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Writers write.

Also, painters paint. Leaders lead. Runners run. Teachers teach. Mathematicians (mathers?) math.

It’s always been fairly simple for me. I think people are what they are. They may pursue other careers to make a living, but they are always drawn to what they are. I’ve been constructing stories since I was old enough to remember being read to. Charlotte’s Web, Runaway Ralph, The Hobbit, The Chronic-(What?!)-cles of Narnia. All started me down the path of storytelling. My mother even subconsciously named me after the profession of storytelling.

So, my motivation is primordial. That doesn’t mean that I’m always doing it right or even well. I fail daily. But I also try daily.

All that to say, there is no true metric for a writer. He or she simply must write.

But I do have some arbitrary metrics. And they’re financial. Stephen King says a successful writer is one who sells what he writes and with that money he pays the bills.

I have a fantasy of selling everything and buying a sailboat. Maybe just living and writing in the Caribbean. But maybe sailing to even more distant shores. With my family of five, I’ve whittled down the monthly expenses (assuming debt-free ownership of the boat) to about $3,500. That’s $42,000 a year net (about $50,000 gross). So, that’s my target as a writer. About what a school teacher makes, but being able to work on my own terms.

I honestly believe that if you write what you naturally enjoy writing and get better and better at it, you will eventually have enough readership to support your writing. At Substack’s average $7/month subscription, you only need fewer than 600 paid subscribers to earn that $3,500. And with the rule of thumb that you will have a roughly 10% paid subscriber base, you need 6,000 subscribers. That’s doable.

So, there’s a motivational goal. ✍️ ⛵️ 🏝️

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For me, I guess it's pretty simple. I write because I enjoy the process, and to create the kind of stories I want to read.

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Because it’s a total blast! I love eliciting emotions in others with stories (i.e. entirely made up scenarios that at one point lived solely in my head). We writers are pretty magical-- we make words come out of our fingers and weave them into something real that others can feel and respond to. ✨📝

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I see art as one mind reaching out across the void to other minds and asking, do you see it too? Is life like this for you too? And the great difficulty in this is not the answer, but in fully expressing the question. That's the motive: to fully ask the question I want to ask.

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Hi, Simon (first comment yay). It's the same for me! I've written stories ever since I learned how to write & never really stopped. I get grumpy & short-tempered when I don't write which I call my withdrawal symptoms. But that's not really why I write.

Writing stories is the most exciting challenge for me. There are some rules that people generally agree on but they can be bent, even broken. Success vs. failure is very clearly defined but there's a variety of ways to get there. To be honest, sharing is an integral part of storytelling for me so I do define 'success' of a story in terms of how readers liked it although I know some people are perfectly happy just writing for themselves. I'm just not one of them.

I hear coding & sciences like math & physics scratch the same itch for many: the problem-solving itch. For me, the problem solving occurs when I try to figure out the shape of the story as I write, how to get from plot point A to plot point B etc. Then it occurs again when I try to make the writing as clear & appealing as possible during revision & editing. To me, it's the most interesting, most fun game there is.

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I find that being a writer, if not a huge source of dolla bills, is still hugely rewarding in so many other areas. I write to get to experience parallel lives I didn’t choose- my characters have jobs I think I‘d be happy doing, but didn’t ultimately choose. I also love the way writing changes the way I view the world. Instead of seeing an ordinary crappy day as a problem, I can fairly easily convert it into good material.

Like you Simon, I‘m far happier when puzzling through a novel. I write a lot of nonfiction as a writing teacher- by volume more than fiction- but it‘s the itch of a novel that needs scratching for me to feel like myself.

Thanks for posing the question!

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Initially, I was gonna be somewhat pithy and throw in a simple, "it amuses me," but reading the well reasoned comments here threw me into a reflective mood.

I've done fiction (prose and script), TTRPG game design, and article writing. I've acted, set designed, sound design, makeup designe, costume design, and composed music for theater, TV and film. I've done photography, videography, animation, and motion design. I've been paid for all of it. Only the videography, music and sound design have ever generated enough work to pay my bills, depending on the year.

I am very much an unfocused dilettante. If I knuckled down and committed to only a couple of these areas, I would be (maybe) more financially successful. The sound and video is where I focused on income in the past 20 years, and, for about half of those, I made significant sums. But, once those become focus for income they become less fun. After a while weddings can be downright tedious... Rodeos were always exciting, because I'd be the fool by the bull-pen, sticking a lens in a pissed-off bull's face - and, yes, I have clips of bulls attacking me, and, yes, it's clear I was the target of the animal's anger. Bands were usually fun (again, on-stage handheld), because I could amuse myself trying to layer up good foreground-to-background depth and see how much lens flare I could get. Here my directors were being nice to me, because they knew I'd get bored on a telephoto tripod and that I'd work to create interesting accent shots.

But, the key point is ALL of this is storytelling. Makeup, set, costume, sound design are all subsets, but all are in service of the script. Same with acting and directing. Same for photo/video framing. Even boring old tithe sequences or advertising graphics are storytelling (even if the story is "BUY THIS!").

So, dammit, I'm an arty-farty person.

Writing is still the one I typically do for myself. I don't enjoy the physical act of typing - I'm still slow, and recently adjusting from a US keyboard to International English keyboard has sucked... (The main difference is the Enter/Return key. You are used to a tall-but-narrow key with the "/" to the left of the bottom of the Enter. I am used to a wide-but-short Enter with the "/" where the top of your Enter key would be. Right now I'm typing a lot of "/" instead of carriage returns. Who makes these decisions?)

So, when I write a thing, it's for me. When I share it, I really don't care what other's think. I already know some will like, other's won't. A read is a win.

What will be my "Magnum Opus," is still in long-slow prep. Not to compare myself to Tolkien, but he's one who spent 20 years on his backstory before publishing one tale in the setting, and another 15 years of refinement before publishing the trilogy. The themes and outlines of what I want to say are pretty solid (but revised as I age). Most of my main characters are fleshed out and detailed (and revised as I age and revise the themes), but the requirements of the story require a fully global set of societies at three major epochs, and my "core gimmick," makes that a major undertaking which has a few more requirements than simply time periods A, B, and C.

But, even when I get into the main writing, it'll still be for me.

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I write ( still ) because it's one of the few things I got positive reinforcement about as a kid. I love to write, I love to create fictional human beings that real human beings adore or despise. Publishing that writing daily on Substack can have its negative side, but it certainly keeps me focused and has made me a better writer.

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In the beginning, it was because I lost my career, now it's because I'm dying. But I pretty much feel the same way as you if I don't write.

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I lovd to write, and I belong to a writing group that meets weekly. I have been working on a historical novel series since 2018, currently halfway through the sequel. It opened in Southwestern Virginia in the last year of the Civil War, and now my protagonist is in Prussia. No hope of finding an agent or publisher, and I am holding off for now on exploring self-publishing options. I would not have been able to sustain this work without my writing group. I write for them.

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Writing is an intuitive piece of me, a ritual of 'righting,' a calling that both seduces and screws with my mind. Motivation is supposed to be the reason behind the action. It's served me well in some regards, as memory keeper, value gauge, $ maker--eludes me in other ways. While I've earned a good living applying writing, rhetoric, and reasoning to Gov't & Corp jobs, I was in essence a ghost writer. In the margins I wrote stories, poems, novels, and blog or editoral'ized. I don't do it for $, to acquire followers, or to say 'look at me/my life.' Perhaps in those margins and blank spaces, I do entertain the thought that after I die, someone will care to read about what I knew, questioned, or found fascinating or awful. And it will light a spark in someone, somewhere.

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For me, I think most of the important ways I experience the world came through words I’d read. I’d like to do that for others. Be a link in the literary chain of joy. But, I usually need a deadline for motivation. I think I’m an outlier in that I lack the intrinsic drive. For me, I need to know I have a potential reader/audience. Otherwise I have to just imagine I will someday if I work hard enough, but I’m just as prone to imagine I’m fooling myself as I am to mentally picture smiling grandkids.

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I'm always 'writing' things in my head, so actually writing them down is my main mode of self expression. Sometimes I forget that writing is fun and need to to remember that, there was a time in college where I realized that. Writing for all the writer's workshops was making me feel insecure and all that (ten page max short stories are so not my thing), but sharing fanfiction online and seeing comments that people liked it reminded me that I enjoyed writing.

Recognition is also something that drives me. I need to know that people read what I write and think something about it, on substack and fanfiction websites comments are like gold to me. 'I want to write this so I can show it to my writer friends' is a common motivator for me.

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The characters and the story around the characters. I come up with a concept and until I see it on the page it almost “haunts” me and won’t leave my mind. That’s also how I gauge if a story is worth pursuing. I never just go with a new idea. I wait a few days, sometimes a month and if the idea (not written down) is still very present in my mind then I will run like the wind and tell it!

Unfortunately, every idea I have sticks with me and invades my mind all at once so it becomes hard to focus and finish one thing at a time so at the end of the day nothing gets done. Still working out how to solve that problem.

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Whole different ball game if you're under contract and you don't feel like it. Then you write because that's what pays the bills, even though you know an editor might screw with your work later and murder your babies.

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Agree it's a great question. For me, it also depends on the context.

I guess at its root, writing for me feels like part of my being, part of who I am and how I am able to live more fully and make sense of my thoughts or observations.

I also try to keep the need for money away from my novel writing, rather focusing on the journey and the message vs what sells. I don't think there's anything wrong for going for sales primarily! But as we know, it's also a tough game. So I feel totally free if I write this way. I feel best if I'm able to start my day writing, even if just for a short while.

But then writing is something so powerful to express ideas and make little ripples in the world. I guess I see my Substack like this, and if it makes some money as well to allow me to spend more time doing this, then even better.

Teaching writing is likewise a passion and longtime focus of mine, mainly as a high school teacher but also at university and soon to come in a different format. I think it's so wonderful to help anybody use writing as a powerful tool for themselves or for others. Somehow, I've got to make a living, so that ends up being the core of it, even though it also complements the writing I do myself.

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Feb 6, 2023·edited Feb 6, 2023Liked by Simon K Jones

Hi Simon,

I like this question. I suppose I have different reasons for writing depending on what I'm writing.

I'm a pastor and teacher, so I find joy and purpose in helping people grow in their relationship to God by helping them to understand the Bible.

I am writing a novel because I enjoy fleshing out the characters as I set them in conflict with each other - the ins and outs of daily life, the tragedy, the triumphs, the losses and the wins - so that eventually they learn or grow, or sometimes die, but somehow they make their mark and improve their world.

I have written curricula for a bible school, white papers on certain aspects of health, essays on various topics, articles on a myriad subjects, book and movie reviews...

Wow! I guess I've dabbled in a lot of areas of writing, and I keep coming back to the page because something inside me really needs this outlet to communicate with others.

Thank you for encouraging me to think about the question, and for sharing your thoughts about motivation to write.

Cate Covert

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I think I was just born to write horror stories. I didn’t write for years and I always come back to it. There are stories that just want to come out.

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My dog got cancer so I wrote my first novella in years (that novella is tangentially related to the experience). Before that, I was making a video game and I needed a story, so I wrote a novel as practice. Right now, I’m writing because it’s an inherently difficult and complex practice and I’m really enjoying trying to figure it out. All the experimentation involved has been fun

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I write because it is a creative outlet for me. Like making music. Or comics. If people like my creativity, I am happy. Sure, I would love to make my living doing creative things, but that is an extremely difficult road to travel. And your creativity can start to feel like work. So I see writing as a hobby that earns a little. But not enough to stress about it or chase it full time. I do it for the audience appreciation. The applause/likes/comments. Without an audience, I probably wouldn’t write.

But I would make music regardless of whether I had an audience. So I guess I am a musician who also writes.

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Because I want to help other people feel understood.

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Same. I’m less happy when I don’t write.

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It's an intuitive piece of me, a ritual of 'righting,' a calling that both seduces and screws with my mind. Motivation is supposed to be the reason behind the action. It's served me well in some regards, as memory keeper, value gauge, $ maker--eludes me in other ways. While I've earned a good living applying writing, rhetoric, and reasoning to Gov't & Corp jobs, I may as well have been a ghost writer. In the margins I wrote stories, poems, novels, and blog or editoral'ized. I don't do it for $, to acquire followers, or to say 'look at me/my life.' Perhaps in those margins and blank spaces, I do entertain the thought that after I die, someone will care to read about what I knew, questioned, or found fascinating or awful. And it will light a spark in someone, somewhere.

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