John Matthew Fox helps authors write better fiction. He is the founder of Bookfox, where he creates online courses for writers, provides editing and offers publishing assistance. He is the author of "The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments" and “I Will Shout Your Name,” a collection of short stories.
5 Questions Every Writer Should be able to Answer
|
Hi Bookfoxers, Most writers can't answer these five basic questions. But any writer who can has a much higher chance of finding success. Here they are: 1. Why am I writing? Orwell said a common reason why writers write is "sheer egotism." They want their name known, they want the next generation to remember them. Some authors write for therapeutic reasons, to work out a particular psychological problem. Other authors just want to help others: they write out of altruism. Name your WHY. It will power all your writing efforts. 2. What is the one book I want to write before I die? It's a common temptation to write what others want you to write. Or to write what's expected of you. Or to write what will sell (anyone with an agent will know this pressure!) But William Kent Krueger, who had traditionally written crime and mystery novels, bravely stepped out of that genre and wrote a book that had lingered in his imagination for years. "Ordinary Grace" was published in 2013, and though it was different than many of his other works, it ended up being one of his bestselling novels and winning the Edgar Award. 3. Who am I writing for? If you know your audience, your books have a much better chance of success. What kind of emotional experience is your audience looking for?
Know whether they like shorter books or longer books. Know what type of material they will refuse to read, or what subjects will make them DNF your book. In the business world, entrepreneurs have to make up an archetypal character that represents their potential clients, and even have to name them and talk about their interests. Fiction writers might want to do that as well. Come up with a persona -- or even choose a real person that you know -- that represents all your potential readers. Writing to a person will help you craft your story. Before we get to the last two questions that every writer should be able to answer, here's a word from our sponsor:
Now for the last two questions. 4. What subjects bring me to my knees? Some writers have a tendency to avoid writing about what terrifies them. They hedge, they talk around the topic, but never address it head-on, or make their characters wrestle with the worst. This is a tragedy, because what brings you to your knees is often what would bring a reader to their knees as well. Step into your fears and into what strikes to the deepest, most sensitive part of your soul. Write towards the thing that haunts you and keeps you awake late at night. Karl Ove Knausgaard, the Norwegian memoirist, said, "Concealing what is shameful to you will never lead to anything of value." We could substitute a few words in that sentence instead of shame:
But what's most important is not concealing. 5. What does success look like to me? Define what literary success looks like for you. Because the biggest mistake is to let culture at large tell you what success should look like, and you accept that definition without thinking about it.
There are many ways you can feel successful, and not all of them are wild fantasies like getting your book made into a movie or getting picked by Reese Witherspoon for her book club. I mean, if that happens, wonderful! I'm certainly cheering for you. But you can be a successful author (and feel like it, too, which is different) by reaching different milestones. Okay, I hope that encourages you on the writing journey today! Best, John Matthew Fox of Bookfox |
Bookfox
John Matthew Fox helps authors write better fiction. He is the founder of Bookfox, where he creates online courses for writers, provides editing and offers publishing assistance. He is the author of "The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments" and “I Will Shout Your Name,” a collection of short stories.
Hi Bookfoxers, Rudolf Flesch, an Austrian who hid from the Nazis in WW II, wondered why English sentences were so difficult to read. He thought writing should be simple, but that most people cluttered it up needlessly with complex language. So he gave two pieces of advice: keep your sentences short (he thought the golden mean was 17 words) use short words (longer words decrease comprehension) And Flesch invented a formula that calculated words and syllables in sentences, and assigned a score...
Hi Bookfoxers, When I was 31 years old, I’d been laboring over a novel for 5 years. It was a quagmire. I was stuck in a plot that wouldn’t move, in characters that couldn’t elicit sympathy, and with ambitions that were far beyond my skill as a writer. But here’s the thing: I wasn’t a quitter. I thought that only losers quit. I thought that way, because when I was in high school, I tried out for the JV basketball team both as a freshman and sophomore – and didn’t make the team either year. So...
Hi Bookfoxers, I once had a creative writing professor who would read out loud the first paragraph of any story submitted to the workshop. Reading it out loud was a way not only to test it, but a way to slow down and really focus on the beginning. To see whether it sounded boring, or weird, or just plain dumb. I’m afraid that nearly all of the stories did not pass muster. He would growl through the first paragraph, and sometimes he would ask whether we thought someone would want to: Have a...