Why write?

Writing offers so much to so many. What does it mean to you?

People write for all kinds of reasons. Some, because it’s immensely fun and satisfying to create new characters and worlds. Some, because it’s their job or a hobby, or a hobby that they want to turn into a job. Others because they feel compelled to create stories and share them with readers. Or maybe it’s because they fell in love with a book and want to write further adventures for characters they just can’t say goodbye to. Or because sitting down at a laptop writing stories is a truly wonderful way to spend an afternoon. Or because it’s something they can do (have to do, really) solo with no need for anyone else’s input or collaboration – something that is entirely theirs. Or because it allows them to try out different paths and choices: What if I moved to Peru? What if I had opened up a bookshop? What if I climbed a mountain? Or to create a unique gift or an heirloom. Or to make peace with their past by looking back and writing it down exactly as it happened or, rewriting their past so that it’s infinitely better and kinder.

People write to give someone they loved a better ending: ‘She lived happily ever after,’ or to reveal who they are: ‘This is how I am the way I am.’ To get lost in a fantasy land or in a by-gone era. To create friends for themselves. To overcome fears and anxieties. To heal. To soar. To start and finish something unique. To create something beautiful.

Like most people, I write for a combination of the above. For me, it’s the fun, the challenge, the rewriting, the compulsion and escape. I love the whole process of coming up with characters (usually people I’d like to spend time with; my imaginary friends, if you will), presenting them with a challenge or problem and then seeing what they do. I love how often, even the most carefully drawn characters seem to take on a life of their own, heading in directions entirely different to what I had planned for them. Which is wonderful.

I also really like writing settings I’d like to find myself in. Much of the action in my current novel sees my characters in a beautiful garden. Despite finding myself knee-deep in questions about plot, dialogue and character development, I enjoy spending time in this made-up setting. I may be peering out of my window at a sweep of grey sky but I’m also somewhere with rainbow-coloured petals, pink blossom, the heady scent of roses and cut grass.

For me, writing is utterly transporting.

There are as many reasons to write as there are stories to tell. Why do you write?

-- Deana Luchia