Writing - A Discussion

Several months ago my English teacher said that he was going to ‘pick my brain’ to understand how I could write so well and enjoy it so much. In all of his years of teaching, he had never had a student like me before. He never did actually pick my brain, but it made me curious. Never before I had really thought about how or why I wrote.

So, this is what this thread is about. I know that many of you on this site write—some just with RPing and others with stories of their own and the like. So, why do we do it? How do we do it?

This thread isn’t meant for serious discussion, as there is no ‘one way’ to write. It’s not meant as an advice thread to go ‘oh, I have a plot hole problem I need help with’. No, this thread is just meant to discuss writing in general, and the individual way that we all write, as everybody has a slightly different process.

I won't go too much on it, but the reason I started writing was based off my love of reading. i wanted to be able to create the same emotions that reading had always made me feel.

I've always been told I was a good writer. The first time I heard so was in first or second grade where we had to write a story, and my teacher loved it. Since then I've never really had problems with it in school, and last year my English teacher constantly raved about my essay-writing abilities. I've been rping for a few years, where I think my skill has greatly developed.

I am very concise when I write though. I have trouble expanding my ideas, where some could take a few paragraphs to describe scenery, I end up presenting it in one.

I'm not exactly sure why I write, other than to get my opinions and ideas out of my head, because it's the only creative expression I can use comfortably. Beyond that, in my favorite books, the authors have always deeply impressed me and made me want to achieve some level of greatness with them. Not fame, but just how magnificently they convey different ideas, tones, stories, and emotions with their words.

I really haven't shown off my writing on ASN much, so no one really knows of my talent. I haven't shown it mainly because I still haven't made my Creative Works thread yet(A conglomeration of writing, art, and graphics(Oh, I've had several attempts, and then my Firefox crashes and DOESN'T save my tens of tabs....>,<), and I don't feel that my writing deserves a whole thread to itself because the majority of mine is oneshots, and not chapter fics(I have one, as many know on ASN thanks to my "ads" in poetry and sig space, but it's got a lot of MAJOR violence, so I'm planning to write a "lite" version after I finish the first version).

I started writing...well...ever since I could read, and be able to make coherent sentences put onto paper. I always had a vivid imagination and major creativity to boot, even after all these years of imagination-reducing TV, video games, and internet. I mainly did my writing in the early years(AKA, the years without internet, sadly...I can't believe I call that the early years...XD) for school. I could go into a loooooong rant about how I got my writing sealegs, but it's a LONG story, and I doubt you guys want to hear that....

I write mainly because I feel like it, and I have an idea. If I really don't have an urge to write, I won't do it. Also, if I'm sleep-deprived, I've learned that the rule for me is that I write 50% pure gold, and 50% crud. That's why I have to check what I write over again when I'm refreshed to see what's what. If I have an idea, I check it over for any possible flaws in my head and then write it. I mainly write oneshots, but instead of making it an all-out songfic, which I find limits creativity, I write a full story around the lyrics instead of using the lyrics and writing a small bit, then using another bit of lyric, bit of story, etc.

I mainly get my inspiration from songs I hear. Let me just say that I can easily write a fanfiction, but original fiction is a lot, lot harder. Most of the songs I get inspiration from is for a particular ship or part of the show/book/movie/game, etc. Original fiction I write virtually never, only because making my own characters, their set personalities, a set or changing setting, and a plot is quite a toll on my brain. I stick to fanfiction because at least you have set character personalities, a more defined, if not set, setting, and a general timeline of events to follow. It doesn't take as much of the creativity out as you think it sounds. As long as you stay by those things, your limits are virtually endless. How strict or lenient you want to be with the timeline is up to you, or even make it an AU fic, if you want. If(Like in Star Trek) you want your character to be taken over by an entity and make him/her do things they wouldn't normally do, go ahead. I like Star Trek because of that. A way to make characters go out of character that's totally legit. =3

Ehhh...that's about it with writing for me....for now.

EDIT: I can write entire tomes of knowledge into one post...XD

I'm finally getting around to posting in my own thread...

To understand why I write, a trip into my past is needed.

I didn't really learn to read or write until the second grade. That was also the time that I wrote my first story ever. It was an assignment for class, and also a fanfiction. I was way into Pokemon at the time, and thus it was a Pokemon mystery. I was creative with my assignment, but I still I didn't write anything outside of class. Instead, I was simply a bookworm.

In the fourth grade, I finally made some friends (as I hadn't had any up until that point). One of those two friends were and still is Shadow Moonseye. As such, this is also partially the tale of how she started writing. Anyways, the three of us played these games all of the time, creating our own little universe.

This all changed during the summer between fifth grade and sixth grade. Our friend moved away, causing our trio to become a duo. When Shadow and I started the sixth grade together, we started to write together as well. It wasn't just anything we wrote, but the very games that we used to play in elementary school. We were just constantly sitting together with each other, passing papers back and forth as we wrote. Like with RPing, we each controlled our own characters. We even wrote some story assignments for class together. I believe that in one of them we were trapped on an island together. Our English teacher was also evil in one of them. Sixth and seventh grade was a blast.

Everything changed when my family moved after the seventh grade. My family didn't move far, only about half an hour away, but it was far enough to where it made it difficult to see each other. At first we simply wrote over the phone, but then we discovered Instant Messenger. By this time, we had started writing on other stories, branching out from just our games.

We also began to start writing on our own, now that we were separated (I more so than her). I wrote a lot of fanfiction around this time, especially Zelda fanfiction. However, towards the end of Freshman year (I believe) I began to write on my own original works.

During my Sophomore year, I had a lot of difficultly with my writing. Because that year in English was focused on grammar and such, I began to think subconsciously that my writing had to be perfect. I broke this need for perfection by RPing at the end of the school year.

On June 11, 2007, I started RPing. That day changed my life. I learned how to write with others aside from Shadow, I improved greatly in my writing skills, and I fell in love. Go figure. I also was the one who got Shadow Moonseye RPing.

The need for perfection in my writing came back in the fall of 2007. Then I learned about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Writing those 50,000 words for quantity instead of quality taught me a very valuable lesson about writing and first drafts. I haven't had a problem with needing perfection in my writing since then.

During my Senior year, I did NaNoWriMo again, this time turning the RP Midnight into a novel (which is almost finished...). Also during my Senior year, I spent a lot of time thinking about my writing and my future as a writer. That's when I really got serious about my writing.

Now I have an nearly finished novel under my belt, as well as several complete short stories. I also have my next few big writing projects figured out, like the one that is coming up in November (because it is NaNoWriMo again).

And, yeah... That's basically my writing history.

As for why I write, it's because I want to be a somebody. I don't want to be just another face in the crowd, just another stranger on the street. I want to do something with my life.

I also write because I want to share my ideas with the world. I want to make people think about their lives. I want to fight with my words, to make a difference. I want to entertain people, and I want to help make lives better by allowing people to escape from the world.

I write because if I didn't, I would go crazy.

I write because it is who I am.

I write because I want to. I don't really see any other reason why I would. If I didn't enjoy writing I wouldn't.

I've been told I was a good writer before, but I've never had teachers really go on about how great my story writing abilities are. Writing has only really come to me recently. I've always sort of wanted to be an author, but I haven't been good at it until now. Well, I'm still not good, but still.

I guess I also write because I like the challenge a bit of making a nice fluid story that can keep a reader's interest and having characters that I like. Also sort of because writing allows me to dream up a better world, in which I can express that sort of heroic-ish personality that doesn't come out in the real world. It let's me be me without worrying about what other people think.

I sort of like to give my fantasies life, a little bit.

Well, I suppose I should contribute.

When did I decide to become a writer? Well, in all honesty, I wrote fan-fiction on and off fer a little while, but the first time I attempted something of my own was, and this is kinda embrassing but I'll tell you anyway, to impress Shadow Moonseye. Yeah, I know...wrong reason to write.

However, it turns out that I'm apprantly a natural at it, and I enjoy doing it to boot! So, I kinda started to write more, and before I knew it...I wanted to be a writer. My imagination has always run wild(even know, when I'm supposed to be maturing.) and writing finally gives me a vent for all those random stories I'd narrate to myself in my head, or make up with my buddies.

I hope to get started on a book here soon, but I just can't grab myself enough to get started, and my internal editor is just a jerk. Maybe I'll do NaNoWriMo this year...might be just the thing I need to write a book.