Hm. If I don't write things, they either make me grouchy and cranky until I do, or the images go away and I forget them and that makes me sad. It's sort of like an addiction, the act of writing. The act of having written makes me feel good, but writing itself is more a "if I don't, I suffer" kind of thing.

My ego likes people saying they liked my work. (It's nothing to go into a query letter, but one of our regular waitresses, at a restaurant we've been going to every weekend for over a decade, got to read my first draft. And she loves it and was delighted when I said she could keep the printout I'd done. And that made me happy. O:> )

Too true. It's quite obvious that the artistic side of writing and the business side are two different thingss - it takes a very special type of person to engjoy both!

Once a week (or so) I work on story files that I don't plan on trying to get published. Just for the fun of it. No working hard to get the story arcs to land perfectly...no trying to make certain that each word has meaning. It's almost like writing my own fan-fic.

But it reminds me that there has to be some joy in it, not just endless editing and crafting ;o)

First of all, thank you for posting these links.

Excellent questions. As an academic interested in pop culture, I've actually presented papers on the idea that writing for enjoyment on-line can springboard into practice for publication, and one of the things that many of my primary sources say in interviews is that they'd really rather NOT enter what they perceive as the dog-eat-dog world of trying to publish, that the fans that they have who read their work are validation enough.

As I have moved toward publication myself, I know that the one thing I miss about writing online has been the sense of community that you don't have as a pre-published writer. I liken writing on the internet to local performance for musicians and actors. However, if you want to make the big time, you might have to go to a larger performance venue, and the competition gets harder.

But I digress. (Academics will do that.)

What do I enjoy the most about writing? There's a certain moment when the imagination gives you that rush, when you get the inkling that the thing you're doing is working. I also enjoy when I have a character who captivates me so much that I can't help wanting to tell the story they are telling me. If it's working, I'm acting out my scenes in the car. It's performance. It's fun.

That, we can't share with anyone else, and even if we don't get paid for the work, well, feeling good is a kind of payment.

Since I have a book coming out in September, I find that indeed, some of the sparkle comes off the raw joy of the writing process, and it comes to resemble the work I did on my thesis, rather than the writing I did solely for pleasure. Yet, I can deal. The idea of seeing a book in print, and perhaps ultimately publishing in the bigger leagues gives me a different kind of pleasure.

If I'm very lucky, I can recapture the happiness of discovery in my first drafts. I want cake, and I want ice cream. I don't think they're mutually exclusive.

It also helps that I don't rely on my writing for my income, which means if I am unhappy, I have options. I wonder sometimes if paying the bills destroys the joy of the art, introducing a kind of stress into an environment of creativity?

Catherine

I love thinking up and writing new things: plot ideas, locations, characters, narrative approaches. If I start having novels published, I think I would retain that love if I was able to continue exploring new things. I would have to be able to write lots of very different books.

Wirting can be amazing. It can also kill my will to live.

:D

I love it when things are flowing and I'm making steady progress, I LOVE rewriting so hard that sometimes I think its scared of me. I love reading something I wrote and forgetting that I wrote it and going "wooh, I like this, neat, baby."

I don't like slogging through the middle bits, being on sub, and revising a book I've decided is the worst piece of slop on the face of the earth.

I feel al this with every book, every time.

It may be the medium itself. I sing and play music because I enjoy the way it sounds and the way it feels. I draw because I enjoy looking at the finished product.

But I hardly ever like reading things I wrote. Especially a novel. I spent months or years writing it, agonizing over it, revising it all to heck, and in the end... I'm kind of done with it. I very much want others to enjoy it. But I don't know if I'll ever take pleasure in it myself anymore.

Compare that to how I feel about other people's novels. There are some novels I'd read over and over again. They're my comfort books, and they make me feel warm and fuzzy every time. My own novels don't do that. Maybe that's the difference.

First of all, I think there's a difference between saying, "I'm a pianist" and "I'm taking piano lessons." Saying "I'm a writer" declares that this is something that you do as a job.

Second, as someone who has a dayjob that is also in the arts, I'll tell you that for me writing and puppetry are exactly like music (played violin for seventeen years). I enjoy both, but any professional musician will tell you about the hours and hours of practice. Rehearsals and building are often long, grueling hours of work.

I think it might help to think about it this way. I are storytellers, so the story is the thing I love. The manuscript is the tool to get the story out. There are times when the joy of crafting that tool is prevalent and there are times when it's difficult and unpleasant, but all of that is worth it if I get the story out. It's the same with rehearsals. I rehearse because I love performing. I write because I love telling stories. Both of those are pointless, to me, without an audience. The act of putting words on the page is satisfying and more often than not it's fun, but it is a means to an end. The satisfaction comes from the craftsmanship, if that makes any sense.

One time a friend of mine named Mike said, 'You and Rodney don't have enough fun when you play video games. You're too serious.'

Rodney explained, 'We aren't in it to have fun. We're in it to win.'

People have a hard time understanding when I tell them pleasure isn't my top priority, but I thrive on challenge. I'll never self-publish, and I intend to get published even if I have to revise my novel 15 times before I get it right.

I'm not saying I will do anything for success, but I want to put up a good fight.

Justus

I'm unpublished and likely to remain so, but I get a lot of pleasure out of trying to put a story together. I really like the main character in the story I'm writing now, so when I post an excerpt on my blog I feel like I'm introducing my imaginary friend to new people.

I write mysteries, so I also enjoy the challenge of keeping the plot on track. Sometimes I look back at it and think, "No, full of holes!" but other times the internal logic holds, and I am ridiculously proud of myself.

Mind you, I am also taking guitar lessons and am still at the stage where putting together a few chords and hearing it turn into "Bad Moon Rising" is cause for delight and disbelief. I guess I'm easily amused.

Makes it easier to accept the possibility of never getting published, though, when the writing itself is such good fun.

When I write I am most purely myself. Writing is part of my purpose for being. To not write is to deny myself.

The most fun I have in the writing process is writing the first draft. I love the artistry, the discovery, the adventure of creating people and exploring new places. I can be very, very naughty without the consequences.

Someone gave me a T-shirt a few years ago that says, "Writers, sitting alone at their desk, changing the world one word at a time." I like the thought of changing the world with words, and also with music, and thoughts, and all the myriad things I do throughout each day. Quantum physics at its finest.

Do I enjoy the business aspect of writing? Well, no, not as much as writing that first draft, so I've set up a reward system. I get to write something fresh AFTER I've revised that chapter, sent out submissions, tended to the business.

I also enjoy the outlet writing a blog affords.

The ultimate reward comes in November -- a month free from business, revisions, cleaning the house. I set it all aside for Nanowrimo. That's pure unadulterated FUN!

My perspective (amateur, first pro short story sale a couple of days ago):
I enjoy the act of writing, especially the act of surprising myself with the beauty and the words and characters on the page. Often times when I come back later the work isn't quite so beautiful ;) -- but the writing fugue makes me feel whole somehow.

That said, there is a lot of baggage tied up in it. Hopes, dreams of escaping the daily grind, living up to past stories, self-doubt. That sort of pressure makes it a lot less fun. Especially if the muse/fugue doesn't show up. Also, I don't enjoy the rewriting part as much as I probably should.

It is a heck of a lot more fun than most people probably do for a living, but I can see how it could become a negative, unrewarding trap if you get tied up in the negative parts instead of the positive ones.

Edited at 2009-03-11 03:20 pm (UTC)

At a certain point, if you spend four to twelve hours a day, seven days a week, four seasons a year, year after year, researching, writing, revising and boring all relatives with discussion of your writing, family members say to you,
"You d*%$ well better make some money at this." And you can tell from the steely, almost manic fever in their eyes, they mean it.

At that point, whether you like it or not, you have to break out the query letters.

Creative process. Ideas come together for me easier when I start writing them out.

I love that feeling of surfacing after x amount of time with the feeling that it's been just minutes and seeing that it's been hours. Getting totally lost in what I'm doing.

What I love about writing: the process of figuring out characters. Seeing where their stories go (because if I don't, the unfinished stories will nag at me). The simple selection of the proper word in the proper place.

Writing can be an act of pleasure, done for its own merit, with no ambitions of remuneration attached. It often is that very thing, but publishing professionals tend to call that 'fanfic', and tend to regard it with suspicion, and often scorn.

Not to say that fanfic doesn't include some excrable examples of the craft, from the ubiquitous Mary Sue to the txtsp33k t33n3rz, but there are also beautifully talented writers to be found there, who are doing the work because they love to write, and don't want to muddy the well of their enjoyment with the stress and demoralization of the publishing process. They write stories in another creator's world purely because there is no pressure to then take those stories and sell them. So the writing remains an act of love, not of business.

So... what about writing - the act itself - do you enjoy the most?

I get to make something intricate without bashing my thumb with a hammer.

And, for those of you in the publishing trenches, did you used to enjoy writing, but now find that the goal of publication (whether for the first time or thereafter) gets in the way? And, if so, what do you think could help you re-acquire that old feeling?

First question: yeah, it gets in the way, because some of my less commercial story instincts actually matter now.

Second question: Well, the whole world could decide to love my books no matter what I write. Alternately, I could just become a better writer.

Deadlines are stressful. Hopefully, that will ease as time goes on.

I write because I like to, but there are a lot of different reasons I like to. Off the top of my head:

- Plotting and planning characters and character arcs is a bit like a puzzle. So is rewriting. I get the same sort of pleasure out of writing that I would get out of a puzzle. This is more of a cerebral, left-brain kind of pleasure.

- I've found that writing helps me notice things about the world I wouldn't otherwise. When I'm wondering why someone acts a certain way, or why people like the things they do or don't like the things they don't, I usually sit down with a blank text file and start typing things out until I reach some sort of understanding. This is also rewarding when I'm trying to decode my own behavior and feelings. This has a bit of left-brain feel to it, too.

I feel that the things I have learned by writing about them are helpful to everyday living. I feel they've made me a more secure person and more empathetic to people who are different than me, both of which make life easier and happier for me.

- The more right-brain element of this is that I just like feeling emotions, even negative ones, and I feel like writing is a healthy way to sublimate things. If I need to feel angry or bitter or petty or violent or insecure or excited or bare or self-righteous or despairing, I can write about it in some form. That way I can visit things on my own terms, rather than make bad decisions out of boredom. Whenever I have an irrational impulse, I write instead of indulging it.

Plus writing about things is a really great way to get over fears and hang-ups. I just get it all out of my system and I'm past it. It's great, free therapy. (Of course, writing can just as easily be used to dwell on unhealthy things. I think it all depends on the writer.)

Even if I never publish anything, I feel like I would be a much poorer person if I didn't write.

In a conversation with a successfully published writer (who also has several movie deals)during a weeklong workshop, he told me, (paraphrased) "I'm not a writer like most of you are writers. I do it now because I'm having some success with it. If I stopped being successful, I could set it aside and never look back."

I just didn't get that. Terri writes. End of story. Whether or not I ever publish on a grand scale, it will still hold true. What would I do with all the worlds in my head??

Ha. I get the "What have you published?" question all the time, and while that is my eventual goal, I know I'll still want to create stories even if I never sell a book.

It's the act of creation for me. I've got stories fluttering about in my head, and until I sit down and force them to come out in a logical order, they just float around as snippets. I like putting them in some sort of tangible form (if you can call words on a computer screen "tangible") and making connections between this event and that. I like fleshing out characters and figuring out what makes them work. I like making myself think critically about the stuff of my dreams.

My only frustration is that when I put something on paper (or a screen, as it were), I have to make it make sense. In my head, I can ignore the little details, but I want all the quirks of the story to have logic behind them when I write them down. At times, though, writing with an eye toward publication can be a tiny bit stifling--my plan for my current MS includes lots of backstory, both for character development and filling in several hundred years' worth of history, and it can be stressing trying to figure out where to fit it all in with the main narrative! (Of course, like I said, this wouldn't be a problem if I weren't trying to confine it to a decent novel length. If I let myself ramble on, it could be hundreds of thousands of words long, but even I wouldn't like it then. So lots of revision ahead to tighten everything up!)

I like the clickety-clack of the keyboard. I mean, I also like it when I put words together in ways that nobody has before, when I can say something, and make it true by the telling, and so on. But mainly, I'm in it for the clicking.

I, like many others here, enjoy the creation of a story. I enjoy the plotting and figuring what makes my characters tick. However, I've discovered that this can produce quite a headache. I write because I can't seem to stop. If I stop, my characters always seem to keep talking anyway.

Even if I thought I'd never get published, I'd still write, though to be truthful, I probably wouldn't spend so much time on revision :)

I used to write songs. Back in the days when you actually had to go in to a proper studio, I must have recorded at least sixty. That represents about a third of the total number of 'completed' works (ie; those that got at least one live performance). Of those sixty, there are only about two dozen that I'm still proud of. I think story-telling works the same way. Not everything stands the test of time, but it's always fun while you're making it up.

For me there is nothing like the sheer excitement of watching the characters take over -- as if they're acting by themselves. The first time that happened to me, I was an addict for life.

ETA: I also write songs, which I produce in a tiny home studio and occasionally release for free on the interwebs. I have no intention of selling them -- I do them strictly for fun, and probably will till the day I die. Same with writing -- I'll always do it, whether I sell or not. It'd be fun to sell, though.

Edited at 2009-03-11 06:17 pm (UTC)