There is no wrong answer, here. At least, not for me.

Most writers, when asked why they are writing are given the options. It comes on Twitter quite regularly.

What are you writing for?
1. Fame
2. Money
3. A film deal
4. (Personal favourite) Revenge

I don’t think there’s a writer, alive or dead, who hasn’t had financial stability quite near the top of their list of reasons for writing. No one wants to cheapen the experience but money is the cause of a lot of life’s problems so, correcting it, through art, can be laudable.

Fame, for those of us who do not possess it, is sort of intoxicating. The idea of going somewhere, anywhere, and not having to introduce yourself or put any extra work in to impress people, is kind of great. Whether the positives of fame outweigh the downsides is, frankly, unlikely. The loss of privacy, secrecy, trust in other beings, must be horrific.

A film deal – who wouldn’t want a film deal? True, the end result might be a film which bears very little resemblance to the original story but it’s a quicker way to get some version of the story out there to, let’s face it, people who don’t read.

Revenge – quite honestly, this option doesn’t come up on Twitter polls, but it should.

I went out to dinner with my partner and my near-as-dammit in-laws the other week for my partner’s birthday, and they asked me why I was writing. It’s quite a complicated question. Any of the above reasons would be absolutely fine and pretty much expected.

In case you were wondering, my answer was immortality.

micdrop