The process of writing allows me to understand problems that without writing it would be totally beyound my capacity to understand. The power of my mind is at least amplify ten fold by getting involved in writing for at least one hour a day.

There are clear parallels with art. To have a voice. To be part of the conversation. To talk about new, interesting and important things. There are some constraints with the language and form required by scientific discipline, but these aspirations are still possible and art forms also have their constraints.

If I am to write a book I would not write it for fame nor for money. I would write it for the love of writing, to express personal passion, to share and spread the advancemnet of science. Writing for me is like discovering, when you start you do not know what the end will be. This I call creative writing. "To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that words make."

I already authored one book, and if my plans unfold as intended, my second book will be published by the beginning of next year. My motives were exactly the same as described already: I write because no comparable work is currently available, because I like this kind of activity (call it passion if you like) and because I have a huge collection of original material lying around without apparent system and that this is an elegant (but tedious) way of producing a summary of your own work. And, yes, it is not the money - given the many hours, days, months and years it takes you to compile the manuscript in the time outside my job, the money-per-hour rate is not worth being calculated.

Conducting scientific research is very much a passion of mine, connected to my need to be creative. Scientific writing was initially something that was daunting, but is now enjoyable. I write articles to convey new findings, new knowledge, and new ideas, as well as to give my "take" on a topic. Writing also helps formulate my thoughts, making me think about the big picture and how the details fit into that. Like research, writing well is a never-ending challenge.

I'd keep with how Toni Morrison once put it: Quote If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it yourself' Unquote

Each of us is a member of humanity, an organism that will live much longer than ourself and through our contributions we king of hope to live forever.

@Anne-Marie The passion and the joy of writing as the satisfaction of holding your book eventually in your hands are priceless indeed! However I am starting to react against the poor payment as a matter of fair treatment and recognition or simply of respect, a type of disrespect that is inbuilt in the 'matrix'.

I have recently written in a different context that ignorance is not a bliss, especially when it's about not knowing the law, however the ignorance of the masses is a bliss for the political elite. Therefore the lack of recognition is in my opinion a method, not just a matter of randomness or lack of resources. It's a matter of priority, of what comes first on the list and despite the beautiful declarations, the reality shows that freedom of research is still just a beautiful metaphor in most fields especially in those where expensive materials and equipments are necessary.

On the other hand, as everybody else here, I experience the irresistible attraction of being able to express your identity in a powerful manner, indulge in the catharsis and fully enjoy the feeling of being privileged in other ways than financially. Maybe each of us, individually is fully prepared to be a soldier of passion, but is it fair on a more general and long term perspective?

In order to be provocative I will assert that ignoring the passionate effort of a talented scientist-writer equals in fact with promoting ignorance and enlarging the army of less passionate and often insufficiently informed bureaucrats. Their 'excusable' ignorance produces victims everyday, maybe every hour. In the meanwhile the passionate knowledgeable people are treated as geeks, as odd creatures, if they ever are recognized as values by a system that repels the 'ghostliness' and promotes the mindlessness in a very persistent manner.

It is possible that there are some exceptional cases where people could place passion and recognition in the same department of their life and thus they missed the experience of catharsis à la Michelangelo, the agony and the ecstasy of the creative act. What do you think?

@Hend Smid I mentioned Michelangelo before because of the book; Michelangelo painted the Capela Sistina, but somebody else, Irving Stone, wrote a story about his life adding more 'soul' to it. This is humanity to me, this ability to interact beyond the limits of now and here.

Since you are from Amsterdam, the home of the Van Gogh Museum, I can't abstain to think what if... what if Van Gogh hadn't had a brother who 'hunted' for him (supported him financially) ...we all now would have been 'poorer' in spiritual terms.

I am writing and now editing my (non-fiction) book because I am the only person that knows some things, and can put them all together. My passion sees the project through to publishing.

The text books written by professors teaching undergraduates at university represent a particular case. Some of them are good and useful and deserved to be kept even after graduation. Some other books constitute just a form of extra hidden fee paid directly to the editor and professor, because you can not use them in any other way than for the purposes of that course. This is pedagogic material, where specific utility is the main deal.

I have studied Danish for some years ago (as a Swedish speaker is possible to study Danish at university with no high-school studies in Danish). We had 2-3 lecturers who taught all courses in this programme. Each lecturer had his/her own material copied in fact from other books. The value of originality, presentation etc was low, but the funny thing was that each lecturer had his own version and you had to buy that specific version in order to continue the programme. One can see that the actual goal was onerous and passion for writing was out of question. We had a special library and the librarian was often confused about it too.

In general writing a book that you need in order to exercise a profession is meant to serve a pragmatic and well-defined goal. You don't need to worry about who is going to buy the book, but only about the utility of the book for the named purposes. This is a very particular case, which in fact is the most easy. The answer to my question about the driver is obvious in this case.

However from my experience, pedagogic books are most about structure and choice of content (case law selection often in law books). The language, how you formulate the necessary explanations, how you open the appetite for further studies are also important aspects. If a book attains all these goals, then it has entered Nirvana of pedagogical books.

My initial thoughts were about writing a book that you NEED to write or maybe one that you would like to read or other situations, where a clear purpose and a target-buyer who is compelled to buy it do not exist.

Therefore I brought in the analogy with art. In a philosophical debate the relation between our contemporary obsession with the notion of utility and the adoption of a pragmatic view on any enterprising and the need of the 'heart' or 'mind' or 'ghost' to create is intriguingly dialectical. Art and futility are congruent notions in some sense and opposed in many others.

In very simple words, I sense that a book as an artistic object satisfies the need of the writer (artist) and resonates with the freedom of expression. A book as a collection of useful information of any kind satisfies the needs of the large public, only primarily speaking, because in fact any book is a combination of the two named features.

I am less concerned here with the 'large public' and the marketing aspects, because my claim is that what the large public needs is subject to permanent amendments. They do not know what they like/need to read, before they actually read/like it.

I am with the writer with his/her catharsis, doubts, thrills and courage to convey apparent futility into utility. This is an actual challenge.

You can write for yourself or you can write for others. The first is selfish, (see vanity press); the second requires keeping the reader in mind at all stages. "If only you knew what I knew". The answer to your second paragraph is "Yes". It is a "To do that must be done."

Write reader-friendly prose. Be gracious. Your last paragraph is opaque. Do you mean "spirit" in place of "ghost", because you are talking about "inspiration"?

Dear Ian, it was a subtle allusion to the 'ghost in the machine', the leitmotiv of this question. I don't think that either it should be or it is possible to find a rule applicable to all writers and all types of books. In fact a book that appeals to all, it must be a pocket book, easy-to-read edition something that in the worst case I would read on the train. Pleasing everyone is not the best thing to do in this business. I don't say that each and every phrase must be breathtaking. Moreover all good writers have some less representative books and some amazing books.

I am not looking for a solution, my question is open and personal, something like an invitation to share thoughts about what it's the actual motivation that makes you write. I will make a new analogy in relation to art, for me writing is a form of painting with words. Each semantic meaning has its unique vibration, its own colour. Paul Cézanne had huge difficulties to express himself and therefore he destroyed some of the canvasses. He was simply dissatisfied with his own work, he wanted to reproduce the beauty of the nature in a perfectionist manner. After a while he met Camille Pissarro and discovered another way of painting, painting from the inside-out, 'Paint what YOU see, so simple it is!'. Paraphrasing Camille Pissarro, if I ever wrote something more than just an instruction book I would write what I NEED TO TELL THE WORLD NOT WHAT THE WORLD WANTS TO HEAR FROM ME. The main challenge for me is to remain honest to myself; if I think about what the other wants I will not be myself and some people here claim very accurately that a good reason to write is exactly that no one else can write your book.

If I write letting the 'likes' and 'dislikes' of others to have the final say, it would not be my book, but I would only be the typist attempting to paint not what I see, but giving a description of what exists outside. He told that 'Art is a harmony parallel with nature'. Even to me the nature (including the society) is only a mirror, a parallel (in contrast to tangential) reality. The only 'real' reality is what I see, the harmony from inside. Concerning fiction books or even analytical studies, the author is the ultimate reality, not the descriptive reality.

'The most seductive thing about art is the personality of the artist himself.' P Cézanne

'We live in a rainbow of chaos.P Cézanne

I regard it as a waste of time to think only of selling: one forgets one's art and exaggerates one's value. Camille Pissarro

Everything is beautiful, all that matters is to be able to interpret.Camille Pissarro

GHOST = soul or mind in that context, you know the old Cartesian dualism

The most amazing and successful books will be written by people

who will surprise the reader. There are certain

expectations and conventions, but you can break

or extend them.

The inspiration kept the desire going, one page a day.

when i am very sad, depressed, confused, anxious, struggled etc. Sadly, I laugh alots.

I wrote my book because I like writing and felt I had something to say. I wrote second and third editions because the book got good reviews and sold quite well.

I write about what I've done myself or with my colleagues. And what I did myself, that I know.

I am not sure there could ever be just one driver or driving force that incites me to write.

I am just finishing the last edit of my book (science fiction novel) and hope to publish it on Kindle within the next few weeks. The spark that started this particular book was an event that made me angry enough to think about it for a long time and this provided the basic storyline. Another event that actually started me writing was the birth of my daughter, not sure why but it did. Of course I love science fiction but that was not enough to keep me going. My anger about the world event was not enough to keep me going. My love of writing was not enough to keep me going. My curious penchant for repetition might be enough but my desire to tell my story was a constant driver. At different times different drivers kept me going for the six years it has taken me. Fame and fortune were never drivers for me and I don't expect either as a result of this book.

I am trying to rewrite a piece of research that I did last year in the hope I can get it published in a journal. The motivation behind this writing is very different as I wanted to learn something new and looked at something I was interested in. The writing allowed me to understand the data I collected and the more I tried to understand the more questions I found needed to be asked. Now, I want to share that data to see if my conclusions are justifiable and whether anyone else has found other evidence of the same phenomenon.

I think we all have a basic desire to communicate with others, we want to say “this is what I think” or “this is my story”. We all want to be heard and acknowledged in some way and one of the most permanent methods of doing that is writing. The existence of this forum and the internet itself “proves” that we want to communicate and share ideas. A book or an article is just a longer, more deliberate attempt to do that.

Writing a book needs a lot of aptitudes. You may see several books written on the same subject with the same mathematical content (sciences books); reading most of them would definitely contribute to understanding the subject better.

There are 7 books (!) with the identical title "advanced engineering mathematics" which shows you that there is a lot of scope for different approaches by different authors even in the same target market. But not all will be equally successful. Beware, writing a book is not for the feint-hearted. You will need support and finance as well as well-honed aptitude.

As a teacher I write to explain better, and in trying this I understand better. So, paradoxically, I use what I write more to me than my students. Anaother experience: the easier you want to explain, the harder it is to write it down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSy1NQx2bJE

I write, as many humans (as many of you have said in this forum), to understand myself, to understand the world, to quench my thirst for "say" and teach something to all around (the reason I'm a teacher).

Long ago, when I discovered my vein of writer (paraphrase of Garcia Marquez) felt that I write for my friends want me more, but lately I've discovered that I do more than anything because, literally, I love it! everything that can be built with the written word, without moving from a table with a pencil and a sheet of paper and / or computer keyboard.

Cheers for the written word!

The process of writing allows me to understand problems that without writing it would be totally beyound my capacity to understand. The power of my mind is at least amplify ten fold by getting involved in writing for at least one hour a day.

@Emanuela, you see, your original question can be answered with a natural perspective. People do not only take on the task of writing books but also contribute by publishing their ideas via blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 applications. I very much agree with @Louis and @Mariaelena and others that writing makes clear what they think about a problem and its solution, things that we deal with in science and technology.

My ultimate answer to your question is I publish for communicating my point of view, as correct, comprehensible and fascinating as it can be.

As a post script to my earlier post, I have finally published my book (The Kong Di swordsman) on Kindle and everyone is "very proud" of me but for me the release of the book to a wider audience is not such a big deal. to be honest I don't really know if I will sell 10 copies or 10,000 although the latter would help my bank account. When I started writing I didn't really intend to publish and it was only after I had around 50,000 words that I started to consider it. The book reached over 140,000 words before I started to edit it. I actually enjoyed all the processes needed to "finish" the book although writing was by far the most fun. I don't think it is important what you are writing, it is the process of puting your thoughts on paper that is important. As many of the comments have said writing helps you think, it helps you organise, it helps you evaluate and it helps you reflect. All of this helps you to understand and learn. Sharing the ideas with others is just part of the learning process

I agree with you Gary. And I wolud add it's a kind of magic (paraphrasing Queen): first you fear in front of a white screen, you begin writing (PTKFGS paraphrasing Forrester) and ideas begin to flow and flow, sometimes fitting here and there like a jigsaw puzzle game.

To me, it's very difficult to begin. At first it's disposition of Providence. And if I am beginning...Images change images and I turn out to be absorbed by imagination. I begin reflecting I can't stop.And then I am like an artist, I paint a lot of strokes with brush- it's a stream of consciousness. I immerse into emotional, sub-cortical storage, space, what not.And then I'm an architect- I must polish my work- I play with words- I turn every word, every line. If my work in English- it's double cerebration- double pleasure.As a rule, my problems are a lack of paper and pens.Besides, if I cook supper for my family during my "immersion" I can salt down my cooking twice, or my dish can be burned.The creative process is affective-cognitive obsession, a fixed idea and a subtle delight. The most interesting thing- when the work is ready- I become indifferent to it. I have said, and my soul become free.But I want to experience this state else and else.

"For the poet the credo or doctrine is not the point of arrival, but is, on the contrary, the point of departure for the metaphysical journey"Josef Brodsky

For me the jigsaw puzzle game starts with the process of rewriting my paper. What is fuelling me is the pursuit of the "perfect " shape I can give to my line of reasoning, my exemplification, my conclusion... Once I finished I feel drained but fulfilled.

Writing a book gives me the opportunity to fully explore ideas in detail. Though I live writing academic blogs and papers in order to develop idea, the book feels like the culmination of all that work. At least that's how I hope it will pan out.

Interesting question. You assert that: " I don't exclude the possibility of several co-existing reasons, but one of them must be the actual driver..." and I guess I might challenge that. Perhaps it only really happens (vs being a "want-to-do") when there are enough co-existing reasons to reach a tipping point. For some people, and the strength of some motivations, this may not take much more than one; for others, there may need to be a whole collection of motivations, anyone of which alone is not sufficient, but that together create an emergence of the impulse to write (and to keep going -- which may be a different configuration yet again).

What stimulates me in writing books (so far 13 books) and articles (about 50) is a special feeling it gives inside. It makes become more useful for the society. When I hear from friends, relatives and others that we had used that part of your book and it was useful, I get a special feeling of satisfaction- not really explained by words, you really must feel it to understands it. In these cases you really feel being part of an on-going development for mankind- even if it was adding an atom in a universe. When you read science history and see that big scientists had done hard work to FIND, DISCOVER, SHARE, DEVELOP, ... for mankind without even a reward, you get puzzled- were they angles or something. And let me tell you that this is not given to all people: it is a gift bestowed to special, understandable, kind people something different from others but of course these people have to use it to be gifted.

I think, for all creative persons a powerful driver is a psychological effect of Bluma Zeigarnik- so called "incomplete gestalt".Besides, in the authoritarian system it's a means to avoid degradation and delinquency.It's a source of spiritual force, a means of self-actualization, self-protection. To Stritmatter,"if you are able to live and not to write,- don't write"The only victory over your enemy is not to be like your enemy (for ex, Faustus' soul vs banal apparatus' authority, or love boat which is crashed the way of life). May be, suffering: "What does poet's life mean without suffering?//What does an ocean mean without storm?//He wants to live at the price of pain// at the price of lingering troubles//He buys the sounds of sky// He doesn't take glory for nought" Lermontov. But I appreciate the thoughts by the authors:F.Rable: "Memento Vitae"Or: "Inspiration can't be sold, but we can sell the manuscript"(Pushkin). Or:"If someone asked for my recipe for happiness, step one would be finding out what you love doing most in the world and step two would be finding someone to pay you to do it" J.K.Rowling

The driving force behind the determination and inspiration to write anything like a book or a poem or an article or a paper, is the urge to put one's feelings, knowledge, information, creativity on paper so that it is read by others and taken cognisance of. Writing also satisfies one's inner happiness of sharing, dissipating, guiding, communicating, with others ( not all can write, though !). It is a God's gift, if used wisely, can really be a help to the society, in general ! By writing, you also become immortal through your words !

I don’t like the sound of lies. I consider the Big Bang Theory and its supposed explosion of the universe out of nothing to be one big lie. I will not stop writing until the Big Bang Theory is replaced by the Infinite Universe Theory.

The use of the word 'passion', with respect to being 'the driver that incites people to write', is still relevant. 'Passion' is not a worn-out word.

Some of the replies generally agree that one must write from within oneself; from the subconscious. This is what I think of as 'passion'. Stefan Draughon has written a whole book on her approach to passion in, "A Passion for Watercolor". Draughon reiterates the need to have 'feelings' for the subject in order to be able to create one's style and paint in a personal way.

When I did an accredited certificate in writing and editing we were constantly reminded to forget the audience, to put our inner-selves into our writing so we could connect with the 'passion'. 'Passion' was an oft-used word and I have never tired of it. I am grateful to those teachers because, whenever I come across the word 'passion', it reminds me about where the true creative process comes from. Having reached the 'passion' or, the subconscious, I can then say what I want to communicate. Communication of ideas is a driver too but 'passion' is the main driver.

Draughon also broaches the problem of painting for money, through a personal experience she had. In effect, she found that in order to make more money from her art she would have to compromise her creative urges and her own unique style, both of which were rooted in 'passion'. She chose 'passion' over financial gain.

@Emanuela Matei describes some of this in the June 28 post which I enjoyed very much. Draughon also discusses Paul Cezanne and Camille Pissaro in her book. I have learnt a lot from your question, Emanuela, and the subsequent discussion. Thankyou.

@Irina Pechonkina - the cooking mistakes are an indication of having entered the realms of 'passion' - I can commiserate with you. I do my best work when I have struck a chord with 'passion' and the symptoms are the same forgetfulness during everyday routine tasks. It becomes a problem when I am unaware that my subconscious has taken over my whole being. For instance, during an essay writing period I was out driving in a familiar area and entered the round-about in the wrong direction...sometimes that 'passion' can be dangerous. Now I try to be more aware of when I am entering the 'immersion' state, as you put it. It is a survival skill of modifying my daily tasks and trying to allow my conscious mind to direct me without suppressing the 'passion'.

Thank you, Emanuela, for your interesting question. There are a lot of like-minded personalities with brightest thoughts and " passion"(to Sandi).What a human being writes at the last night before a duel depends on a cultural frame. Russian would write poems, German- a will, and American naturalist A.Hamilton wrote an essay- a research on the problem,"Why mustn't we go to the duel?"He found a lot of jural, legal, religious, moral, historical arguments, which were against a duel.But he wrote his essay, went to the duel, was killed. Why? All his arguments concerned formal rules and laws. But what the world around us thinks- is important.Socrates was condemned either to leave his Polis, or to drink poison. Drinking poison was an ordinary choice of a man, because to lose one's social network is more terrible than death. To me, the driving force is in trying to find like-minded persons, to share your soul and experience with them so that you can convict yourself in your own rightness through feedback.It's the greatest thing to find your social network., whom you are interesting.

Dear Irina,

What you have said in the last two sentences is very true. I haven't quite looked at it this way before. However I now know this is what I have had to do at times in my life when re-adjusting to changing circumstances.

This shows just how important recognising your 'driver' is. Assessing its value. Surely we change our premium drivers over time. And if, as you say, the driver touches our soul, and importantly, we let it (as Daughon discusses this, and I have been guilty of suppressing my driver) we are more likely to begin to believe in ourselves. The self-belief, I have found, makes the journey easier. Once I started writing from my inner self, and had the confidence to share it publicly, I was surprised at how easy it was to connect with like-minded people. It virtually 'just happened'.

The ultimate is being true to yourself - keep assessing and reassessing that driving force, and self-belief. Be prepared to move between social networks if circumstances require it then hopefully we will not end up with limited choices like poor Socrates.

Our true self will come out in our writing, if we let it, making our writing sparkle with original thought. That 'driver', whatever it is, is so important.

Thankyou very much Emanuela for such an interesting question and stimulating discussion.

I must agree with Louis Brassard, writing helps me to organize and understand a subject better, and that sometimes turns into a book, of which I have published two, and have about four in the works.

It takes passion for a subject to turn research into a publishable book, so you must love the subject and feel you have something new to add as well. Still some research papers can be as notable as a book. My little paper on earthquake resistant masonry construction has had greater impact than any other thing I have written.

As a poor old Indian, becoming an author has earned me academic standing in subjects I love, but could never afford to get a degree in. It is nice to see others think your hard work is noteworthy, but for me, writing is an end in itself.

Jaya Kurhekar has a point I had not thought about. Sometimes I do want others to consider my ideas. My paper on Native Rights was meant to inspire the leaders of our tribes to action. Still, it was a passion for the subject which drove me to write it.

So like others have said, passion is perhaps the writers greatest driving force.

Passion plays a key role in writing! Most of the times, we feel like putting down our feelings in words but in the end turn up not doing anything about it because we are just plain lazy, not as efficient in it, as is required or maybe we lack the passion !

Passion can help not just to push the pen but also to polish the prose!

One driver could not be put in better words:

"The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium." ~Norbet Platt

maybe the author must first have the desire to share his/her thoughts through words... then passion will push him to complete the book easily