since I was a kid. My first story was what I thought 'The Empire Strikes Back' must have been about, having seen only 'Star Wars' and 'Return of the Jedi' (aged 6). I needed to fill in the gaps, based on the beginning, the end and clues from the toys that were available.

Afterwords, I wrote more and more when I played with toys less and less, after about the age of 12. I find it easier to tell stories than to write (I used to do Improv; the rules are the same as for writing). For me, half the fun comes from the research.

I am also known as 'Twisted Sister'. If you're lucky, you'll find out why. If you're unlucky, you'll find out why.

I write to escape. When I write it takes me to a different world where it doesn't matter if I've had a bad day at work or the showers broken down or whatever. When I put pen to paper (or finger to key as in the case of Nano) all that disappears and I'm in a different world without different priorities.

I've written on and off for years, mostly fan fiction though in the last couple of years I moved onto writing real fiction. I also like that you can do it anywhere, at the most basic all you need is paper and pencil, a lot of my other hobbies require tools and stuff so aren't so accomodating.

I got into reading and writing/ making up stories when I was a kid. Apart from enjoying the actual stories themselves, it was a way of making bad times seem more bearable. Ever since, there's been a compulsion to write, even if it's just in diary form. Over the years, I've dabbled in poetry, flash fiction, short stories and novelling. It's just that now I've become more disciplined about it.

Another reason is it's a way of making sense of the world. Even if things don't make sense at the time I'm writing them, it helps. When I'm having a bad day or people are testing my temper, it's a way of letting go without fear of the consequences. It can be very therapeutic.

-Don't wait for inspiration. Go and grab it by the scruff of the neck!
-Goonies never say die.

I have been writing since 11 and I started with poetry which I didn't know at the time was meant to be hard. I would never show anyone my work (and am still a bit fussy) as it was an escape for me and a chance to say things that I was not able to say in 'real life'

Now I write to see the end of stories....does that make sense? When I see someone on a bus having a conversation or an interaction and I have to get off I sometimes write what I think the end of the story would be like - does that make me sound mad?

I also love to write things about people I have come into contact with and make them do things in the story that they didn't in real life (like apologise to everyone instead of being a git) or make them do things that are so out of their real persona - in my online blog which I write with a friend one of the characters is based on a former work colleague who was a bit straight laced but in the blog he is a stripper in his spare time LOL as I always saw the potential for him to break free of his self imposed bonds and just be outrageous - now he is in my story

Not sure where the inspiration for nano is coming from yet but I hope its soon

Jacq x

I think like a lot of people here I've always enjoyed writing. For all I have tried I can't sing a note nor play one, I sent many art teachers into early retirement, so my pictures and music come out in words and punctuation. (Just how sickening was that last comment sorry.)

A few years back I joined a local writers group and rekindled my love of scribbling. For me it's the one place I might occasionally be right.

Father of two, husband of one.

QUB

Please visit website to see pre Nano story, daily updates as the nano happens and there's a blog.

www.seafieldbooks.com

It's not about me it's about the books.

Like most people here, I've written since I was a child. I used to write stories when I was about 8 or 9 which were usually about fairies giving people 3 wishes. Then I wrote boarding school stories, having read too much Enid Blyton. My writing in my teens and twenties was wish fulfilment - if I was a bit taller, a bit slimmer, a bit better looking, then what?

I haven't written much fiction the past ten years or so. But I began again in the summer. I think that was good, though. I read a lot and I think I have got over the need for my fiction to be all about me. I'd love to write science fiction because that is my favourite genre. Maybe one day.

ETA: one of the things I used to tell myself when I wrote regularly was that, no matter how bad things were, it was all research! I think it helped me get through some tough times. Gave some purpose and meaning. But writing about painful things was too much so I think that stopped me writing for all that time.

Like a lot of you I've also written since I was a child, I'm only 18 so that's not really a long time, but anyway. Writing has always been a passion of mine, I remember spending my Christmas holidays when I was 8 writing a story that was something like 40 pages of A5.

For me writing, as well as a passion, is a form of escapism, there's just something about writing that allows me to forget about everything else going on around me.

As for what I write, I've tried many different mediums, I wrote a 19K short story for the June version of NaNo, I write a lot of fanfiction and have recently begun writing original fiction again. I love writing poetry, but don't often have the time. I also have a half written musical saved to my computer, (half-written in the way of having most of it's songs and that's it, the plot is still in my head). I'm willing to try writing in any style at least once and see myself as being adaptable in my writing style.

I just can't imagine not writing, or at least, if I couldn't write things down for some reason I would still be making up sentences in my head.
I'm in the best spell of writing I've ever had, and that is largely thanks to taking part in NaNoWriMo. The only downside of it is that I am so reluctant to edit that I have an increasing number of raw unedited novels sitting reproachfully on my computer. Every so often I dust one off and do a little more work on it.

Sheila

2009: was 'Watching the Neighbourhood' - now 'Reunited!'
2008: (Winner!) A Place of Conflict
2007: (Winner!) Community
2006: (Winner!): Independence

I write because .... when I start to get into it, I forget everything else. In real life, I've been a programmer, and it's the same kind of feeling: total focus on something else makes the time pass very quickly.

And, I never anticipated the happy feeling I'd have from knowing that I have a first draft of a novel sitting on a memory stick.

-- Prim

---------------------------------------------------------
2008 Winner : Becoming Franco Giordano

I'm one of those people who cant not write.

I get ideas and even if I don't go on to write more about them if I suddenly think of a scene I have to write it down. This explains all my small word docs :)

I've just always done it.

I started off writing a journal to trap some of my horrible thoughts. After that I started writing short sketches for youth clubs I was involved with and church events. I then went to a writers' group with my neighbour who is 45 years older than I am and 45 years more interesting. As a result I have a few short stories floating about which could be useful for something. One of them has grown into the beginning of a fantasy/ fairy tale book.

Last year someone on the Ship of Fools forum mentioned NaNoWriMo and it looked like fun. As it turns out, NaNoWriMo is a blast, and a fabulous opportunity to meet some excellent characters!

One of the best things about writing has been finding that some of my friends are secret scribblers, and therefore being allowed to see some of the most inspiring, challenging and uplifting writing I have ever read and which nobody else has ever seen!

Cattyish, fell down the rabbit hole into writing.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.
Now put foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau

Talking about feelings has always been difficult for me. Add a speech impediment to that and there you have it. When I want to talk about something, I have to repeat myself and end up going round and in circles. Paper is the best listener as it doesn't constantly berate you for 'not speaking properly'.

Writing and storytelling have always been a passion of mine. It's a wonderful feeling to escape into another world, another time, another place. As life never goes the way you plan, you can have a semblance of control over characters in a story.