Why Do Certain People Become Writers?

Writing, as a devoted hobby or a professional activity, demands a few qualities most people use but not in the concentrated way a writer does.

In fact, concentration itself is a critical quality for writing; whether it’s applied for many sequential short sessions, or persisted in for long periods, or engaged in with a mixed pattern of short and long durations.

While concentrating on a writing task, most writers must also allow for a process that can interrupt the flow of activity. What comes as a flash of inspiration and must be incorporated in the project (sometimes demanding significant restructuring) often arrives because of the habit of devoted concentration on the task—the focus on the writing seems to call forth the new perspective or material—using the conscious mind intently triggers the unconscious to supply its treasures…

Certainly, various techniques can be learned that can facilitate the art of writing but most of the Greats have counseled ample reading and regular writing as the best education.

So, a first attempt at answering the question, why do certain people become writers?, could be that certain people find themselves able to concentrate while allowing a flow of intuition to enter the work.

But this is only a how-do-they-do-it explanation—“Why? Because they know How.”

There must be a Why that’s bigger than that…

Perhaps a glance at the word origins of “write” might shed a bit of light: carve, scratch, cut, paint.

To explore these word origins, I’m going to borrow some words from a post I wrote back in January, Really, No *Really*, What The Heck Is Writing?:

“Pardon me while a let the poetic side of my personality take control for a minute:

“Authors can sometimes be said to carve a place for themselves in our culture.

“There are also many writers barely scratching out a living.

“Many wish they could cut a swath of recognition through the crowd of other writers.

“And, our favorite writers are those who paint images in our minds with their words.

“Anyone who ranks high on tests of left-brained activity is probably cringing at such a poor example of the application of word roots to an understanding of the meaning of writing.

“You right-brained folks are probably creating other, equally-poetic examples :-)”

To answer the title question, Why Do Certain People Become Writers?, may only need your adding to the comments on this post with your personal reasons for writing (if you’re the kind of person who pursues the art); though, reading the whole former post, Really, No *Really*, What The Heck Is Writing?, may lead to an answer…

Also, some concentration on the concepts of carving, scratching, cutting, and painting, mixed with a few intuitive flashes, might lead you to an answer.

However you answer the question, I hope you’ll share it in the comments…
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