Should writing be fun?

[Feo Takahari]

This was never something I gave serious consideration to until recently--I enjoyed knowing that people liked my stories, and that was worth the slog to get them finished and edited. But now that I'm attempting longer works, I'm starting to realize how low my motivation gets after a long time writing, and the obvious thing to blame is my lack of pleasure in the process. Is it enough to treat my writing like a job, or do I need to enjoy it? For that matter, how do I enjoy it?

 

[Steerpike]

Personally, I think you should enjoy it. I think you should enjoy whatever job you do, but if you're just thinking in terms of 'job' there are a lot easier and more lucrative ways to make money than by writing. For the vast majority who go the writing route, it will never provide a living wage in and of itself. So if you don't enjoy it, what's the motivation?

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Writing is hard. It should be. If it was easy, everyone would do it. Writing is also fun. It's the job you love to do. We write because we love it, but also because we kinda have to. I know when I go long stretches without writing, my mental health suffers.

Approach writing as a job, but just think! You get to work in a world entirely of your making - how cool is that? Not many people in the world get to do that.

I'm slogging through the middle-of-the-work swamp, myself, and it's often not fun. That's when I realize that I'm not listening to the characters talking, anymore. If you want to have fun, get back in touch with your characters. They're the life of the story, and good characters will never fail to surprise you. So give them a little slack on the reins, and enjoy the ride!

 

[Sparkie]

For the most part, I think, yes you should enjoy writing. Granted, there are certain things about writing I don't enjoy. But there are certain things I don't like about other activities I enjoy as well, yet that doesn't dampen my love for such activities.

As for how...

If you need to ask 'how can I enjoy writing,' perhaps you need to make a decision about what your goal in writing is. Do you simply want to write for your own sake? To entertain others? To make money? To gain noteriety?

Define for yourself what you want to accomplish, then achieve it. (Easier said than done, I know.)

 

[wordwalker]

I like to make the distinction that, writing's rarely fun when I start a session, but it usually gets fun as I get into it.

Yes, we need discipline to push through it, and we also need to be comfortable with most of the process. (All those hours? and we're not doing it for money, or even to see our names on the shelves.) If most of your writing isn't fun, it may mean you're sensing the story isn't working-- or your goals or schedule or divide-up-the-work tricks aren't making it as smooth as they could. The nice thing about writing is you can reinvent any of those to fit your needs; "treat your day as a design flaw for not matching your preferences yet."

There'll always be buckling down needed. But under all the sweat, it ought to be fun.

 

[BWFoster78]

There's an old quote that applies:

Everybody wants to have written. Nobody wants to write.

For me, I think coming up with the stories is fun and going from a barely readable 2nd draft to a polished 3rd draft is an enjoyable experience. Sometimes, staring at that blank page for the rough draft is a nightmare, and going from 1st draft to second is nothing but tedious most of the time.

 

[SeverinR]

Writing should be entertaining.
You should feel excited when the story is exciting, you should feel down when the story is down,
maybe if your feeling like the writing is work, you might be focusing on something that isn't contributing to the entertainment of the book?
ie if its boring to write, it is probably boring to read.

 

[BWFoster78]

I've read musings by a lot of writers. In fact, I'm in the process of rereading Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, and the author discusses this very topic.

From all those sources, the overwhelming opinion seems to be: not many people enjoy the actual process of writing.

 

[Penpilot]

When it's going well, it's fun. When it isn't, it's not. But overall, the scales tip toward the fun side. Like anything worth doing, there's going to be work involved, and that's not always fun. But you get what you put into it.

Just look at pro athletes. The stereotypical image is they get paid to play a child's game. What usually doesn't fit into the stereotype is the hours and hours of practice they put in and all the discipline of eating right and training involved to get them to where they are and keep them there.

I think the same is true of writing. The stereotype is a writer sits down and craps out a book in a week or so and it's brilliant right off the bat. We all know that isn't true.

For me part of the fun is the figuring out solutions to the problems enountered. It's hard sometimes but overall the process is enjoyable, trying this or that. And when you find that solution, there's that aha moment that gives me a rush and it's like an explosion of fun.

The big big pay off is in the finish. When I get something done and edited to the best of my abilities, there's that glow of satisfaction. It's like what a ride, good and bad, but it was fun just going through it.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

It should be fun yes. It should also, at times, feel like work. Any effort requiring discipline will feel like work somewhere along the way.

Sometimes, when I feel like my writing has been "more work, less fun" it gives me pause. That's a signal to look at what I'm writing. If I'm not enjoying writing a story, maybe it's not the story I should be writing. I believe in the mantra "write what you'd like to read". If you don't enjoy writing a particular tale though, I just don't see many people enjoying reading that story. In this case, maybe it's time to look at another story type before you worry about the enjoyment level of the writing craft itself.

 

[MadMadys]

You should, at least, enjoy some part of the writing process for you to enjoy the writing itself. If you like it when people read what you have written and enjoy it, then writing facilitates that good feeling. In that way, writing is a means to fun, you could say.

for me, I enjoy writing just about as much as I love distractions from writing. Making that perfect scene come alive on the page after it was in my head (or doing a better job than that) is something I really do enjoy. When I have that moment where I realize my fingers are typing away without my even thinking about it is when I know I have found my fun.

Of course when others enjoy what I've written that is the cherry on top but I mostly write, at least when it comes to creation, to give my imagination something to vomit into.

So, as asked, should writing be fun? The writing itself doesn't necessarily have to be but you better enjoy some part of the process or you may be a masochist to your poor fingers.