Where did it come from?

Where does my desire to write come from? This is probably an irrelevant question. I've read that nobody cares where my urge for writing comes from, as long as I'm writing. It's also a no-no in query letters to say things like: "I've been writing since the age of five" etc. But I think it's an interesting question to follow the writing-disease to its source.

I think all writing stems from a love of stories. Whether these stories are your typical fairy tales or something more, there eventually comes a time when something sparks. And you ask that amazing question: What if?

What if the story was different?

In my own way, I began storytelling at a very young age. Make-believe with my cousins. Playing dolls with my friends. We came up with some doozies. I recall one time when we were playing "Pocahontas" and the story ended up completely different. So many twists and turns, unexpected circumstances, that had us wide-eyed with delight. As I got older, however, I realized that there comes a time when it's no longer acceptable to play make-believe (I was teased mercilessly for still playing with Barbies when I was 13). But I still had that craving--that urge to pretend. To create. 

And stories became my passion.

Now, I had written stories previously. But they were short, simple, and never what I would call "Brilliant". But when I came to that point where I didn't have any other "socially acceptable" outlets for my desire to escape into other worlds, all of my zeal poured into writing. 

So maybe I'm just a freak, or at least a nerd. Because my desire to write comes from that same desire I had when I was five: to live in another world, to create fantastical circumstances and friends, and escape the mundane. 

Where does your writing stem from?