[Comicality]

Why do it if you don't have to? Right? Writing is more than just a hobby, it's a discipline. It takes time, and energy, and effort...and sometimes a certain level of frustration. It's definitely a solo sport. So it's not like you can involve a bunch of friends, or just do it in a couple of minutes between commercials of your favorite TV show. So what's the motivation? What is the driving force behind the process?

What pushes YOU, personally, to write the stories that you do? Let us know what the act of writing 'does' for you, and why you're passionate about it! Enquiring minds want to know?

[Nephylim]

What motivates me? Hmm... that's hard to answer. In a way I can't say that I am 'motivated' to write. I 'have' to write. I am 'driven' to write. When I have a story burning in me I can't do anything but write. It posessed me every minute of the day until it is spent and then, more likely than not there will be another one burning to get out.

I find myself working out dialogue on the train, picturing scenes while I am supposed to be working. Walking, talking, eating, breathing like my characters as I work out what they would do and wouldn't do, what they look like, who they are as people.

What kind of things spark off an idea? Anything. A mannequin in a shop window, something someone says in conversation, attending a funeral, being bored in court and looking around at my fellow lawyers... anything and everything.

I'm probably a complete freak but hey, that's the way I like it.

[tejdog1]

To lose myself in a world that's better then the one I'm living in.

It's one of my escapes.

[jamessavik]

I write because I can't paint, sculpt or play an instrument. The urge to create is a primal thing. If no other outlet presented itself, I would paint the deer that I had slain on my cave wall.

[Tiger]

Often I find that a story building in my head when I've been reading a story I like. I don't rewrite what I'm reading obviously, but that is where the sparks are generated, and soon after, I begin a journey into a magical world or a future where life as we know it has been destroyed. (Those are just two examples.) Anyway, I just know when the time is right to begin. Now that I've jumped over a major hurdle, I believe I'll be writing a lot more.