Why I Write: It Ain't No Cakewalk

So I wrote a script. Why? Why did I write?

I’d say it was ignorance that allowed me to try and open the door. And luck that that door was marked “WRITING.” And unlocked.

By Citizen Correspondent Charlie Craig , USA

Date Posted: 02/15/08

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Editor's note: More than four months after TV writers took to the picket line, a resolution to the long and industry-crippling strike is finally here. For many people working on the small screen, it means getting back to doing what they love, and Charlie Craig is no exception. Craig is co-editor of Why We Write and executive producer of Eureka, a science-fiction drama TV show. Here, he tells us how he got into "the biz."

Okay, I’m going to do something I never do when I write: set off without a firm end in sight. Actually, I never do it in life, either. There’s a time and place for spontaneity, you know what I’m saying? So why am I acting so rashly? Especially when the subject at hand is “Why I Write?”

Because I don’t know why I write. I really don’t. At least, I don’t know why I started. I have no entertaining stories, no particular moments in my childhood that upon reflection are clear signposts that lead the way to being the Showrunner on Eureka. I mean, I liked TV. Everyone did. But I didn’t head off to college with a burning desire to see my words on screen.

I did have an appreciation for story, though. I had that. Instilled by my dad, an eminent history professor and author. He read to me a lot, and not just Babar. I’m talking Horatio at the Gate. I grew up liking things that had something exciting going on between their beginning and their end. To this day we still read to our kids - and they’re 14 and 17, so I guess the story thing sank in.

Eventually, I went to college, and made a little movie, and went to graduate school, and made another little movie, and found myself making informational films for the Department of Defense. At that point I came to a big decision: I did not want to make informational films for the Department of Defense.

So I wrote a script. Why? Why did I write?