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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/40706
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I have been writing on and off, without really paying attention to it, almost impulsively, since I was sixteen. It's been mostly therapeutic, for me. I found recently that putting dreams to paper helps flesh them out and give them life. The themes in the dreams are recurring, and have roots, I think, in childhood trauma. The writing helps me parse through the concepts that otherwise lay strewed in my psyche and emotions without my conscious awareness and understanding.

My question is this: how do you know if you should pursue writing?

I have absolutely no ability to tell stories in person. I want to say ten different things at once. I lose track of where my narratives are going. That said, I do write frequently and impulsively. I do think in bizarre characters and hold dialogues by myself between them. I do think in narratives and themes...

Does this mean anything?

Can someone with an inability to tell stories ever become a good writer? What does having a compulsion to write without an ability to tell stories leave for the writer to work with, and for the reader to enjoy?

How do I know if I should be a writer? Should this just remain a private, therapeutic hobby?

Original score: 4