It occurred to me a while ago that the only reason to write is to inspire others through words. More succinctly: aspiring to inspire is the reason to respire. The word inspire comes from Latin meaning to breathe life into. The focus of our creativity, then, should be to bring something to life. We conjure a story from the creative cosmos through our personal connection with the universe. Our ideas for stories originate with the impulse to ask "what if?"
It goes without saying that not everyone is cut out to be a writer. Few are prepared for the agony and the thanklessness of having the fruits of our endeavors shoved in our faces with a rejection letter attached. Successful writers persevere against the odds and publish something that others find enjoyable as a diversion from their own struggles.
It's probably a good thing for society that not everyone writes because we are an odd lot. But if society didn't allow us the space to write we'd just create our own space. We have that kind of power, you know, because we retain the connection to our inner child and, for whatever time we are engaged in creating a fantasy world, we can actually be there. This is possible only because we perceive the world differently. Our eyes focus on what others ignore. We pay attention to the detail and background, which is the stuff that dreams are made of.
Writers sleepwalk, though we may call it something else. Our lives are spent pursuing make believe. We are barely better than compulsive liars except that the purpose of our deception is purely to entertain. Whether we write about a murder, a grand battle fought in another galaxy, or a romantic interlude with the one who should have never gotten away, it matters little. Characters tell our stories through their dialogue and actions and, in the process, hopefully a reader will continue to turn pages and learn the lessons imparted along the way.
Most of us who write take offense in being called average or normal. Nothing is normal about me. How about you? I actively seek the unusual because it interests not only me but also a potential reader. However, being a writer leaks into real life as well. If it bothers you what others think, find something else to do besides writing. Long ago I reached the point of internal harmony with the external forces of this world about my strangeness. In other words, I don't care all that much for opinions. Sometimes my antics or what I say amuses others. Other times I come off as just plain weird. But that's okay.
The reason some aspiring writers never succeed is the concern for what others think or, more simply, the fear of being wrong. What if I spend all this time writing a novel and everyone hates it? First of all, if everyone hates it - including you, the author - it has no chance at all of ever succeeding. Being able to write - to pose questions others don't consider let alone ask - is a gift or a curse, depending on perspective. It's not something you have a good deal of control over. You see, if you were born with the bone to write then writing is, for you, a lot like breathing. To question why you write is natural but not writing isn't an option. The fear of being wrong about a story, its characters and whether anyone will actually like it leads to paralytic shock for your creativity which, for a writer, is tantamount to death.
Just accept that you are going to fail. You're probably going to fail quite a lot, enough to be quite good at it. I think I've become better at failing than succeeding. But as long as I learn and continue to grow from the experience is it truly failure or is it success in disguise? Part of the process of problem solving, adapting and changing is learning from mistakes. In the balance you transform an idea into something tested against reality. What is expected as well as what is unexpected comes up from the same bubbler from which we who create things drink often. Whenever you feel the urge to make believe on paper anticipate difficulty and know you will hate the result many times before you grow to like it.
As unpredictable as life is - and I actively try to make it more so in my writing - my characters must behave in ways that are believable to a reader. Still, they need to be interesting in the process. Exploring a character's foibles not only lends depth but a certain identifiable and relatable personality. A character may seem a little off-balance or whacky but that's also a human quality, isn't it? The world surrounding fictional beings can be boring but as long as the story focuses on the characters, as it should, and the conflict is engaging, then the story has a good chance of appealing to a reader. Once the writer's imagination has connected with the reader's the real fun begins.