amonkie

AS TFP continues to evolve, so do all of the forums within - including Tilted Literature. With the creation of the Critique Thread, this raised a question to me.



Why Do YOU Write?




There are many different reasons, but by answering this question I think there is the potential for all to learn more about ourselves, each other, and our motivation for posting on this board - and thus be aware of how this board can be shaped to grow and benefit us at the same time.

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

amonkie

I started writing when I was a preteen in school, and loved the creative outlet it gave me. Life picked up, writing fell by the wayside, and I returned to it because I needed the relief my mind gets when I write. For me, it is a way of taking a different look at the thoughts going through my head, but experiencing the thoughts rather than trying to guide them. My writing is ME, and as a result I tend not to lean towards critique as often because I don't write to " make a poem better". I enjoy the writing exercises because it gives me more chances to develop the skill of letting my thoughts create art.

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

vonstalhein

i started writing because, quite simply, it seemed the natural thing to do. More recently...i think i write to influence others and myself.

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No Win No Fee

tecoyah

Writing allows for expression of myself....in ways nothing else can.

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

Johnny Pyro

Writing is therapy. It helps me cope with the problems I encounter.

It also lets me express my feelings. Which I really have a hard time doing when I'm not writing.

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"From delusion lead me to truth, from darkness lead me to light, from death lead me to eternal life. - Sheriff John Wydell

mystmarimatt

Granted, I don't post much of my work here (I'm far too self-conscious about my writing,) but this is an easy question for me.

I write because I feel awkward not writing. It's the only habit I have that forces me out of bed at 3 AM to write something out until dawn, because I can't get this singular phrase or idea that explodes in my mind at such a late hour out of my head quite fast enough. Yet, I love every minute of it. It's a medium that allows me to be angry, sad, funny, everything in between, and not even necessarily myself while I'm doing it.

It is my ultimate catharsis.

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Words of Wisdom:

If you could really get to know someone and know that they weren't lying to you, then you would know the world was real. Because you could agree on things, you could compare notes. That must be why people get married or make Art. So they'll be able to really know something and not go insane.

silvertiger

Heh..

I don't usually..

but i find that when my mind is racing.. and i've got nothing that i'm in the middle of .. I get ideas and thoughts..

better to have them in writing than wasted in my head.

I do most of my writing with/for other people .. which is why this forum is GREAT for me ... i love the writing challenges .. and feel that i use my pre-college writing skills fairly well.

so .. in a nutshell .. because i like people to read what i write.

mirevolver

My shorter pieces I write to vent frustration over something going on in my life.

As for my two big projects, I have a very active imagination and I have an urge to document the images in my head.

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Aside from my great plans to become the future dictator of the moon, I have little interest in political discussions.

ngdawg

It feeds me

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

vox_rox

With me it's not so much a question of why. I have always written, and now it's what I do for a living. For me, it's more a question of what writing can do for me.

My fiction writing rarely sees the light of day, and you may even think of yourselves as lucky. I don't see my fiction as top shelf by any means, so it just satisifies a little corner of my mind from time to time.

I prefer to write for magazines and newspapers when I can, or write more journalistic peices, because these both remind me of writing research papers in school (which I LOVED!) and it also pays some bills.

I also plan to follow into the technical writing field, something that is far more fascinating to me than fiction. Go ahead, try to make software features sound interesting. It can be done, and it's that kind of challenge that gets me going.

Right now, I write Web content for a Sporting Goods retailer, and as boring as that sounds (and it IS sometimes), it is still a nice crossover betewen journalism and tech writing, and they pay me. On top of that, pro deals and employee discounts on sporting goods are ALWAYS good.

However, I may subject you to some of my fiction, and I will certainly critique others fiction on the critique board, as long as you're willing to take real constructive criticism.

Keep on writing.

Peace,

Pierre

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There is no such thing as strong coffee - only weak people.
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stevie667

In simple words,
I could convey,
That which i could spend an enternity speaking,
And never portray the thoughts and feelings of my mind.

Um, needless to say, i can express myself in poetry better than i can in any other medium, i have reams upon reams of the stuff in my head. The hours that clock by as i fall alseep will usually see the creation of several dozen short four liners, and a couple of much much grander ones, which i usually forget when i go to sleep.
Normally i won't write down whats in my head because it shows a side of me i don't like most people to see, but sometimes some of it is good enough to go down.

I'm working on a novel right now, but in my head it's a movie (and a complicated one at that which relys heavily on a soundtrack) and i'm having serious trouble conveying an audio-visual story into a written one. Anyone have £200m they'd be willing to lend me to make a movie? lol.

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SpikeQX99

Why do I write? Quite simply, to clear my mind of the days' thoughts, actions, aches and pains, and the accomplishments therein.

Also, I have a weird deal about wanting to write down song lyrics, but I think that is just something to do just for the sake of writing with pen and paper. No better therapy than to turn the mind off, and let the subconsious take over, and see just exactly what was on my mind that day. I'm shocked at some of the things that come out of me when I turn off the self editing.

That's why I write.

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I'm so in love with a girl... she is my everything

msh58

speaking to people doesn't do it about these thoughts or ideas or feelings that come in, they don't want to hear it, even if they care.

kind of leaves the arts. used to draw, but haven't in a long time. writing gets it out of me, releases it, better than anything else.

i mean the thoughts and/or feelings that just don't seem to fit in nicely into the life i live.

Just need an outlet. And i come here and other boards. But some stuff i can't even post.

Writing releases it all though.

mojodragon

I write because I am

serlindsipity

i write out of necessity. I can organze, release, ad maintain some level of sanity through writing. I say the things i do not have the bravery to say aloud and i write for the things i hope will happen.

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My third eye is my camera's lens.

Poppinjay

Like Vox_Rox, I write (and edit) for a living. All factual stuff, reporting, news writing, scripting yadda yadda yadda. Now I write for print for the first time ever so I have to get all that grammar junk right.

When I write here, I write so somebody can read it – me. I’ll never be able to spin tales like Sinclair Lewis or chart my life like Frank McCourt. But I can write things that really mean something to me if not anybody else. There’s one particular very short piece of prose in tilted lit I wrote that kills me every time I see it. I think it’s actually one of the rare ones that nobody has commented on, which is fine with me. I return to it, over and over. Sometimes it brings a tear to my eyes, sometimes I look at it very critically and wonder if it’s totally outside the realm of understanding, but I will never change it, try to improve it, or write something similar.

If I can turn out something like that once every 4 or 5 months, I should have a book written by the time I’m 132. The point really is, I like to read my own stuff when I can manage these brief periods of lucidity.

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I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

Willravel

There's not much on TV.

Poppinjay

i agree with Willravel.

And that's why my true desire is to write a kicky sitcom about a guy and two girls, or a girl and two guys, or a bunch of girls and guys and they're all like, friends.

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I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

darkangel

This is an interesting question for me since I've never really been asked it. The first time I read the question I actually thought it was "WHAT do you write" and I was all prepared with my response until I read the question again..

Why do I write. Well first I have to answer what do I write. And that is horror stories and humor articles.

I think I mainly write to escape from my VERY boring life. Even if my story is unhappy, it's still something different. My life is so routine and dreary that anything different is what keeps my mind reeling. When I write, it all rolls through my head like a movie and I entertain myself. Most of the time the joy is writing it, and not having the finished product.

Now the humor articles are for my own expression. I'm a pretty shy person and don't really have an opportunity to share my funny ideas and thoughts on a regular daily basis, so that's why I jot all of that down..

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"I'm gonna die when it's time for me to die.. so let me live my life the way I want to." - Jimi Hendrix

mojodragon

I'd watch it!

snowy

I write because sometimes I have no other choice.

It is either write, get it out, and see it there in words, or keep it inside, bottled up, causing trouble.

I can't imagine not writing. I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't write. I've even won awards for it, but the writing I do now is not something I share readily. Perhaps, someday, I will share again.

I recall the words of my 9th grade teacher to my mother: "Your daughter should write a novel some day." My mother's reply, "She already has." It was true--I finished a novel by the time I was 14. Unpublishable tripe, but novel-length nonetheless, and writing it introduced me to a character that's haunted me for years. Eventually I want to spin her into a totally fictional world and write another novel featuring her--and this time have it be worthy of reading by the outside world. This time I'll be ready.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Strange Famous

i dont really know, Im not very good at it - in fact sometimes I'm startlingly inarticulate. Sometimes I just feel in the mood and just write whatever comes into my head, I never think about it, or know how it will end when I start

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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

K-Wise

Honestly to put it simply, I just like to express myself. Writing is a very good way to do that. Sure there are other deeper reasons like venting and exorcising inner demons (among other things) but it all boils down to that.

Asta!!

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"I love music and it's my parents fault (closing statement)." - Me..quoting myself...from when I said that...On TFP..thats here...Tilted Forum Project

It ain't goodbye, it's see ya later! I'll miss you guys! - Asta!!

mandy

i write to get rid of all that emotions that my body and mind can do without, like frustration,anger, stress. it's a way to calm not only the mind but the soul aswell.although im very self conscience about my writing, meaning i never let anyone read it(not even healer) i was told once by my lecturer that i write very charmingly.

you express much of yourself in writing than you would to others.it's a very personal thing and to just share it with someone, anyone for that matter, its like you giving them a part of you and reality sets in when you realise that not all people are going to like what you have to say and there'll be lots of inconstructive critism and i dont think i'm ready to handle that just yet.

so i suppose my aim right now would be to find the courage to actually let people read my work and have them enjoy it as much as i enjoy writing it.