Why Write?
Fiona, Thane, and I had a writing sleepover a couple weeks back (We stayed up til 6 am and only got like 2-3 hours of sleep before we had to go on with our days. We were so so tired.) and one of the questions that came up while we talked was this:
Why do you write?
We all had interesting reasons, each extremely unique to our own history and circumstances. But ever since we talked I haven’t been able to get that question out of my head. Why do I write? Well, To help me process my own thoughts and to give you all a little insight into who I am as an author I decided to do a little brain dump/rant thing here. Let’s see what comes out.
Q: Why does Vira write?
A: I don’t believe that there is one answer to that question. When I create a character it’s not long before they begin to shape themselves. I create backstory or build roadblocks to their dreams and they react of their own accord. Sometimes I can sway the outcome or how the scene goes, other times I can’t. These characters become people to me. Living breathing people who have lived through things that I couldn’t imagine surviving and/or made choices that I wouldn’t condone. It’s their story, and I owe it to them to tell it like it is. No filters, no sugarcoating.
I tell these stories because they are the ones I needed to hear. The people I write about aren’t chosen ones. And though it might change, their world would survive without them. Sometimes they’re incredibly powerful warriors or political figures other times they’re high school students in bad situations. Some have siblings others don’t. They’re like me. They don’t start out special, they fight for that title. They work and they train and they strive for something more. They don’t give up and they don’t back down. They are kind and they are hurt and they are angry. They’re full of contradictions and inner conflicts. They are human.
It has been said that I have a hero complex in my own life. But as a child the idea of a hero was misrepresented to me. Heroes were self-sacrificing to a fault, always kind, always humble, they were book smart, and they were street smart, they went above and beyond in every situation, they never backed down, and almost all of them at one time or another disobeyed orders.
In essence, they were everything I wasn’t.
So I pushed myself to be a hero. I volunteered for everything, no matter how much I didn’t want to do it. I thought of everyone else more then myself, I was diligent in my studies, I took self defense classes, I molded myself into a leader, I planted my feet in what I believed in, and I developed a problem with receiving orders from anyone I don’t respect. I made myself into what I thought a hero was, and while normally that wouldn’t be a bad thing, I went overboard to the point that it began hurting me more then it helped others.
In one of my previous posts, Protagonist , I told you that you are the protagonist of your own story. And that is exactly right. But if you waste your life trying to be the hero in everyone else’s story you’ll lose sight of who you’re supposed to be.
So to sum it all up. I write because I want to tell the stories I needed to hear when I was younger. The flawed heroine, the emotional hero, the world that just keeps on spinning.
Now that I have hopefully answered the question the the best of my ability I ask it of you. Why do you write? Feel free to leave your answer in the comments or post them on your own social media!
Namárië mellon nín,
~Vira
