Why do I feel a strong urge to write?

[teeballpeanutman]

I often feel the need to write (not a journal or an essay, but a story or a novel), but I am not a writer and I don't really know how to write. I am a music composer (or at least trying to become one) and I also like to draw (really plain stuff, but quite good considering I never had any formal education). I could say that I love the arts in general and being a shy and a very introvert person, I find they are the only way I can truly express myself. But that periodic urge, that need happens only with writing and music composition (I dare say, the feeling is more intense with writing and that is why I find it so perplexing since, as I said, I don't know how to write).How do you explain it and what do you think I could do about it? Right now, I feel so much the urgency to write and actually that is the reason I am asking that here...Anyway, I certainly don't want to sound repetitive. If you have any advice to offer me, I would be most grateful for it! Thank you!Mimi, I just saw "Pride and Prejudice". Yesterday, I saw "Little Women" and I am also reading "the Secret Garden". All I can say is that you are right, because my watching those films made the feeling even more intense. I feel like writing a short victorian story, if only I knew how...

 

[philldog2001]

Well if you've been reading alot of books lately maybe you want to write because you want people to recognize that you have talent and you want to share your ideas with people so they can enjoy them too. That's what I think And you could always write a story and show them to friends or family since you want to write so much.

 

[Phillies2k8]

Writing is an art form, and art is meant to be shared. As a composer, I am sure you understand this already. Music fills the mind with imagery created by sound, while writing does it with words. There are stories that fill my thoughts and won't make room for anything else until I write them down and release them. It doesn't matter if you think you have prize winning material, write your story. All stories deserve to be told, even if it's just to a select few friends.

 

[teehee!!!]

Well, I'm not sure what you're looking for in an answer but I'll give you mine. I took music and art classes all through primary and secondary schools and reading is like breathing to me. I'm going to college to be an english teacher now and I have a constant urge to write a novel too! I think writing is possibly the easiest way to connect with an audience since it gives them a theme to pinpoint their imagination on. With music, different people have different interpretations even though theirs might not be the original theme. I think that's why music is so freeing. Now, I can tell you that I have no idea how to write a novel either but I still try and have failed but I always come back to it. What I've learned is that starting with a plot is hard. It's easier to start with a theme and then come up with a plot and characters and settings and such. It's like, you have to know what you're writing about before you can start writing! It sounds so simple, if only it were! But it's a start. For example, I'm reading a story by Nora Roberts right now and the theme is 'the purest magic is in the heart'. That's what her entire story is trying to convey, not that Morgana and Nash are in love, or that witches are mysterious- because we can see that as it's written. Those are her premise of the theme. Her way of saying that the purest magic is in the heart. Now, that's just my take. Other people have different ways of thinking and writing, I just think that is a nice, simple way of getting your ideas in order. Also, I like to write in third person but sometimes perfer reading in first. Just something to think about. So, I hope this is what you are looking for in some way. Best wishes.-Brittany

 

[teekayy]

No one knows how to write unless they write. Even when you do write it doesn't mean you know how. If you want to write and you have that powerful urge then I think you should just try to write something. It probably won't be very good but that's okay. It will help you see what's wrong with it and you can learn from that and you can try again with that story or with another. You don't have to have any external ambitions for your writing, at least not to start with. The fact that you feel strongly about it is an indicator that it might be a very positive thing for you to work on. How much time and energy you spend on it is up to you but it might be very cathartic. Just try it, see where it takes you. What do you have to lose but some time? You may even learn something about yourself, and about writing too.Good luck, and try to have some fun with it.