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Because humans are social animals, and far more people seem to have a need for social contact than to see their own creativity come to life, as evidenced by what most people spend their free time doing (not writing code or books, but enjoying time with family and friends). A creative social activity viewed as an enhanced social activity instead of a degraded creative one is perhaps the perspective you're looking for?

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No, not particularly what I'm looking for, but it's probably to do with my own personality traits rather than any universal truth... You make a valid point.

But the thing about human desires is that, typically, you want to fulfill all of them, and you can easily satisfy the need for creativeness by working on a book solo for a couple of hours, then satisfy the need to socialize by helping your significant other out cooking a meal and raising a child.

To speculate a bit further: I would suppose that lack-of-creative-outlet is more likely to be unmet as a basic human desire in most people than lack-of-socializing, although I do grant that loneliness is on the rise.

And, last but not least, if the goal of writing the novel is to write a good novel, there's an argument to be made that creative endeavor is what it's actually about.

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