Do any on Orwell's list below apply to you?
Orwell lists "four great motives for writing" which he feels exist in every writer. He explains that all are present, but in different proportions, and also that these proportions vary from time to time. They are as follows:
1.Sheer egoism- Orwell argues that a writer writes from a "desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups in childhood, etc." He says that this is a motive the writer shares with scientists, artists, lawyers - "the whole top crust of humanity" - and that the great mass of humanity, not acutely selfish, after the age of about thirty abandons individual ambition. A minority remains however, determined 'to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong in this class.' Serious writers are vainer than journalists, though "less interested in money".
2.Aesthetic enthusiasm- Orwell explains that the present in writing is the desire to make one's writing look and sound good, having "pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story." He says that this motive is "very feeble in a lot of writers" but still present in all works of writing.
3.Historical impulse- He sums this up stating this motive is the "desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity."
4.Political purpose- Orwell writes that "no book is genuinely free from political bias", and further explains that this motive is used very commonly in all forms of writing in the broadest sense, citing a "desire to push the world in a certain direction" in every person. He concludes by saying that "the opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude."
I confess that 1&4 apply to me.
I write because i can.
None of the above, because I'm not George Orwell; I'm Lorraine Swoboda.
I write because I'm a writer. It's who I am. I've done it since I was four years old, and I'll do it till I die. I'm an innate communicator.
I write because I have a cast of thousands in my head; because I think in sentences and clauses and rhythms, and because writing is the natural outlet for that kind of mind.
Finally, I write because people matter, first, last and always, and everything I put down on paper explores that thought.
I've often wondered why I write...
For me, as a person who is not very verbally expressive, it's a way of presenting things from within my world-view in story form, a way of sharing thoughts, experiences and opinions on paper.
I also love to create but am not very good at drawing, painting etc so writing allows me to paint with words.
As a great lover of books and reading, I'm attempting to produce something that I hope others will enjoy. Into this of course, come the desire to 'prove myself' to others.
Lastly, but probably the main reason, is that I only truly feel like the 'real me' when I'm writing. When the story is flowing and I'm immersed in another world there is little to beat the feeling of satisfaction.