I, like all authors, write for many reasons.
A short list:
– I can’t not write
– Words and ideas are fun to play with
– Share a story that must be told
– Give life to characters who deserve to live
– An outward expression of inner struggles
– Provoke thought
– Create beauty & wonder
– Elicit emotions key to what makes humans human
– Make a space for dialogue on certain themes and topics
– Forge a connection—and maybe hit a soft spot—with readers
– [This list could go on forever]
All these reasons are a mix of selfish desire/need on the part of the writer, and a more benevolent desire/need to create a gift for others. At least, that’s my belief. With the amount of heart, time, energy, and life given to the art of writing, I can’t see how there can truly be any other marriage of motivations.
Beyond all this, in a personal confession, there is a more vulnerable and quiet reason why I write. This reason burns beneath all the other motivations. It’s the white-hot core that fuels and feeds the others.
I guess I’m confessing this because it is truth, because I recognize it, and because it offers a glimpse of the one behind he words.
The deepest motivation behind my desire to write:
To re-imagine my own narrative of identity and belonging.
I could deny it. I could (try to) hide it. But I really don’t know what that would accomplish? And, in the end, it feels like a good thing to know our truest motivation, embrace the hell out of it, and let it thrive.
Beneath all the others, I’m guessing we each have a core motivation.
Do you know yours?
LUCAS HARGIS 
. As a child I was the outsider, old before my time, seen things a child should never see or experience and the only way to express my feelings was to write. I recall inventing another life for myself in a journal format, in that life the girl was born to a safe, loving family with siblings (I was an only child) and was never afraid to go home. I don’t have those journals anymore but I wish I did so I could see what I wrote again. So, yes, we all have our reasons to write. Yours is about identify and mine is about being “the other” and that’s why my main characters are usually viewed by other characters as “the other” in some shape or form. I think every writer should dig down and figure out why they write at their core. Great post, BTW.
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I feel that outsider vibe, too, and creating characters with that attribute makes an entry point for readers who do. I totally agree that we should all dig down and figure out that core.
Thanks for sharing your personal motivation, Kathleen!
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Very interesting confession Lucas.
Personally, I see writing as a way to escape the limitations of my body, a way to touch, travel, and experience things I may never get a chance to in my immediate reality. I have made good friends in my imaginary worlds and use them as a way to escape reality when I’m stressed, sad, depressed, anxious or just tired. It’s a way to explore, and in turn I have gotten to know myself better through observing/editing the patterns that come about in my work. I also see writing as a way to express the ideas I cannot draw or paint.
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A great motivation, Alexa. And I love that you use words when visual representations won’t suffice. [I’m guessing this works the other way, too–using images when words aren’t enough.] Thanks for sharing!
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