Being A Teen Writer | Teen Ink

Being A Teen Writer

March 3, 2011
By Saysh PLATINUM, Brentwood, California
Saysh PLATINUM, Brentwood, California
31 articles 1 photo 79 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia." ~E.L. Doctorow


As teenagers, we’re asked all the time what we want to do with our lives. For those of us who answer ‘write’, we get a mixed variety of responses. Some respond with interest, asking more, like what we write and how long we’ve been doing it.

Some, though, take all they know about suffering artists, about how we’ll never make an income big enough to support our families or how we’ll spend countless hours alone, angry and tired, and for some of us, drunk, just so we can come up with the next big idea, and they tell us all these depressing things that, yes, most likely we’ll have to face once day.

What they don’t understand, though, is that we know all of this. We know the chances of being famous are so unlikely that it’s actually kind of funny. We know we’ll have countless sleepless nights, wondering how we’ll stay above water this month. We know that after a while we’ll have carpal tunnel in our wrists because of how much we type. ‘And for what?’ people ask. Why would we put ourselves through all of that when we can just get a different job?

This is the simple answer: We go through all of it, we anticipate the coming horrors of being a writer in today’s world, because we love words.

We love the way the taste leaving our tongues, the way they feel leaving our fingertips. We get high off of the worlds and people our words create. When we can look through the paper and see a different place, a place we’ve made and fallen in love with, I think that’s when all of the things we’ll go through are completely okay, completely worth it.

And we do it all, we spend those lonely hours coming up with ways past our writer’s block, we spend our lives with never enough money, we end up getting odd looks from our family and friends when in the middle of a conversation we shout out ‘Eureka!’ and dig out our mini-notebooks in the hopes that when we get home we can spark this fire onto a page. All of this just so we can spend some time with our words, building them, renewing them, making them flourish, just for the hopes that one person, not even one hundred, just one, will recognize our hard work and will smile at all the right places and will cry when our characters, those small pieces of us that we let go for the sake of our art and love, cry.

That is why we write. That is why I write.



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This article has 9 comments.


Steph0804 GOLD said...
on Aug. 31 2011 at 9:45 am
Steph0804 GOLD, Seoul, Other
12 articles 4 photos 206 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog: you understand it better, but the frog dies in the process." -E.B. White

When I was a kid, I told my grandma I wanted to be an artist. She laughed in my face. Ever since then, every time I think about my career, I remember that moment.

on Aug. 28 2011 at 7:39 pm
berpendeberpn, Brentwood, California
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
oh its me ambs

on Aug. 28 2011 at 7:39 pm
berpendeberpn, Brentwood, California
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
five stars grlf. where do you rate???? i made an account just to cment berpendeberpenderp!

Andrea.A89 said...
on Aug. 28 2011 at 7:27 pm

I don't write hoping someone will recognize my hard work, I write hoping that it will positively affects the way one thinks and lives their life.

Like the way you look at a diamond, you don't think 'Oh goodness the work that must of been put into cutting this.' you just recognize how beautiful and how perfect it really is.


Megan.J.B said...
on Aug. 27 2011 at 10:02 pm
Megan.J.B, Sault Ste Marie, Other
0 articles 0 photos 185 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Here&#039;s the real truth. There are eight million people in this city. And those teeming masses exist for the sole purpose of lifting the few exceptional people onto their shoulders. You, me? We&#039;re exceptional.&quot; <br /> - Green Goblin. :)

This is perhaps the most relatable piece I've ever read about why teenagers write. :)

on Aug. 9 2011 at 10:06 am
Garnet77 PLATINUM, Sinagpore, Other
31 articles 6 photos 577 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Everything&#039;s a triangle.&quot; ~ My mother<br /> <br /> &quot;Write what you love, write what you care about, because sometimes, it&#039;s the easiest way to be heard.&quot;

Very, very relatable article. I agree completely, and you wrote this very well. :)

on Jul. 31 2011 at 2:12 pm
CarrieAnn13 GOLD, Goodsoil, Other
12 articles 10 photos 1646 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.&quot; --Douglas Adams<br /> <br /> &quot;The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.&quot; --Marcus Aurelius

Great article!  It's not the typical angsty 'Why I Write' article and it's very refreshing.  Excellent work!

on Jul. 31 2011 at 12:24 pm
MidnightFire PLATINUM, Lincoln, Illinois
40 articles 6 photos 239 comments

Favorite Quote:
&#039;Dream as if you will live forever, live as if you&#039;ll die tomorrow.&#039;<br /> for my sister: &#039;when life gives me lemons ... i eat them&#039;<br /> &#039;do not be afraid, be faithful&#039;<br /> &#039;God is not safe, but He&#039;s good&#039;

I LOVED this!!!! Its so true! :) I guess only anouther writer can understand our love for writing (: great job! this has been added to my fav list congradulations :D

tealbird said...
on Jul. 31 2011 at 10:15 am
I. Am. In. LOVE. I was able to relate to this 100%. I go through this every day, and every day I struggle with the decisions of pursuing a 'practical' career than going after what I truly love-writing. It's so nice to know that someone feels the same way I do and it able to put it down on paper. This is not only a really true depiction, but a really beautiful way to write it. 5 stars!