Writers Need to Rethink the Reasons They Write Books

There is one question above all that writers will either love or hate to answer no matter how good or bad the intentions are of the asker. 

"Why do you write books?"

It's always amazing to me the moments when I meet someone and express my love for literature and they in response question me on why I would choose something such as writing books instead of other paths such as being a librarian or becoming a teacher.

Well, silence drives me mad and children drive me off a cliff. 

Each writer approaches this question differently, thinking sometimes for just a moment and others for their entire writing career. 

The responses to this question can vary almost as much as the writers that are asked, but sometimes they are relatively the same. 

They want to:

• Tell a story
• Advocate for a social cause
• Use it to advance their career
• Get revenge on someone who has wronged them 
• "It's basically free therapy," said a woman in one of my writing groups

Then there are also the most common answers:

• I want to be rich 
• I want to be famous 

Both of these are the only painfully wrong answers to the question since writing a book does not guarantee either of the above outcomes.

Whatever reason you have for wanting to write your book I'm sorry to tell you that your reason for writing it - just might be what's holding your book back from being the wonderful creation that it can be. 

Why should writers want to write a book?

There's one thing that each of the above reasons have in common that make them the wrong mindsets for a writer. 

Have you guessed it yet?

They're all about the writer - when they should be focusing on the reader. 

You should be thinking about the reader and their emotional experience.

Books are made to transport the reader either into the well-worn shoes of the writer or into the fictitious shoes of a life they have never or will never live and you want them to feel at home in them.

Sure you can use your book to advocate for an oppressed group, but you want that group to be able to relate to your book as well as those that are in a position of power to help the advocacy of the group. 

Words aren't enough to move readers, or else the most popular book sold each week would be the dictionary. 

Your words need to evoke an emotional reaction in your reader, this should be your reason for writing any book. 

You want the readers to feel something whether this is fear, anger, empathy, amusement, arousal, or hope your main reason for writing your book should be for your readers. 

If you were writing your book nearly for yourself you would do so and then lock it away in a filing cabinet where no one else could ever lay eyes on it, but if you want to share it with the world then you need to put the reader first and focus on what you want your story to make them feel. 

Now go and write. 

With love, 

B.K xo xo

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