5 reasons I love writing.

[seanan_mcguire]

I'm a writer. I've been a writer for as long as I've had a grasp of written language, although my earliest works were, admittedly, not all that complex. I get asked "when did you start writing?" pretty commonly in interviews, and my response is always something along the lines of "I have no idea, in the womb, maybe, I don't know." Because really, I don't.

So as we continue our countdown (five days! Sweet pumpkin pie, five days!), here's today's list:

5 Reasons I Love Writing.

5. Stephen King put it best when he said that writing is like a form of telepathy. I make things up, I write them down, and then you can see them, in your mind. You "hear" dialog that I wrote. You "meet" people that I invented. When I write, I am Emma Frost, and that is awesome.

4. Writing continually surprises me. No matter how long I do it, no matter how much time I spend working to improve, I still find myself staring at things on the page and going "whoa, where did that come from?"

3. Writing comes with a very concrete and visible reward for hard work. If I write 2,000 words, I have 2,000 words that I didn't have before. If I write a book, dude, there is now a book in the world that didn't exist before I started typing. Me! I made that! It's incredibly fulfilling. Very few things in life are this immediately fulfilling.

2. I have to work to write. It's my hobby and what I do to relax and it makes me happy, but it's also work. If I don't revise, edit, check my spelling, check my continuity, and basically do hard labor, I don't get good books. I feel like I've done something when a story is finished, and that's amazing.

1. When I'm writing, I make all the rules. I don't think there's anything better than that.

Comments

[deire.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm having trouble priming the pump after long hiatus, and this helps.

[deire.livejournal.com]

And it's not a matter of not wanting to write or not needing to write. It's a matter of starting and stalling and flinching out. And then being unhappy that I'm not writing, because it's part of who I am. I don't like cutting off chunks of me. I'm not made for foot-binding.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Not a problem at all. :)

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

When I'm writing, I make all the rules. I don't think there's anything better than that.
I think that is what struck me when I wrote "Polter-Cow." I could make my characters do anything! I WAS THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE!

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Your characters would seem to be less unruly than mine, then. Making mine do things is not at all easy sometimes. ("Oh, look, there went another outline of where I thought the plot was going... ")

[mariadkins.livejournal.com]

Amen.

I've had people argue with me, "But vampires aren't like that." And I just glare at them and tell them, "Well mine aren't like that. They're non-traditional vampires. Deal with it."

:D

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

HE-MAN!

[sheistheweather]

I've posted a review of A Local Habitation here. :)

I really enjoyed it!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Excellent, thank you.

Thank Klono for productive people

[sasquatch1313.livejournal.com]

5 days! It's awfully hard for me to find enough good new material to read to keep up with my habit(thank goodness I'm one of the few who can reread without pain or I'd really be S.O.L.). Your ability to write as much as you do is amazing. Knowing you, the fact that you ever sit still long enough to write goes beyond amazing to absolutely miraculous. Thanks for helping to keep a reading addict hooked and, upon reflection, a filk addict and, and... Are you sure you're not in possession of a time machine or some weird sort of mentally conjoined triplets or something? 'Cause you're just way too awesome for a single linear existence. ;)

Re: Thank Klono for productive people

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

Are you sure you're not in possession of a time machine or some weird sort of mentally conjoined triplets or something?

While we're throwing around completely ridiculous possibilities, how about, "survives on less sleep by combining writing, sleeping with her eyes open, and directed dreaming."

Re: Thank Klono for productive people

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I still productivity from my alternate-dimension selves. It's my super power.

A Local Habitation on the Shelves! Out in the Wild!

[neile.livejournal.com]

Just a heads up that I just bought a copy from my local Fred Meyer store [for those not from the Pacific NW, it's a local chain store kind of like a non-aggressive smaller Walmart or a much nicer KMart with a grocery included].

I drifted past their book shelves because they have a buy-two-get-one-free paperback sale on right now and lo and behold, there at perfect eye level was A Local Habitation.

Of course I nabbed it!

For anyone in Seattle, it was at the Ballard Fred Meyer, and they have a couple more copies on the shelves for this instant.

Re: A Local Habitation on the Shelves! Out in the Wild!

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Jeezus. FREDDIE'S? That rocks!

Re: A Local Habitation on the Shelves! Out in the Wild!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude.

Grocery store?

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

When I'm writing, I make all the rules. I don't think there's anything better than that.

My Inner Editor compels me to nit-pick this. You are not making all the rules, since you are following the rules of the English language in terms of spelling and grammar and syntax. You are absolutely making up all the rules of your world.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

See, and I am compelled to dispute your nit-pick: If I want you to understand what I'm writing, I follow the rules. But I'm making the choice to do so, and I can change or violate those rules as suits my personal needs.

[maedbh7.livejournal.com]

2)... If I don't revise, edit, check my spelling, check my continuity, and basically do hard labor, I don't get good books.

And I think it's this more than anything else that makes the difference between a pro/published author and weekend amature writer-for-fun. I can slap poetry down all day long or journal to my hearts content; but I'm not willing to put in the work at this time that my written words would need to become works of literary art, fit for human consumption. Item 2 is what I most admire about your approach to your craft...the *work* you put into making it Good. -H...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

This makes sense.

[meko00.livejournal.com]

Short comment to let you know ALH has been sighted, bought, read and enjoyed today.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Woo!

[mokatiki.livejournal.com]

If I write a book, dude, there is now a book in the world that didn't exist before I started typing

Oh, ok now I get it, because that is how I feel about knitting. Also, I can make 3D objects out of string. How crazy is that?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

That's pretty bad-ass.

Making movies in the brain.

[leahraeder.livejournal.com]

#5 rings truest for me. It's very much like making movies in someone's brain. And if you write well, it's better than a movie, because they can smell it, taste it, walk around in it and reach out and poke it if they dare.

And if it's really good...sometimes it pokes back.

Re: Making movies in the brain.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

And sometimes it pokes hard.

[manwe-iluvendil.livejournal.com]

Okay. 1) Funhouse is an awesome song.

2) I totally understand and feel you on the telepathy thing, though I'd likely liken myself more to Xavier as I have a thing for saucy, young redheads and the sight of my hairy man-tits in a white leather bustier is not a visual place I think anyone needs to go to. Ever.

Oh crap. My apologies.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

It's okay. We're strong, we can take it.

[amandamaewenger.livejournal.com]

Those are some awesome reasons, and I think my own reasons for writing are pretty similar! Especially #3--it's exciting to create something that had its first origins in your mind. That, and breaking all the rules. Paper is the one place I get to experiment with reality, you know?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

[it-aint-easy.livejournal.com]

And to think that you once claimed it wasn't a glamorous profession. I think you've just argued very effectively to the contrary. :{)}

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

She still doesn't have a cabana boy, though.

It's out in Maryland!

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to share a cute story.

Earlier today, I got a call from my best friends, who were on their way to my house but were going to stop in at a Borders store and wanted to know if I wanted any books. I immediately said, "I don't think it's been released yet, but I want Seanan McGuire's A Local Habitation. The release date isn't until March, but you never know." Being my friends, they knew I was asking for something in the SF/Fantasy section. I just got a call back saying, "We have it. It JUST came out like right now." And I actually bounced around on my couch, I was so pleased. So, my copy is on its way via people! (I'm also getting Tara Bray Smith's Betwixt, which I only want because I hear it may be turned into a CW show, and I want to check it out before any rabid teenage fangirls go insane over it).

Re: It's out in Maryland!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Oh, squee!

That makes me happy. :)