# 1.3 Why writers write

Figure 5

There are all sorts of reasons why people start to write. Throughout this course you will listen to established writers speaking about their work.

Here are a number of novelists talking about how they began to write. You will hear Alex Garland, Michèle Roberts, Tim Pears, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Monique Roffey and Louis de Bernières.

This browser does not support audio playback.

Transcript

As you are listening, consider:

- How did these writers come to write?
- Why did they start to write?
- Were there any similarities in their respective journeys towards writing?

You’ll reflect on your thoughts in the next section.

OpenLearn - Start writing fiction: characters and stories
Except for third party materials and otherwise, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence, full copyright detail can be found in the acknowledgements section. Please see full copyright statement for details.