What I Love Most About Being a Writer

Morgan Hazelwood,
Sometimes, when you’re stuck at some writing stage for too long, it can be hard to remember why you started this thing in the first place. Whether you’re drafting, editing, revising, querying, submitting, or marketing, there’s likely some point where you feel like you’re never going to reach the next stage.
Me? I’m currently stuck in the [Query -> Get Feedback -> Revise -> Get Beta Feedback -> Edit -> Send More Queries] loop. And have been, on and off, for nearly 3 years.
It can be really disheartening.
Fortunately, I keep getting small tastes–little reminders–of just why I do this.

Here are 10 things I love most about being a writer:

1 – Exploring new worlds!

Whether it’s a ‘what-if’ scenario in my head, or filling in the details from some hardly remembered dream, creating a world, exploring it, and finding out how it works is something I find FASCINATING.

2 – Meeting New Characters

I am a friendly person. I love getting to know my characters, finding out their hopes and dreams. Being there for them when they face their fears. And? Watching them grow into the person they were always meant to be.

Plus? I like watching jerks get their comeuppance.

3 – Finding out what happens and why!

Often, when I start a story, I know a couple of the key scenes and the broad strokes that make up my characters. It’s not until I’m there with them in the trenches that I find out how they got there and what pushes them on.

Instead of just a highlights reel, I get to see them, every step of the journey.

4 – When you get that turn of phrase. Just. Right.

This is a bit more of a technique related reason, but it’s true.

Sometimes, you have an emotion or a concept that you agonize over conveying to the audience. The phrasing might come on the first try, or 12 tries in, on the fourteenth draft, but when you get it right, you can SEE your readers opting to highlight and share that sucker.

You can see your story connecting with someone who’s been there before and needed to hear it.

5 – Getting to read other writers works early

I’ve opened myself up to the writing community and they’ve welcomed me with open arms.

The more beta reading/critiquing I do, the more I realize just how creative and talented my friends are. And? The more I dream about how awesome it will be when we’re all the big name authors, and we can say “I knew them when…”

6 – Helping my friends fine-tune their novels

The flip side of number 5. This way, I get to watch great manuscripts turn into amazing stories that fly off the shelves. Being there as they learn and grow — and hopefully picking up a few things, myself.

7 – The terrifying hope that comes when an agent asks for more pages

Hope has never been so sharp as when I get that request or send off those pages.

Need I say more?

8 – Having an answer outside of my day-job when people ask me, “so, what do you do?”

I’m in the DC metro area. Asking people, ‘so, what do you do?’ is asked almost before they get your name. But? I hang out with a lot of creatives, and I know that I’m more than just my day-job. I like supporting my friends, consuming webcomics, novels, and art. But? I like being able to contribute something, too. Not just as a consumer.

9 – Seeing how far I’ve come and how much I’ve accomplished

I may not be agented or published yet. But I’ve got one polished novel, two full rough drafts, a WIP, a handful of short stories, some poetry, a blog, and a community that supports me.

All this stuff takes work and dreaming and persistence. It might be ego, but I have to acknowledge to myself that I’m the reason it’s happened.

10 – And my favorite? Serendipity

When I figure out a plot point or background detail that makes everything just come together.

***

If you’re a writer, why do you write? What’s your favorite part about writing?

If you’re not a writer, what do you do that fulfills you? What’re your favorite parts?

Published by Morgan Hazelwood

Morgan Hazelwood (she/her) is a fantasy novelist who blogs and vlogs writing tips and writerly musings. She likes taking pictures of the sky, reading a good book, and ambiverting from her living room. She's also a voice for the fairy-tale audio drama: Anansi Storytime and its sister podcast: Legendsmith. She's been known to procrasti-clean her whole house and alphabetize other people's bookshelves.

19 Comments

  2. Very interesting question!

    At this moment I’m in the revision stage of the completed first draft of my first novel. I absolutely enjoy revision. I didn’t think I would, but what I find most heartening is the gratifying thought: it’s written! Now is the fun part slowly polishing and polishing. My method is thus: I printed out a complete first draft. I take, roughly a hundred pages at a time and edit and mark up for revision. Then I type that into the computer, print it out and place the second draft into a separate folder. It’s labor intensive but the process brings me closer to the work. I can see and understand the narrative much better. One BIG rule, if I’m reading along and find myself getting bored–it’s time to delete!

    Hmm, why do I write? The shortest answer is that I have found it to be true, in my own experience, that I can express ideas better via narrative than I can any other way. Having said that, I’m also a person who WANTS to express those ideas, those feelings, those emotions, and by so doing, bring about some positive change in the lives of others.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Love this! I think one of my favorite parts is getting to know my characters and watching them come to life for others. When a beta or CP really connects with a character that is so important to me, it’s almost cathartic–to have put in all that work and have it result in that connection.

    I also love reading my brilliant CPs stories early! Someday I believe the world will LOVE them too. And I feel honored to get to see them first and to help the writer clarify their beautiful, brilliant ideas.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. I love telling stories. My little brother was afraid of the dark and the scary shadows cast by the neighbor’s porch light that played across the wall. I told him stories so he would fall asleep and I could read by flashlight under the covers. Writing seems to be a natural progression of the need to tell a great story.

    I love your bullet points, but by far the best is serendipity, that opportune moment when a piece of writing connects with a reader and it changes their life. Great stuff. 😊

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Excellent reasons, all of them. What I love best about writing is the days of being in the flow, when I feel capable of writing almost anything because the story is writing itself. Those are the days I write for 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  8. My favourite part is definitely meeting new characters and bringing them to life 🙂 Helping other writers fine tune their work is also great though!

    Liked by 2 people

  10. Interesting post! (I’m slowly trying to catch up on posts! Since my bf moved in with me I got waaaay behind, you can understand! Heheh.) I just wanted to say that I share all of the above with you except for the first three items. And obviously that’s because for the most part I don’t write fiction. So I always know where I’m going, and who/what I’m writing about. As a non-fiction writer I love deciding on a goal and theme, and then organizing my material and then – at last – writing! Isn’t it sublime?! I love our ‘calling’!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Pingback: Finding My Way Out Of The Eternal Revision Roundabout | Morgan Hazelwood: Writer In Progress

Comments are closed.