Why I Write | Teen Ink

Why I Write

September 15, 2009
By Merlins_Magic GOLD, Clarksville, Tennessee
Merlins_Magic GOLD, Clarksville, Tennessee
10 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"Forgive your enemies but never forget their names." - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. (Better known as JFK)


There’s no easy way to define or explain why or how I came into the art of writing. I just did. I didn’t just slip in the bathroom, hit my head on the sink, and design the flux capacitor like Doc Brown, but somehow writing just happened for me. Some sleepless nights I’ll lie in my spidey-ridden bed and ideas will splash themselves upon my brain. They’ll tickle the base of my skull, crawl all over my brain, and chill down my spine. As I am one for action, I immediately have to shoot across the bed, disturbing Igor as she sleeps, and jot down the idea on some form of something. Be it a slab and chisel or a pen and a rogue homework assignment, I have to capture that singular thought before I go into vegetable status, my brain turns into chicken soup, or the Sandman and I meet for our nightly game involving sheep and marshmallows. Only the roasted marshmallows will do though, because no others can top the charts like those that scald your entire mouth, making you lose your taste buds for about a week, and taste like a rainbow at the same time. There is no other, simple. Maybe soup can but that’s a-whole-nother time and a-whole-nother inspiration. Anyways, no one word or person has ever made an impact on me that caused me to create the symphony that literature geeks so vehemently enjoy. No event signified my writing-starship’s landing. While I’m standing at the pearly gates, about to reckon with my past, and St. Peter asks how I came to love writing so deeply I’d say to him this: my writing came from seeing the magic unfold throughout a book, from seeing Jim Hawkins kill Israel Hands and feel no remorse, from seeing Mrs. Frisby crusade for Timothy’s health, or from seeing Jem and Scout grapple with the Radley rumors and the skin divide. It stems from seeing Ralph S. Mouse ride his small, completely blasphemous, motorcycle around, causing Ryan all sorts of trouble, or from the countless times Gatsby’s blind love annoyed me. I could never stop the characters in the books I read from creating a mess or pining after the false hope of a lost love, shattered by time and greed. Those evenings I sat at home reading a Dean Koontz novel unfold into pure bliss or an Ernest J. Gaines novel make my brain bleed from the sincere dislike and undivided distaste, I drew a deeper love for the literary arts. So, as I sit here now pondering on the origins of my writing inspiration, I think how easy the answer came to me. I didn’t need a knock on the head to realize that the characters and their hardships I read about shaped who I am as a writer today. All cheesy thanks are to those men and women who made characters worth reading about and crying about. One day, like the many authors I enjoy, I want to share with the world my own Jim Hawkins, my own Red Badge, my own Island of the Dolphins, and, mostly, my own story. Completely my story formed from the ingenious design of my brain, no one else’s.


The author's comments:
At my school, the name I will not mention, we have a creative writing club in its baby years. I believe it's new just this year. The teacher who inspired the club actually leads the club and assigned us unofficial homework to do. Thus, this prompt was born. Why or how we came to love writing... this was my answer.

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This article has 4 comments.


Seth31 said...
on Sep. 30 2009 at 8:39 pm
Good job on the article, I liked your topic. I, myself an author of sorts, never really thought about it. Through this article you have made me look through my life and ask myself the same question.

Thank you,

-Seth31

on Sep. 29 2009 at 9:55 pm
smileitsallyoucando BRONZE, Fayetteville, North Carolina
1 article 0 photos 7 comments
Exactly so.

on Sep. 29 2009 at 6:07 pm
a_bunch_of_nuns, Unknown, Wisconsin
0 articles 6 photos 78 comments
I hate it when people tell me writing isn't an art. Sure, it's not drawing or ceramics, but it IS art. I think you did a great job explaning the 'wonders' of inspiration, and how you connected your own feelings to other books. It was great. ;) You have a clear voice/style through your writing.

on Sep. 28 2009 at 12:09 am
nolongerinuse SILVER, San Antonio, Texas
8 articles 0 photos 60 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Love has no desire but to fulfill itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.” - Kahlil Gibran

Awesome-rific! I am a writer myself (as you may have noticed from the made-up word) and I have always thought it a stupid question when people will ask authors where they get their inspiration. It just COMES, you know? I could be eating my dinner, thinking about how gross it tastes, and suddenly I will have an idea for a scene in my story, completely unrelated. I like how you've decided to share this with the mortals who cannot understand this (har har). :)