And another thing...

No, not the latest Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy book, it's just the name of the post.

The mentality of having to want to write something does make English "Creative Writing" coursework annoying! I always go into coursework like that thinking "I'm going to be the best in the class at this! This is what I'm best at, I have to be the best!" But I never feel I've produced particularly great pieces of writing at the end. Yes, my grades are good, but that's because I'm one of the nerdy bunch and just include what I need to in order to get better marks, such as writing in a professional manner. But with schoolwork, I have to write something I don't really want to when I don't really want to.

Why don't I want to do it? It is writing fiction, shouldn't that be great? The problem is that because I have to do it I need an idea. Usually I need one within the ten minutes we're given to come up with one in classtime. I never want to write if I don't like the idea behind the piece of writing. And I never like the idea if I was forced to come up with it in ten minutes. The best ideas are ones that just come to me naturally. When I'm not trying to think of ideas. Of course, these are usually inspired by something. It is very rare (but not unheard of) that an idea just pops into my head. This can be incredibly annoying when I want to write something new! That's odd too: usually the idea comes first, followed by the need to write, but sometimes there's a need to write and later you'll have an idea that you can fit to it.

Of course, there are exceptions to everything I say. Sometimes I'll have a stimulus to stick to for a piece of writing and think "I can't wait to write this one!". Sometimes, usually when doing scripts, I'll try to think up an idea for a story and come up with something, because I have to, and find it is a rather good premise for a story. Another key thing about writing: despite what your English teacher says, there are NO set rules!