Why I write

Being a person who loves both the sciences and writing, I never thought that I will ever write. Sure, playing around with the characters in my head is fun. Imagining them in various situations and conflicts often is a highlight of my day. But to think that I would ever put them on paper? Never!



My love affair with words started as a child. I loved reading then, and especially loved re-enacting situations that I read about. It was a pleasure to be able to act out the scenes I read about. But then, I started wanting more, I wanted to create a new situation for the characters; that's when I started writing.



Things never did go the way I plan then. After all, I was a young child, barely 8. What would I know about writing? Nevertheless, that spark never really died down. As I advanced through the years of primary school, the short compositions we had to do only serve to be a catalyst for my writing outside curriculum time. Soon, I was writing actively once more, revelling in the worlds that I was able to create with words. I never showed anyone those writings though. They were too personal, too amateurish, for me to expose them to the world.



When I graduated from primary school and began my secondary school life, fanfiction came to my attention. Yes, some people told me that it isn't a 'real' form of writing. But what is a 'real' piece of work? Is there even a standard definition for it? Perhaps what I was writing then was not the conventional creative work. I borrowed characters from authors, television shows, cartoons, anything that piqued my interest I used. I placed characters in new situations, tried to rewrite events in books, created new endings for series' which I thought were too short.



This love for writing never died, and when I ran out of ideas, I turned to roleplaying. It started with Twilight, a fandom which I must say I detest, but a friend dragged me in and ever since then, I never left roleplaying. Yes, I did have my ups and downs, who doesn't? I went on hiatus for a while and stopped writing, but I came back after a few days. It was like I could not not write!



Personally, writing is a way for me to hide from the realities of life. Sure, there aren't vampires or fae in reality. But through words, I could imagine myself living amongst them, and escape from the torments of school work and such. There is something about writing that cheers me up whenever I'm down, something that no matter what mood I am in, enables me to return to my former equilibrium quickly.



Yes, perhaps that is a shallow reason for me to write. But as long as the spark lives, I will write. When will I stop? I never know, for each waking day holds new paths for my characters to travel, and that will always keep me writing.