Why I Write - A Guest Post

By: Diane Stringham Tolley, author of Carving Angels (a novel), and On The Border (her blog). 

I love creating worlds.

Just think about it.

Science fiction:

Does gravity work in your world? Does everyone float? What do beings look like in your world? Human? Two legs? Four? A hundred and four? What machines do they use? Or are they still caught in the stone age? How do people survive?

Historical:

What kind of household gadgets did people use who lived in the 1830s? What foods did they eat? What materials were their clothes fashioned from. What style? What did they do after the sun went down and there was little or no light to see by? What were their hobbies? Did they have time for hobbies?

Romance:

What does your hero look like? Tall? Short? Your heroine? Golden hair? Red? Where will they first meet? Fall in love? What hurdles must they overcome to be together? Will they end up together?

That is the wonder of writing.

YOU GET TO DECIDE.

It's up to you whether this or that happens. Whether this creature or that prospers. Or even survives.

It's truly magical.

For the relatively short time when you are composing, you get to play creator. Destroyer. Inventor. Killer. Victim. Hero.

You can leave your own self behind and live other lives. Feel other feelings. Become someone else.

It is amazingly freeing.

And instructive.

Each of us has a story, waiting to be told.

They don't have to be long.

But they do have to be recorded . . .

Creating worlds has always been my favourite pastime.

I do it constantly.

When I should be paying attention in class.

Listening in Church.

Watching where I'm driving.

Okay, so sometimes it probably isn't the 'safest' thing I could be doing . . .

I watch people walking past in the street and make up little stories about them. Depending on my mood, they are sometimes tragic. Sometimes happy.

Usually silly.

But enormously fun.

My first stories were short. A page or two.

Then I got more detailed, adding features and colour and the stories . . . grew.

They grew more complex - multiple chapters, each telling another story or another part of the story and all building towards one climax.

Longer and longer.

Finally, I finished my first novel-length tale about a witch who terrorized an entire town and the simple family who defeated her.

What an triumph!

I was a writer!

Even writers have a hard time expressing the satisfaction that comes with the achievement of  such a goal.

Whether or not your writing will ever be published is immaterial.

You have created something.

Your world will never be the same.

And you will make sure of that! 

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Thank you, thank you to my dear friend Diane for graciously writing this guest post for me.  I have read her book and read her blog regularly.  She is a fine writer and has worked in the journalism industry for many years. She is an experienced writer and I asked her to share with me and my readers what it is that inspired her to become a writer and tips on how to write.  I hope you will check out her blog and her book.  She's fabulous!  Thanks again Diane!  This post was great!