"Louise Rutter" louise.rutter@blueyonder.co.uk wrote:

Helen wrote:

...

People really write stories just for themselves?

...

I feel baffled-- writing is hard work, whereas picturing things in my head is easy, and can be done in endless variations.

The problem I have with pictures in my head is that they play over and over and won't go away. I'll have a scene or several that literally keep me awake in the small hours of the morning, and the only way to stop them is to write them down. After that, I think what the hell and fill in the missing scenes to make it a story.

While I definitely like basking in feedback at the end, I don't think I'd ever start writing a story other than to avoid chronic insomnia.

Louise

Isn't that how 'The Hobbit' started - blank bit of exam paper Tolkien happened to be marking, & he wrote 'In a hole lived a hobbit' (or words to that effect)? How many other things have started in this way? (And some of my various stories have started to 'get the idea out of the way.)

Jacqui