Why do Writers Write?

The reasons are probably as diverse as the writers themselves.

First and foremost, I think it’s because writers have an opinion.

The word ‘opinionated’ is such a misnomer. To me, it shouldn’t mean dictatorial, or pompous, or prejudiced or dogmatic. Nope. It should mean ‘I have an opinion, and I’d like to share it.’

‘Articulate’ just doesn’t cut it.
‘Articulate’ means I am able to express an opinion; eloquently and fluently.
I’m looking for a word that conveys the need to express an opinion without shoving the opinion down my reader’s throat.

I need a word somewhere between ‘opinionated’ and ‘articulate’ to describe why most writers write.

Writers have an opinion. They need to express it.
Writers have a story. It needs to be told.

Writers write because they need to express themselves.  

Secondly, writers write for recognition.
Even ghost-writers and those who write under a nom de plume want recognition for their work.

These symbols aren’t just letters on a page – they are pieces of my soul. Out of the soul of a writer, cyphers spill forth. I have to scramble to get these cyphers to form letters that fall in an orderly manner, or my work will be a beautifully illegible shamble of squiggles.

Writers want readers to consume their words. Don’t just read them! Taste them. Smell them. Feel them. Most definitely – feel them!  

… and then tell us how they made you feel! We need recognition. We need acknowledgment. We need appreciation.

Writers write because they need to feel valued.

Next, writers write to leave a legacy.

Writers have dreadful imaginations. They have imagined a world without them. They don’t love it. So they scramble to leave pages with notes and half-filled notebooks and half-written manuscripts and unpublished works and, ideally, published books so that on that fateful day that they cease to exist. – they live; between the pages of a book.  

Writers write because they need to be remembered.

Finally, writers write because they love to entertain.

The subject matter doesn’t matter. It can be the most horrific horror or eroticism of the basest kind, a dreamy historical tale or a warm anecdote, a how-to-guide or a self-help book. The ultimate victory for a writer is to keep their reader captivated from cover to cover.

Tell a writer their work is dull, part of their soul dies – deservedly so. That part must not be allowed to create again. That part failed.

Writers write because they need to entertain.

In summary, writers write because they need.