What Drives Me As A Writer – My Writing Manifesto

On my last round of agent submissions, one agency threw me when they asked for something different to the usual author bio, pitch, back of the book type blurb, synopsis, first 10 pages or 3 chapters, etc. etc.  They wanted to know “what drives you as a writer?”.

Argh!  Something clearly drives me as a writer, otherwise I wouldn’t still be doing it.  I came up with a few ideas on why I write in this post almost exactly 2 years ago, but I needed to nail that significant question much more precisely to stand any chance of impressing this agent.

I thought it’d be a challenge, but after only a quick think my “writing manifesto” just flowed out of my fingers, like it had been waiting to be expressed for the longest time.  It’s not perfect, and it may well evolve in the future, but I believe it captures the essence of who I am and what I want to achieve as a writer. 

It was such a useful exercise!!  Now that I’ve got a written manifesto, on days when I want to give up coz I’m struggling with any of the many obstacles that I’ll write about in a future post, I can remind myself why I need to keep going…

I reckon that it’s not just helpful for writers, artists, musicians or entrepreneurs, but for any human being.  What drives you as a person?  What are your goals in life?  Why not take a few minutes to think about it, jot down some thoughts, formulate a “manifesto for life”!  It might give you a bit more focus or encourage you to keep going (or even start)!

What drives me as a writer is the desire to provide young people with adventures they can escape into, while at the same time learning how to deal with the world they live in. 

I want to offer stories that embrace potential scientific advances, as well as being open to a spiritual side to life. 

In YA, I’m especially keen to write about relationships where teens are more interested into getting into each other’s hearts and heads, rather than their pants.

Similar Posts:

None Found