i think mimicry is inherent to children, especially alienated ones. So writing is pretty instinctual, especially if one has a love of books, because it's mimicry of the world, and of language, in order to understand it. for years I wrote but didn't share at all. then, for a very sad stretch of years, I didn't write or read very much. it was only after starting to write a diary for my own mental health that I came back to writing (and reading, by extension). i think that the creative instinct is not one easily ran away from, and moreover that the benefit of indulging it far outweighs the risk.

clarice lispector, mervin peake, virginia woolf, clive barker, ursula k. le guin