How my childhood years and video games made me want to write

Why does anyone become interested in writing novels? It's such an abstract process: thousands upon thousands of hours of work and toil put into a collection of words. It is, initially anyways, a thankless and rewardless work. I've dedicated almost a year of my life to writing this novel and have nothing to show for it other than a mess of files on my computer and some stacks of paper. In our very instant-gratification oriented society, this sort of pursuit might seem crazy to some. But I love the process, and I want to make a career of it. Here's what I think led up to this love for writing.

From a young age I've loved playing video games. Gems such as Chrono Trigger and Earthbound still hold a special place in my heart.

Video games were a refuge for me. As a child I was teased by my peers at school for wearing a hearing aid. Because of this I was an insecure person. I had a very loving home, yes, and that did much to mitigate the effects of the teasting, but it only did so much.

Aside: please don't read this as a sob story. Overall I'm pretty certain my childhood was better than most. I simply seek to illustrate how my experiences early in life led to my current love for novels and writing.

Because of the teasing and insecurity, I did not have many friends. I was socially akward. I had a crippling fear of women that I didn't fully overcome until I was around 21 years old.

Video games provided a window to worlds filled with opportunity and excitement. In these worlds I wasn't Richard the socially akward child anymore.

I was Crono, a man with the power to manipulate time to prevent the destruction of the world.

I was Ness, blessed with pyshic powers, on a mission to defend the world from an entity of pure evil.

I was Zidane, a man with no past journeying through a wondrous world with airship-filled skies.

I was a heroic pilot in the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance trying to keep the vicious Shivans from destroying everything.

I was Commander Shepherd, a hero tasked with stopping a machine-race bent on wiping out all sentient life.

Video games were a window by which I could escape from being a kid who had a hard time hearing. It was difficult for me to understand other kids on the playground. So I began to retreat into imaginary worlds. Every recess I would walk back and forth along the tires in the playground while forces of good and evil battled it out a thousand times in my minds eye. These were my earliest creative experiments. I still love creating something from nothing within my mind. Writing a novel is a natural extension of this.

Video games fueled my mind's creative explorations. Video games brought imaginary worlds to life, and let me live in them.

This is all related to my book writing in several ways. For one, the genres of video games I played are the ones I ended up reading the most (Fantasy and Science-Fiction). They are also the genres I want to write in.

I have an irresistible love for the concept of heroism, a concept central to the vast majority of video games. The idea that someone simple can rise above themselves and choose to do good and resist evil. A lone figure standing against impossible odds, simply because it's the right thing to do, sends chills down my spine.

I love the idea of good versus evil. The idea of epic, massive conflict. Many of my favorite fictional characters are ones who have come from lowly positions and struggled to overcome their inner weaknesses so that they can serve the world.

One of my favorite novels is Mistborn. It follows the story of Vin, an orphan abandoned at a young age, discovering she has magical powers and a destiny that calls her to fight evil. The story follows her inner struggles with her own feelings of insignificance, even as she battles the forces of evil. This duality of conflict is something I love: external battle against evil paired with inner battle against evil.

I realize this blog has probably gone a bit astray, but hopefully it gives you an idea of why I want to write. I'll wrap up this up here.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post them! I'm happy to continue discussing how I came to find writing such an enjoyable endeavour.

If I get some good questions I'll post a follow-up blog in which I answer the questions!

Next blog: Music powered writing! What I listen to that helps facilitate my writing sessions.