I Had to Write, You See

This post kicks off my November blog theme. A couple times a week, I'll highlight a writing resource and a source of inspiration--excerpts from fellow writers, quotes and other fun tid-bits.

Today, it's wisdom from sci-fi author C.S. Friedman.

Enjoy!

Resource: Nathan Bransford Forums

Inspiration: C.S. Friedman on writing In Conquest Born

 

“I had to write, you see. That’s not a choice, for some, but a condition. A hunger as visceral, as demanding as the need for sex or food. Words build up inside you, they have to be let out. They have to have the proper form, too. It doesn’t matter if you have a master’s thesis due the next day; if a chapter of a science fiction novel is screaming in your brain to be let out, that has to come first…

 

So I wrote. I created worlds, and they grew as I grew, and the stories I set in them began to take on larger scope…And then, one night, it happened. I had come home from a stressful workday of fourteen hours and couldn’t sleep. I sat down at my typewriter to let off some creative steam, and the words just began to flow. Long, long into the night, until time was forgotten. Miles past exhaustion, into the hours before dawn when creativity is at its sharpest and the muse at its most demanding.

 

Thirty pages.

 

When I was done I sat back and just stared at those pages. I could still hear the music of the language in my brain, I could still taste the imagery of the story. Even in first draft form, the story sang to me. And, I knew, in that moment, that I had crossed some unnamed line. My writing was ready. If I ever wanted to publish, it was time to try.”