A Savage Twist

I was looking through the posts on Amazon.com and I came across an individual who wanted to write a book. Except that this person really did not like to write. The reason this person did not like to write was because he/she was forced to as a kid. So my question was, “Why do you want to write a book?”. A reasonable question, I thought. I still don’t have an answer.

So I started thinking about why people write. What inspires a person to create a story? And more specifically, why do people write fantasy?

I can tell you why I write. It is a way for me to create. There is no finer thing in life than creation whether it is creating a life, building something, writing, or developing an organization, all of these things require an act of creation.

Of course the second best thing is destroying that we created. That can be quite satisfying, as well.

When I was a child, there was very little I had control over. I think the Fantasy genre provided a way for me to create a world that I could control. I was the master of what was or was not acceptable. I could mold the world in my own image. The real world was harsh, flawed, and made little sense to me.

As I have gotten older, the stories were not of an idealized world as I think it should be, but a reflection of the real world in a fantastical setting. The characters are very real and would be true no matter what setting they would find themselves in. But in the fantasy genre, you are able to bend the rules of the physical world and use that as a tool to tell the tale.

So what inspires you? Why do you read what you read? If you are a writer, why do you write? What is your act of creation?