Most people can attribute their courage and motivation to write to an abundance of familial support for their passion; others declare famous novelists and poets as their main drive. Point is, everyone has a different reason behind the urge to fulfill their dreams and passions. For me, it was no different.

So, I’ll tell you all my motivation and what introduced me to a limitless world of words.

Roleplaying.

Now, I know there are a lot of different connotations for this word and I’ll go over some main ones in order to completely clarify my experience with the pastime.

So what is ‘role play’?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘role play’ is defined as: “ to act out or perform the part of a person or character,” which pretty much sums it up nicely. Like I mentioned before, there are loads of different ways to role play –– the most common forms being during intercourse and in video games (now you know what RPG really means!)

Bedroom Role-play:

As the most common form of role play, this activity, if you didn’t know, entails acting out a fantasy while engaging in sexual activity. Each person takes on a character role that is completely different from their normal behavior. This may include dressing up for the roles, using props, and/or creating or finding the right setting.

Many use this method to bring excitement into the bedroom and according to a study conducted in Britain and the United States by the British Sexual Fantasy Research Project, data showed 96 percent of adult males and 90 percent of females admitting to fantasizing about sex. Data also revealed that couples who engage in role-play report a deeper level of intimacy and sexual satisfaction; they also report that these couples are less inclined to cheat. According to statistics from "The Normal Bar,” a book littered with sexual statistics written by Chrisanna Northrup and Pepper Schwartz, "sexual boredom" was the reason that 71 percent of men and 49 percent of women gave for cheating on their partners.

Don’t knock it till you try it, right?

Video Game Role-play:

The other method I mentioned for role-playing was video games. This may come as a shock to some people but a majority of video games are role-play based. A prime example I know of is with Dungeons & Dragons, a popular game first introduced in 1974. The main set up of the game was to be played in a group of people where one (or sometimes more) persons would volunteer to be a Games Master –– s/he would control all non-player characters and the environment the players interact in, and arbitrate the rules.

Another form of role-play that is quite popular but people never admit to doing is: Online Role-play. The method is similar to the aforementioned ways except done completely online and through writing in a forum, a blog, etc.

I remember back in the days of Myspace when people would create profiles based on characters they conjured up from their minds or profiles of their favorite characters from different fictional fandoms and verses and act out non-canon scenarios with one another. I’ll admit, I was an avid role-player. I remember my first profile ever made was for Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series. She was my first crush so it seemed only fair.

I can recount the number of profiles that have come and gone and the amount of people I’ve come into contact with through my experiences with role-playing but I can definitely attribute this once vital part of my life to the growing ability as a writer.

Of course, it wasn’t only roleplaying that helped me find my passion. I can also thank the existence of fan fiction for that as well. I’ve told a couple of friends throughout my life about my obsession with fan fictions and I’ve always received mixed responses. Some would groan and bash my favorite pastime, others would laugh and admit to once being stuck in a web of obsessive fan fiction reading too; consistently, however, all of them would reassure me that I would grow out of it, as if I was in some phase everyone went through.

Well, it’s been years. More than ten if I’m being honest, and I’m still as into fan fiction as I was when I was younger. And I don’t only mean reading fan fiction too; I was just as avid a writer as I was a reader. I won’t reveal my username and story links here because I’m willing to bet on more than a pretty penny that a lot of my fans are more than angry about the long hiatus my stories have been on.

So like I said before, everyone has different reasonings behind doing what they love. It doesn’t matter who or what it is, as long as it remains effective and continues to provide that push everyone needs to make it through this insufferable existence we call life.