Friday, October 30, 2015

Q is for Questions



Margaret talks about the many questions writers ask themselves

 Asking questions is how we learn. Children ask questions all the time, sometimes ones we find difficult to answer. It’s the same with writers and writing. What if, is a question I constantly ask myself. If I did this, how would it affect my story? What if I changed this part and totally altered the outcome? What if I - ?

I’m sure you get the idea.  At the very start of a book there are always questions:

How old are my hero and heroine?

Have they suffered a good or bad relationship in the past?

Are they in the market for romance?

Do they love or hate each other at first sight?

Then there are their jobs:

What do they do? Are they successful in their chosen careers? Happy? Or perhaps struggling and wishing for a complete change in their lives.

There is also a writer’s vulnerability.

Is my story really working?

Should I change this part or that?

Perhaps cut out one of my scenes altogether?

Or alter it?

So many questions all needing answers. Writing can be both a joy and a headache. Usually a mixture of both. But the questions never stop coming and it’s how these questions are answered that is the most important thing of all.

 

 

5 comments:

  1. Is this the right word?
    Am I showing instead of telling?
    So many questions!!

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  2. Great questions, Margaret. I shall definitely be using the last 4 a lot when I start the big edit of my WIP!

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  3. I always make a list of questions as I'm going that I want to make sure to answer later in the editing process. But honestly, I don't think the questions ever end!

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  4. We're certainly all in agreeance that the questions never end. I too make lists of questions and anything else I need to look out for when I'm reading my first draft through.

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  5. So true. Story questions. Character questions. Author questions. I guess it's what keeps our stories moving forward...

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