Don’t Forget the “Why?”
Writing is not about adding more subplots, making things complicated, adding a boatload of characters, or using some sort of gimmick. Writing – no matter what you’re writing – is about developing stories that resonate with readers, address the reader’s needs, and provide value in money spent and time invested.
Before any writer starts a project, they need to ask, “Why?” Why am I writing this? Why would the reader want to read it? Why does this even matter? Too many books are written because someone says, for example, “I want to write a mystery.” Why? To sell books? To build a career? To be famous? Wrong, wrong, and even more wrong. The why needs to be why it is different, why someone would want to read it, and why you are the person who should write it. Ask the correct “why?” questions, and you’ll get some surprising “why” answers.
Ask “why?” also about what you’re writing. Question yourself for every plot twist, character choice, stylistic brushstroke, description, ending, or anything else. Readers get frustrated with writers who make decisions because they haven’t asked “why” because writers didn’t think it through. Instead of looking at your work from a writer’s point of view, think about looking at it from a reader’s. What does the reader want? What drives the reader crazy? Look at the end user if you're going to make a career as a writer and give them what they want. Why do they want to read what you are offering? That’s the “why?”
Do you know why readers want to read? They want something new. That means the writer will have to spend time developing something that hasn’t been done before. If it has been done before, then why are you doing it? If it’s another cat cozy, aren’t there enough? How about a gerbil cozy?
Readers want something emotional. Want to write yet another horror slasher? Why? Been done, old news. Think of something fresh, something really scary. Look around you; it won’t take long.
Readers want something that enriches their lives. They want stories that amplify how they feel, their pains, their joys. A good writer gives them all these by asking “why?” and ensuring the answer makes sense for the reader, not the writer.
Another book on the shelf or another poem in a cross-eyed literary magazine doesn’t mean we’re adding something to literature. If adding to the canon is what we want to do, really add something to literature. Dig deep. Justify. Put yourself in the hot seat. Ask yourself “why?” you’re writing and “why?” someone should be reading. If you do that, you’ll have a career that won’t stop.
But you have to always ask the question “why?” and not be afraid to hear the truth.
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Clay Stafford is a writer and filmmaker. Subscribe to his weekly newsletter here: https://claystafford.com/newsletter
