5 Questions Smart Writers Ask
blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
Writers ask questions. It’s what we do.
Nonfiction authors ask interview questions, research questions, who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Novelists ask, “What if…?”
All writers serious about improving their craft and their work’s appeal to publishers and readers ask five key questions.
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Why should anyone care about what I’m writing?
If the book holds meaning for the writer, but none for the reader, it has missed its mark and its potential. Even a memoir needs to matter to the reader.
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Who is this book’s primary reader?
Understanding your target audience informs the way you write, what you write, and how the book’s marketing dollars and efforts (yours and your publisher’s) are spent.
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What is this book’s overarching theme?
If it’s hard to pinpoint, it will be impossible for sales teams to sell it and impossible for retailers and librarians to know where it best fits in their floor plan or web pages.
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In what way will readers walk away changed after this reading experience?
Better informed? Freed? Better organized? Burdens eased? Motivated? Wiser? More compassionate? Refreshed?
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Have I used the best possible structure for telling this story?
A 28-week devotional needs to lose two weeks or gain 24. A 10,000-word nonfiction book with more footnotes than content will fail to appeal to readers for its structure alone (most nonfiction books aim for the 50,o00-word range). Is my nursing home techno-drama sure to resonate or provoke a question from readers: “Huh?”
Notice that this blog post isn’t titled THE 5 Questions Smart Writers Ask.
What would you add to this list? In your opinion, what are other questions a writer should ask, other than, “Where did I put my reading glasses?” and “How could we have run out of coffee?”
EXTRA CREDIT: Ask the five questions regarding your current work-in-progress. If you get stumped on any of your answers, commit to working on it until you’re confident on all five points.
EXTRA SPECIAL CREDIT: Do so before submitting to a prospective agent or editor.
Pitching Your Potential
I’d add this question:
* What will I say to God when He asks me why I wrote this book? (I’m hoping He’ll just ask me to sign His copy.)
* Thanks to all who have sent prayers. Circling the drain is of course a spiral path, and the gyre’s getting tighter. Kind of like the merry-go-round you rode at a carnival when you were a kid, when the operator had the thought, “Hey…I wonder what this baby will REALLY do.”
Yes, Andrew! I picture myself laying my book at the foot of the Throne of Grace, longing for a nod of approval.
* Prayers are circling with you, my friend.
Many thanks for the prayers, Shirlee. All I can say about today is it’s gonna hurt, and I truly appreciate the prayer support.
A resounding “yes” on the God question. As for prayer? You got it!
Thanks so much for the prayers, Kristi; prayers from one’s friends are as vital as oxygen.
Excellent question, Andrew.
Thanks for writing this wonderful post, Cynthia.
Saved for future use – over and over, I’m sure. What a helpful reference. Thanks, Cynthia!
Thank you, Kristi!
Two questions I’d add:
Am I keeping true to the truth?
What do I intend to achieve with this work?
Great additions!
Am I keeping true? Love that question, Michael. Yes.
I aim to write each story with an engrossing plot and characters who inspire the reader to consider what deep faith looks like in dangerous times. My question: does the faith arc of each character have the ring of truth about it?
Believability is key!
If this book is the only thing for which I will be remembered, is it the legacy I want?
Spot on, Andrew! Maybe one of the most important to ask.
Absolutely.
Great question, Andrew.
I’m praying for you!
Jackie, thank you so much for the prayers!
Great list, Cynthia. I suppose I could add: Have I given my reader a chance to breathe or rest? We’ve always been taught to use active verbs, but I once read a novel with absolutely no passive verbs … I was exhausted and longing for one passive verb. Also, a little appropriate humor can help the reader to catch their breath and rest through very serious topics. This reader needs a balance.
Ahh, yes. Breathing and resting. You’re going to be stunned, but I do use comic relief in between the hard stuff. Having 3 sons and a husband in the house helped me learn how to write dialogue for men. Especially when writing scenes with calm men who are under duress. Men don’t decompress like women do. They need to do something, and it’s usually something dangerous and/or stupid, or it’s sports. Which can turn dangerous and/or stupid.
I’m stunned. Not! I love your humor. 🙂
So true, Jennifer.
Great advice, Shelli. 🙂 Humor is a spoonful of sweetness.
I’m not sure I could face life without humor, Wendy. Laughing eases the tension, along with crying some, too. 🙂
Can’t say that I’ve ever longed for a passive verb, but I have longed for places to catch my breath!
I wouldn’t knock footnotes, Cynthia. Sometimes the most fascinating info is in the footnotes. Plus that “huh” would go away if that nursing home techno-drama had good footnotes. I don’t use them myself in my Roman era historicals, but I do include a glossary, list of characters with relationships, a list of place names, and a historical note at the end to put the story in historical perspective. A page or two at the back (or front) might help readers of any techno-novel.
Love it.
1) Did I make my readers cry? Like, UGLEE cry.
2) Did I make my readers go to Google and look up the history behind the story?
3) Did I get my readers to think outside their box?
4) Did I make my readers fume with righteous indignation?
5) Did I make them fan themselves with the book? Or stand in front of the fridge to cool off.
Did I make my readers want to throw the book?
And did I make them want to hug the book on the last page?
My favorite books made me do this, including yours. 🙂
Aww, thank you!
There shall be throwing in Book 3…I just wonder how far and how often?
I did toss Laura’s Love’s Reckoning. Then ignored it for 2 or 3 days. I am SUCH an adult.
Yes, I remember you telling me that you wanted to throw it … I’d never really felt that before … but when I hit that spot, I sure wanted to throw it. But Laura knew how to make me wrap it in a hug by the end. No other way for Silas and Eden. 🙂
Is that all the same book, Jennifer?
Hmmmm, maybe. I like to think that my readers experience a “dawn ’til well past dark” range of emotions and experiences in my work.
Or I’m deluded and should just go get a 96 box of Crayolas and hide somewhere.
I think the compound question I ask myself with each book is: Do I like what I’m writing? If this book were by another author, would I read it?
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If I’m writing it but I don’t like it, that means I’m selling out to genre, style, or something else, just to make a buck. I pray I never do that.
Ooh! If this book were by another author, would I read it? Yes!
Thank you, dear Cynthia, for this Pinterest worthy list for all #amwriting and #amediting writers. I’ve pinned it, and I’m going back to my WIP inspired to answer these questions and edit/revise accordingly.
Blessings ~ Wendy Mac
Wendy! I should have put #amwriting or #amediting! Thanks for the reminder!
Cynthia, perhaps another question is “If this book is a success, do I want the genre and readership to own me?”
* Case is point is Richard Bach, who wrote three lovely and lyrical books about flying before the thunderous success of “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”. His readership went from fellow pilots to people who wouldn’t recognize a turning propeller before walking into it, and there was no way he could avoid questions about ‘the next Jonathan’.
* In fact, his next book, “Illusions: The Adventures Of A Reluctant Messiah” could be seen as an allegory of his own life after Jonathan; his fictional mechanic-cum-messiah, Don Shimoda, abruptly vanishes after a healing service and “returns to the everyday world of men and machines.”
* Shimoda, however, could not leave his past behind him, and in the rather touching coda to the story, Bach realizes that he is bound to his own past, and to the person he has become, as well.
Fascinating. Your mind holds more than dozens of the rest of us!
Do I really want to spend this much of my time telling this story? If I do, would I want to spend a couple of hours reading it if I had bought it?
The story has to make me want to purchase my own book and read it. Why would I ask someone else to do what I am not willing to do?
Such a good introspection, Victoria. The book had better be compelling enough that we would pay for the privilege of owning a copy!
How about “What will my children think of this story?” If I ask this question, it means that I add some good old fashioned slap stick humor and more dogs, preferable ones that fly. Yes, I asked what they thought of a story once and they said it was pretty good, but if I made the dog fly, it would be so much better!
I do ask what my daughter will think of this story, Kristen. She’s not into flying dogs, but I appreciate her attention to “Where’s the hope?” And if I can make her grab for a tissue, my work here is done. 🙂