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What inspired you to write?

Griffin

Minstrel
I have always loved reading. My mom tells me that when I was an infant, I would smile and kick my legs at the sight of a book.

The idea to write did not come until I was in the sixth grade. For school, we had to read Jack London's 'The Call of the Wild.' This was the first book that truly left its mark on me. It was also the first book at make me cry and actually cheer for the main character. It made me want to write my own stories. So for nearly a decade, writing has been my passion.

Of course, a writer's craft is always evolving. I've looked back at my older material and cringed.

But I wonder, how did everyone else become inspired? A supportive teacher? Grew up as a library rat?
 

Kelise

Maester
I've just always loved to read, and so as soon as I could write a few letters I was trying to write what happened to the dog, what I did on the weekend and it usually became partly made up.

I didn't actually start writing stories until my final year of primary school - though until then I had done them for class projects at any stage I was allowed - and yes, same as you, I loved books so much I simply wanted to be able to create something that one day gave someone else the same joy that I had.
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
I used to say it was a vivid dream that had one night when I was around 18, which had a plot. I wrote it down and have been writing on and off since, but in truth, I've come to realize it was all the various TV shows, movies, and comic books I watched and read as a kid.

I know this is kind of weird but instead of pretending/daydreaming about being characters like Luke Skywalker, Captain Picard, or say Wolverine, I'd write myself into my favorite movies, TV shows and comic books as a new character. I never really considered it writing but I've come to realize it kind of was.
 

Jabrosky

Banned
The reason I enjoy writing and drawing so much is that it allows me to get concepts or mental images out of my imagination and onto something that other people can see. It allows me to show people what goes on in my own autistic little world.
 
Well I guess being a book person the inspiration was gradually seeping into my mind for years. When I was small I used to write little scenes or stories which on reflection are...not going to win any prizes. Then when I was 14 this scene suddenly started playing itself out in my head, a scene where the protag is escaping execution in a forest at night, and the scene played out so vividly I thought "well why not". That was the moment I decided I would actually write a book. And I've kept that scene.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
When I was 21, I worked at a car dealership. There was loads of down-time, and I hated the other salesmen, so I wrote them into a story and made bad things happen to the guy I hated worst...

So I don't know whether you'd call that "inspiration" but it was certainly fun, and the thing which took me from writing blurbs and poetry into novels.
 

ArielFingolfin

Troubadour
When I was 21, I worked at a car dealership. There was loads of down-time, and I hated the other salesmen, so I wrote them into a story and made bad things happen to the guy I hated worst...
Remind me not to get on your bad side :)

My brother and sisters and I were always making up stories to play and act out when we were younger, and so I just started writing them down. I always loved reading, and whenever I would read a new book that I really loved I would try to take what I loved about it (a particular type of character, a certain plot, etc.) and use that in a story of my own. It's been an escape for me - not that my life is bad - but I like seeing new worlds and viewing things through the eyes of others.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I don't know that I am "inspired" to write in the most general sense of the word. I am inspired in terms of what I write and how I approach it, but as to the question of writing itself, I can't not write. It is a compulsion, and hopefully inspiration can help direct it :)
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
I got bitten by the poetry bug when I was six years old, and haven't stopped writing since. XD Poems, prose, even some dabbling in scriptwriting. I love it. :)
 
I was bored in a gardening class in pre-kindergarten, and I imagined the school exploding. The visualized explosion grew larger and larger, until it engulfed the universe, and when I imagined something bigger than the universe, I pictured a lily pond in which it made a tiny ripple. I then started thinking up a story about that lily pond.
 
Well, I love reading and it is certainly one of my hobbies. I'd say I really thought about writing a book in fourth or fifth grade when I came up with a story that was built in my mind.

I actually still hope to write that story, because it's the first story I ever came up with. And then, about a year ago I remembered my story and came up with different stories that I thought would fit my style of imagination.
 
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