Why I'm Here

For this prompt, I'll put it at the top. The prompt is "write about why you write." I felt like this is more of an intro than a writing prompt, but I figure it works as something I can quickly write after a long day at work (because let me tell you, it felt like a very looooong day).

So, why do I write? I guess the generic answer would be because I want to be a published author, and well, in order to do that, you need to write. I've always been fond of creative writing, ever since I was at school. Mostly I did it for fun, and short story assessments in high school English were the highlight of my time there. 

In the later years of high school, I was introduced to fanfiction by a friend (who has been one of my best friends for over 10 years and also wants to be a published author). At first, I just read it, but after getting ideas in my head, I started writing fanfics of my own. It was around then that I did a short story task for Year 11 English. I worked my butt off to write that thing and I went through at least three drafts (like, who even does that many drafts for a high school assignment?)

In the end, I only got a C+, and I was absolutely gutted. Yet I showed my family members and my Nana loved it, she told me I should turn it into a book. My Nana, as well as my mum and her sisters, are all avid readers. Sure, she's biased, I was her favourite grandchild (of course), so she was probably just humouring me. However, to 16-year-old me who had just started getting into creative writing, that was all the go ahead I needed to turn that 600 word short story into an actual book.

I spent the next few years trying to get that book done. Did I finish it? No, I definitely didn't. From the various writing books I have read from famous authors, it seems that that is pretty normal. Sometimes, the first really great idea is just not your final product. As I grew older, I looked back on that 600 word short story and thought to myself "ah, I see why I only got a C+." It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't the best I had.

In the last 12 and half years since I graduated high school, I have gone through many story ideas, and very few got passed 10,000 words. About 5 years ago, I worked on one that reached 25k, but I just couldn't get the words to flow after that. So I continued to take the advice of authors who have written books on writing and I just started on a fresh idea. Maybe I'll come back to that one later down the track.

I'm now writing the third draft of my current project, with the most recent draft coming in at 77,000 words. It's a fantasy, so it's not quite the length it needs to be, but the basics are there. I'm just rewriting it and adding more substance as I go. This is my most successful attempt in the 10+ years I've been writing.

This whole thing became a lot more long winded than I intended. The gist? I write because I can, and because I love that I can. My ideas aren't always top notch, but I love sitting at my laptop and letting the words flow. My Nana passed away four years ago, so she's never going to see my published work, but you better believe she'll be in my first Dedication and every Thanks To.

I still have two more days of work before the holidays, so don't expect much writing wise, but hopefully I can give you better writing after that.