Why I Write

I guess a lot of authors or writers are asked that question from time to time, why they write.  The answer is pretty simple: I like to write. But it also goes a lot deeper than that.

I've been writing a lot . . . I've always had this great imagination (well, at least from what I've been told. Compared to others, I feel like I'm still living in a box) and wanted to explore the worlds I've made up in my head.

But also, I like to read. I like to become immersed in what somebody else made up. The problem with that, however, is that no one is writing what I want to read anymore.

It used to be so simple and great. I could pick up most any book and love it from the get-go. But now as I'm older, I find that I can't seem to find that "perfect book." Perhaps I need to not be so fickle. But it's like every time I go to the bookstore, I keep pouring through all these books that just don't seem to have what I want. Whatever happened to adventure/fantasy novels that weren't all about war? I hate reading about war. Some is okay; I mean, you can't have a good fantasy without a little war. But when all you do is just thrust the main character into a battlefield and call it a book?

Ugh.

And then there are all these books that try to teach a lesson. Listen, when I read fantasy or sci-fi, I don't want a lesson. I just want to be entertained. So many books now try to take themselves so seriously.

And please do not get me started on paranormal romance novels. 

So, one day, searching through all those books and, once again, not being satisfied, I decided that I needed to do something. I wanted to write what I wanted to read.

That does not mean that what I write does not have some sort of underlying moral or theme. But when I write, I write to tell a story. A fun story. A story that does not need massive explaining. Something that is fun and light and captures your attention with a fair amount of adventure and perhaps even passion. I don't want to try to get everyone to think about implications. I want to entertain and have everyone be excited for a character, or gasp over an action. I want to pull someone into my world. If someone can pull out a moral or two, then that is perfect; by all means, please. I try to make the characters as real as possible, and a book can not be a book without some sort of theme beneath it all. But listen: when I write, the story and the characters are what matter to me; themes and morals come second.

I'm just sick of the sad state of books out there. I find barely anything worth reading anymore, and it's upsetting as a writer to want to read something, but can't find anything remotely interesting. I don't know what changed in fantasy and sci-fi, but it's in a general direction that frankly, I'm disappointed it went in. I'm not trying to change fantasy as we know it. I'm just trying to put something out there that I myself am missing. And if you guys all are too, then what's not to say more books like what I'm attempting to write will be produced?