A question for writers, how did you know that you wanted to write?

Question

I am not asking what inspires I am asking, how did you feel that you had to write, that it was your vocation and not just a silly thought? What did you do to prepare yourself? And what do you do if someone asks you about your ambition?

They say that today`s readers are tommorows leaders, can today`s readers become tomorrow`s writers?

What books do you suggest?

Answer 1

When I was younger I always had a strong desire to create, to transcend the boundaries of what I learned. It began with my piano lessons. I soon found that the songs I was learning became boring to me and I searched for something better. Eventually I wrote my own songs. It was the same when I became an avid reader. The stories grew in my head until I could visualize the events taking place in real life, imagining people I encountered as the very characters in my yarns. I had to get them out; put them on paper.
To me it was never just a silly thought, but I knew that if I wanted my visions to be reality I would have to work harder than anything.
If someone asks me what my ambition is? I would tell them I want to live to see my works published and in libraries, bookstores everywhere. And to have my name on the thing that I created. That, to me, would be very rewarding.
As for suggesting books, you've just got to get out there and dive into them. Read the first two chapters of any book. If it hasn't caught your attention by then, move on to another. Taste in books is unique to each person; what one enjoys another finds tedious. You've got to find your own preference when it comes to books.

Answer 2

When I first began writing, what told me that I HAD TO WRITE was that I just didn't stop. If I had an idea and then tried to write it out as a story, then thought it was stupid, I just kept re-writing the idea in different stories and never stopped. I never gave up until I was satisfied - but you know what, now that I have a little more brain, I know that writing isn't about being satisfied with your work - it's about learning from it and making others smile. At the time when I first started, I thought I was ready to write, even though I still had a lot to learn. I suppose practicing over and over again was really preparation.

You know...sometimes it can be embarrassing to say you want to become a writer...it's like saying, "I want to become a historian" to some people. They think...what's the use? I don't say that I want to become a writer in front of my family because I think they may dissaprove of it...usually I say an actress or a doctor - something for the parents to be proud of, if you know what I mean (even though I know deep inside that I shouldn't let others stop me from what I want to do).

I believe today's readers can become anything, because reading is, in a way, also a form of practice and preparation. We learn to write by reading. Reading is an inspiration, because what we read is something else that someone wrote. We're just reading a work by another writer.

Hope this helps and good luck to all the writers out there!

MollyWobbleSrz

Answer 3

I knew at the age of nine that I wanted to write.
So I started putting little books together, with drawings and cardboard covers. One was about rabbits. As I got older, I realized that I was simply re-writing my sister's books by Laura Ingalls(sp) Wilder, about a wagon train.

That's when I decided I needed to have adventures in my life in order to write about them.
I continued to read all the time; over meals, with the flashlight under the covers, etc.
I wrote.
In high school I made sure to be on the school's paper, and was the editor of the yearbook, (got a big award for that and a lousy attitude)--
Off to college, oh boy adventures...
Well, the adventures never stopped.
And I never stopped either reading or writing. I wrote many kinds of things; short stories first, then a jumble jamboree of being a journalist for years, writing a play in the meantime, more short stories.
I stayed in whatever writers' group I could find that gave constructive criticism, and there never seemed to be a lack of them.
So I still write, read... and I'm retired. But not--
See?
***And I read absolutely anything that hold my attention, so I'm afraid I don't have a list of books that prepared me to write.
I took creative writing classes and journalism classes and they prepared me in some way I barely recall...

Mainly, practice, practice, practice in all kinds of writing. Seeing it in print or acted out. These teach you.

Answer 4

I wrote my first story when I could only print; then the summer I was thirteen, as I relaxed, read, and made up stories to tell myself, I realized that I really wanted to write. Since then I've published a few stories and have definitely not given up the dream! So I was certainly a reader who grew up to be something of a writer.

Answer 5

the desire to write is as strong and compelling as the desire to breathe. not a day goes by that a writer does not want to write something--anything, so long as they put *** to chair, and pen to paper.

for me personally, i have always had an active imagination, and coming up w/ story ideas is a natural occurence for me. i can do nothing less.

as far as could a reader become a writer, yes and no. anyone can put words together to make a point, but for fiction, that is an art form. like anyone could learn to sculpt, but only an artist could create something of museum quality.

one of the best books on the subject is david morrell's "lessons from a lifetime of writing". i would recommend it to anyone.

Answer 6

Well, I really like winter which is my favorite season. I thought it would be cool to write a book about a valley of snow and then my ideas just went crazy and I ended up writing more and more. I just like something if I'm really interested in it because it gives me something to do.

Answer 7

I knew in the third grade when my teacher asked us to write creative writing assignments. The assignment was only supposed to be a half a page. I just kept writing, and it ended up being over four pages long. I didn't want to stop the story. I feel compelled by the characters, and wanted to finish the story fully. That's how I knew. [=

Answer 8

I didn't until it came upon me one day that I was a poet. I suspected this, having a sneaking suspicion that I was chosen to carry on the tradition of Whitman and Shelley. Then it came upon me after the towers fell that I should delve more deeply into war and the human condition. Then it came upon me that I should be funny. Then it was made clear to me that I was given this as a gift and it was a blessing, not something to be used and discarded or treated with lightness, but for a Higher Purpose out of respect for creation.

Answer 9

i always want to write something, the question is what am i to write? idk, you just get bored and start thinking i guess, get inspired, find ur best thinkin place and sit there 4 a while.