It’s a good question.

In my case, I am retired; I need not work; I could just sit back and watch daytime TV. (The horror!)

The reasons why I want to write are manifold, and – yes – that early laptop is significant, keep reading!

School: My schools encouraged reading and we had few distractions. Our first TV came when I was 10, and yet we were among the first on our street to put up those old, H-shaped roof aerials. I learned to love reading at a young age and stuck with it. It seems that reading drops off after age 12 these days… how sad that is.

Parents: Dad introduced me to science fiction, by way of cheap, American, pulp-fiction imports – Amazing, If, F&SF… and all the rest of those wonderful windows into exotic possibilities. Over the years, I lapped up all the SF that I could – even some Fantasy, Steampunk and the plain weird.

1950’s Black & White SF Movies: The Golden Age of visual SF when we didn’t worry too much about the actual science because we knew so little about what was “out there“. As in written SF, ANYTHING was possible. Stories went for excitement, adventure, the big “what if?“. So here’s a huge “thank you” to Ray Harryhausen and the other pioneers. (Forget the modern remakes.)

First attempts: I bought my first pc in 1986 – a Compaq (trans)portable the size of a sewing machine* and wrote a sprawling fantasy novel which was never published. Instead, I got married and babies started to appear. Cyril Connolly, the critic and writer, said that, “the greatest enemy of creativity is the pram in the hall”. Well… let’s say priorities change.

* At last, that picture is explained. BTW, I still have the Compaq, with 5 1/4 inch disks, if any collector is interested.

Realisation: So as my retirement approached, I thought of those yawning hours of daytime TV and realised what I really wanted to do. As soon as I had decided to do it, I had stories coming to me daily. I dreamed dialogue. I had characters grabbing my coat lapels and demanding to become manifest. It was as though they had been accruing subconsciously for decades. So I decided to retire early and enjoy my hobbies – writing and acting.

Action: I now spend many frustrating and enjoyable hours tapping away to create what I hope will be a series of riveting and thought-provoking reading experiences. Stories! Now where DO they come from?

Tell us about why YOU want to write!