The Week of the Writer Guest Post: “Knowing Why You Write”

Welcome to day #4 in The Week of the Writer! Today’s guest post comes from Lisa Gail Green of Paranormal Point of View.

Lisa is a writer after my own heart. She’s a super-talented writer who has a way of making you think about your writing while offering a unique ‘point of view’ on characters, plot, POV, blogging, and the magic of writing. Her blog is another that I look forward to reading every week!

Thank you Lisa for visiting with us today and sharing why it is that you write!

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When Melinda asked me to write about craft, advice or tricks of the trade, I will admit my mind went blank. I know, I know, I kind of do that twice a week anyhow, right? But then I thought: What is the single most important thing? What rises to the top of the list or sums up all the other stuff? And I found an answer!

Knowing why you write what you do.

Yes it sounds pretty darn simple, but it’s not. The answer is probably very complex. If you’d have asked me a week ago, I would have told you it was because I had to. Well, that still holds true. But it’s so much more than that – I need to remember WHY I have to do it. Let me show you my answer and then I’d love to hear yours.

1. I must remember WHOM I am writing for. I write for children because I remember how important stories were to me growing up. It’s easy to lose sight of who our audience really is, especially when we are wrapped up in craft and querying and such. But I write for children, and those children (albeit the older group) deserve the same kind of wonderful fantasies that I needed and loved at their age. The ones that helped shape my self-concept.
2. I must remember the feeling of being thunderstruck by an idea. You know the one! Where you are all consumed by the fire in your belly and the ideas are coming so fast and furious that you can’t even remember who you are talking to (hopefully no one important). Agents and publishing contracts don’t matter when you have that feeling. So try to recapture it as often as possible. Believe me it’s not a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
3. I must remember that I am an artist and that creative part of me needs a route to self-expression regardless of my emotional state. I know, it’s a bit psychological, but truly, I am not whole without the self-expression that my writing provides. I need to be true to that and allow myself to let go and not worry about the words I put on the page during a rough draft. I can fix it later.
4. I must remember that it is important to me to do my best and succeed. This is true. I love learning. I do. I want to know as much as possible about my craft and put it into practice. I want to be professional and present myself and my work the correct way. These things are important to me. They are part of who I am and why I write. I have a goal. I want to be published. Okay, I am published, but I’d like to be a published novelist. I intend, despite the ups and downs in this business, to carry through and persevere until I reach my goal.

So there you have it. These four items describe WHY I write and what I have to remind myself of to truly remember the answer. How about you?

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Lisa Green's publications include numerous short stories and poems, the latest of which are the story IDENTITY CRISIS in the anthology GODS OF JUSTICE from Cliffhanger Books and CURSED in the anthology PLAYTHINGS OF THE GODS available from Drollerie Press. You can find Lisa on Twitter or her blog, Paranormal Point of View. She would definitely have a werewolf for a pet if she weren't allergic.