Fiction Writers: why do you write what you write?

Discussion in 'Fantasy' started by J.T. Woody, May 13, 2018.

  1. Irina Samarskaya

    Irina Samarskaya Senior Member

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    I can very much relate with this. I don't read all that much fiction simply because I find most of it to be rather too similar to each other and not all that imaginative. I very much enjoyed the first fiction books I read, but not the ones that are lesser known, published recently, and have similar but diluted plot lines, characters, themes, etc. etc.

    On the other hand I've had a very strong affection for history, history dramas, and in general stories that combine the real with the possible and have some sort of actionable example out of it. I don't really enjoy things that are highly implausible (or impossible) unless they're done really well or somehow capitalize on it in a way to make it fun (as ultimately all creative literature ought to be fun and enjoyable as it is otherwise pointless).
     
  2. Veltman

    Veltman Active Member

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    I write because I love researching the history of ancient civilizations, the political systems, the wars, the coups, betrayals, the heroes, conquerors and everything in that sense. Since I couldn't get enough of it, I started creating my own universes, countries, governments, religions as well as reading to get to know ours!
     
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  3. Bobby Burrows

    Bobby Burrows Banned Contributor

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    My writing stems from screenplay writing, and with that, I write scenes I see/dream up in my head, of things I think about, see etc.
     
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  4. Artifacs

    Artifacs Senior Member

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    I write what I'd like to read but cannot find anywhere. The 80% of sci-fi doesn't suits me (to be polite actually: the 80% of that 80% sucks).

    It's a complex genre that needs new subgenres to be developed or created. There's a lot of ideas unexploited to build them up but also need a lot of time to do it.

    There're many stuff I want to read besides or related to sci-fi and just there's no time for all: writing / exploring / reading.

    That's the fun of it, though.
     
  5. The Dapper Hooligan

    The Dapper Hooligan (V) ( ;,,;) (v) Contributor

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    Honestly, a lot of it is because people buy it. Urban fantasy is kind of hot right now, throw some sexy bits in there and it's pretty much cash in the bank. It helps finance my other passions, like writing terrible literary drama and leveling up my alcoholism.
     
  6. Bobby Burrows

    Bobby Burrows Banned Contributor

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    I'm that 'if it's not a classic, it's nothing to me, so why should I read it when I could read Frankenstein or Catcher In The Rye' guy...
    The only contemporary pieces of literature I respect is Stephen King's works and Fifty Shades of Grey and Harry Potter.
    The rest of these new books are nothings for a bunch of nobodies who's like
    'Have you read such and such blah blah blah that no one's ever heard of'...
    I don't get why people would waste their time reading some new release about the same old thing, than something tried and tested and culturally enriching - like Bram Stoker's Dracula, that's a book, why don't people bother reading it?
    What has some nobody book got on the greats? Nothing, that's what.
    That's why, when I write, I'm not writing books.
     
  7. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    I'm just staring at you, going back and forth between, "Of course he's joking," and "He doesn't really sound like he's joking."
     
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  8. Bobby Burrows

    Bobby Burrows Banned Contributor

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    I want to do stand up comedy...
     
  9. Zombie Among Us

    Zombie Among Us Active Member

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    I absolutely adore stories with a sci-fi plot in an end-of-the-world situation with morals that you can connect to real life. I like stories with some big, evil, terrifying force after the main character(s) and a hint of romance. I get immersed in those universes, weather I'm writing or not.

    There's one storytelling style that I adore: metafiction. To be more specific, the book exists in the universe it's set in and there's a reason why. I somewhat prefer reading metafiction stories like this over stories with traditional storytelling, and perhaps it makes it easier for me to get lost in the world and forget that I'm even reading. My current book is meant to be like that. It "exists because" it's a journal written by the main character. They wanted to document what was going on to try to understand what was happening. The book is meant to be as if that journal was published and the reader is living in the world the story takes place in. Does that make sense?
     
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  10. J.T. Woody

    J.T. Woody Book Witch Contributor

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    They had to start somewhere. At some point in time, these authors were nobodies. At some point in time, their works meant nothing.
    Everyone and everything has to have a start, ya know?
     
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  11. Mark Burton

    Mark Burton Fried Egghead Contributor

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    I've always made up stories in my head, even since I was a young child. I love creating scenes in my mind and seeing how the various characters interplay. I guess it's an extension of a multitude of imaginary friends of my early youth. My folks used to go nuts because I often conflated the imaginary world with the real one. In charitable moments, they called it a "fertile imagination". At some point I got quite good at telling the real world from the imaginary ones, although I think many authors would agree with me that reality is a subjective sport, and one that I confess not to be very good at.

    I only recently found out that this "gift" is not something that many of us are blessed (or cursed) with. I see stories played out in much the same way as watching a movie, except that I can experience the emotional component too. Now I write to use that gift and I'm hopeful that I'll become a popular author by actually writing it down and massaging it until I get good at it.

    People ask how I come up with my ideas for writing. Honestly, I have no idea. Most of the flash, poetry and short stories I come up with simply pop into my head in response to a prompt or sometimes for no apparent reason. It's a bit like a friend popping in for a visit. I simply write it down and crystalise a story or poem out of it. I've learned to keep a device handy so I capture story ideas and snippets as and when they happen or they vanish as quickly as they arrived back into the aether.

    I get the most enjoyment from reading about and creating different universes, generally ones that have some relatability to our universe but are different somehow. So the Science Fiction genre is what comes more naturally to me, but I would probably also look to writing some pure fantasy at some point too.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2018
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  12. Alan Aspie

    Alan Aspie Banned Contributor

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    The memetic topology is pregnant. It is about to give birth to this nice story. And it needs someone to help it in this storybirth. And here is me and nobody else.

    If I refuse we can loose this infant story.

    What could I do but my best?
     
  13. cosmic lights

    cosmic lights Contributor Contributor

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    I don't write any Genre really. I've tried romance, sci-fi, historical, horror, crime, thriller, comedy and now a Fantasy. I write in whatever Genre my plot needs me too write in.

    But I got into story-telling as a child. I was an only child, and my Mother was very sick and so it was decided to keep me home so I could be with her just in case things went differently to how everyone hoped. So I didn't do much schooling so was not skilled in writing, spelling or reading. But my Grandfather would read the old classics to me and always said: "if you're going to read, read something decent and expand your mind. Don;t fill it with fluff.'

    Being ill, my Mum was stuck in bed most days and it was boring for her. So I would put on performances for her with all my dolls and toys. Something these stories would go on for weeks. So naturally it was decided I would be an actress. I studied acting and music for years with my father who was a musician. I wrote my own stuff and that was where I felt most comfortable - though it never struck a chord in me.

    Then one day my English teacher said you're not meant to be a performer - you want to be a writer. Then I realized it was story-telling I liked, not performing.
     
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  14. 18-Till-I-Die

    18-Till-I-Die Banned

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    Honestly I have always been a huge fan of science fiction, going back to my childhood. I read a Bolo back in 1998 and I fell in love both with comics and with sci-fi in general. After that, I basically searched out any sci-fi and especially space opera stuff I could find, eventually stumbled on the Lensmen series and The Empire Strikes Back (which I still hold to be empirical proof of God) and it spiraled out of control from there lol. Also I was a MASSIVE fan of early anime to come to America in the 90's (Christ I miss the 90's) so I ate up stuff like Robotech, Dominion Tank Police, Akira, M.D. Geist, Cybernetics Guardian, etc. And these all had a huge impact on me, both in a conceptual sense and also in just how stories were structures, character archetypes, some of which probably seem dated but whatever...I miss the 90's, sue me.

    I kinda throw together a lot of different genres that I'm interested in--with Space Opera stuff, Dystopia/Cyberpunk/Biopunk stuff, Military Sci-Fi and(you may want to sit down for this...) Young Adult romance kinda taking precedence. Mainly I use these cause it's the stuff I really am interested in. My first real experiences in the genre of sci-fi were military stories and settings like Lensmen, Bolo, Honorverse and the Dahak series. So like 98% of what I write is basically kinda a mishmash of that kind of pervasive nihilism and 90's fashion and mecha designs from anime. And when I was young my Grandmother, rest her soul, used to watch soap operas like a religion so I was one of the few boys on the playground who actually kinda liked romance and such before it was cool and designated as a genre with the YA craze. To this day I'm likely one of the few men who openly reads the kind of saccharine romance books that Hallmark movies are based on. So that kind of soap opera-y, teen drama genre stuff plays a lot into stuff I write too. And I just ADORE the concept of a snarky antihero, kinda "Jerk With A Heart Of Gold" stereotype akin to Han Solo...idk something about a guy who ISN'T a good guy but still does the right thing in the end just because it's an option seems more heroic than like Sterling McSquarejaw and the Knights of the Good Guy Table charging into battle while horns blare.

    So like, my heroes, I've been told, can come across as downright unemotional and cold but when the crap hits the fan they do the right thing because at heart they're good people just cynical, kinda brokenhearted people left alone in a hellish landscape of ceaseless war. Also usually young, unbridled. So like imagine, Han Solo as a dude in the Imperium of Warhammer 40K but a teenager and in some relationship foible.

    Wow that was longer than I intended, my apologies!
     
  15. Odile_Blud

    Odile_Blud Active Member

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    I write whatever comes to mind. Sometimes slice of life, sometimes fantasy, sci-fi, horror. I just get ideas and write whatever one interest me the most. There's no real reason, I guess.
     
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