It's a good question. Here we are, scribbling words on a notepad or typing into a Word document, knowing that hardly anyone will end up reading these words we write. In fact, for those of us that keep an updated journal, we know that no one else but us will read the words written into those pages. So why do we bother to write in the first place?
Some people write in aspiration of gaining a following, of being the next big thing. These writers chase trends, and speak their opinions about the burning topics in today's world. These are the journalists of tomorrow, standing at the front line where the world's action churns, and relaying pivotal pieces of information that we in the general public might not see at first.
Some people write for the beauty of it, piecing words together until finally, their work becomes something like poetic magic. There is a mysterious yet satisfying character about a piece of good poetry, or a phenomenal novel that keeps you hooked hundreds of pages in.
Some people write simply to put pen to paper, and relish the feeling of thoughts flowing unconsciously out of their minds into reality; they chase the satisfaction of pouring both the trivial details and burdening questions of life onto the page. These writers know that their work will be harder to digest than the cutting edge journalism of the front pages, and that their work will be skipped over by many eyes, yet these authors cannot help but enjoy writing simply for its intrinsic pleasure.
Yet even though there exist these different types of writers (and so many more), at the core level we all have a similar goal: to make our perspectives seen, to have our voices heard. Every living being on this Earth has an incredible story waiting to be told, each human has lived through unique experiences never before observed by any other being. Writing, then, becomes a universal platform to express our unique viewpoints, to tell our incredible stories sentence by sentence, article by article.
When you read the words of any writer, whether it's Dostoevsky or Mary-who-started-a-high-school-blog, you witness a piece of another human being, you feel their essence, and you hear their story through their special voice.
Perhaps, after having thus far, you have gained some idea of why writers write. Perhaps, (if you're like me) you still have no real idea. There is no one answer to the title question, and no answers will be wrong. We should try and find our own answers to this question.
I'll end with this: telling our stories is the lifeblood of living, and it just so happens that writing is a powerful vehicle to share our story with others.
