Writing with Purpose

You sit down to an empty page. You feel a grand sense of being in your heart or head, something important you want to paint on the paper. You want to fill the lines with beautiful thoughts. You’ve done this so many times before, you think it should be easy by now… But it isn’t. The page is still empty. The pen rests lightly in your hand, twiddled and tapped, unused, until finally you set it down in frustration. You know there are words inside. But why won’t they come?

Writers face many challenges in the process of creation. Characters won’t listen, scenery falls over or disappears entirely, and the spellchecker refuses to accept ‘worriedsomely’ into the dictionary. It can be a battle just to get everything assembled into a coherent order. But perhaps the worst problem a writer can face is a lack of purpose. One starts a story with the best intentions and vision, but somewhere along the line, the plot gets complicated; a new character is introduced and turns the story inside out, or grand emotional scene finds its way into the beginning instead of saving itself for the end.  And that idea that was crystal clear when you first began gets hazy.

The thing is: your writing has a purpose. It can be as simple a purpose as self-expression, but it is a purpose. Once you realize this, your writing has an anchor, no matter what direction it takes. When you feel lost, or aren’t sure what comes next, you have your original idea of purpose to return to for clues. It is something independent of genre, style or plot. A detective novel and a high fantasy novel might have the same purpose of inspiring a reader to courage in the face of adversity. A young adult short story can be a journey of self-discovery just as a romance novel might. Once you know that purpose, the story will follow.

So what is your writing’s purpose? Is it to expand the horizons of the reader? To make them question their way of thinking? To be a comfort on a dreary day, or a haven of retreat? To ignite and thrill the imagination? To inspire them to action? Or is your purpose simply to create, to express yourself on the page? Before you begin your story, take time to reflect on just what you want your story to be. Write it down, in stream of consciousness if you must, but get it out there. Post it on your computer screen, brainstorm on it in more detail, find its purest form. It may change as you write, as all things do–it might evolve into something grander you never expected. The point is to have it. Your reader will feel the difference.

Discussion question:

What is the purpose of your current piece of writing?

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