#HeyWriter—Who-o-o-o-o are You?
Hey Writer, are you a professional or hobbyist? Do you fit neatly into a genre? Have you found your niche in the blogosphere or the bookshelf? Does any of that matter? It does, and here’s why: when you know who you are, you can begin to imagine your reader. A form emerges from the shadows, and soon you see a face and recognize a heart. Your reader may be a younger self or someone completely different, but we all wisely start in the same place, identifying some key things about ourselves.
Let’s assume you think you might be a writer. Congratulations! You’re reading in the right place. Or is it the write place? *Grin!*
What does a writer do? What are the hallmarks of a writer? I think it’s as simple as a human being leveraging written communication to share a message to an audience (from one to millions of readers). That’s not particularly difficult to define. The hard part, if I know you as well as I know myself, is choosing the moment to decide you will personally leverage that writing you do in secret to share a message with an audience. When the eyeballs fall on your pages, it suddenly gets real, just sayin’. I think that’s true for every writer.
What does it mean to be a writer? It means sharing something of importance—a passion, truth, or storyline—or a mix of all of those. Is it difficult?
“Red Smith was asked if turning out a daily column wasn’t quite a chore. “Why, no,” dead-panned Smith. “You simply sit down at the typewriter, open your veins, and bleed.” Walter Winchell, 1946.
Writer, when you put your words out there, you share the core of who you are. Your writing is personal to you, and in some sense, every piece is your “darling.” Most writers remember their first share or submission because it was emotional and difficult. Add a “Thank you, but we aren’t interested in printing that,” and it gets harder.
If that’s true, why write at all? Because something just has to be shared. You know the feeling. It’s the story you personally want to read but can’t find on the shelf. It’s the truth you know others need in order to live. It’s your own story you know will offer courage and healing to others who have lived the life you’re so familiar with. It’s the thought of a poem, short story, or book that just won’t let go of your mind and heart. Yeah, you’re a writer if that’s happening.
By now you’re thinking, Where, oh where, do I start? Start with simple questions. Gather some answers and follow the inner dialogue as it meanders.
1. What are you passionate about? That begins to shape what you have to say.
2. How would you summarize your message or story in a few words or a couple of sentences? Spend some good time on this one because it shapes your early impression of what you have to say.
3. Is there a genre for this? If you’re not sure, learn a bit about the genres that are out there in the world. If you’ve got a handle on it, and there is a genre, great. Read other writers who have successfully done what you plan to do. No, don’t plagiarize! Just be familiar with the way other writers have handled their message and content. Drill down to specifics if you can. Don’t read random fiction; read or skim what fits with your story in some way.
One word of caution: don’t lose heart that others have written on the same thing. Be encouraged that they have, and then fill voids with your own voice. Even if you don’t spot a gaping hole in the literature, know that your voice in the cosmic conversation matters. Don’t give up!
4. Who am I writing to? That fine-tunes the style in which you say it. This part of the self-directed Q&A deserves it’s own attention, but I’ll get to it. For now, when you imagine the reader taking in your writing and enjoying it, how would you describe this person? Try to think about anything that would be important—gender, age, stage of life, lifestyle, passions and interests, life story. Your message or storyline generally plays into specific audience characteristics. Define those because you are the author, and you get to do that. Don’t make wild assumptions about who will choose to pick up your work (you don’t have that kind of control). But as you write, you’ll remember this reader and have conversations as you go.
Writer, remember two things: you are a writer, and you are amazing! Now get started.
~Jennifer