by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I’m always interested in seeing what my children bring home as English homework.
My daughter had an assignment a couple of weeks ago where she had to identify four different types of writing and then provide examples of each.
The four purposes for writing (according to this textbook, anyway) were to entertain, inform, persuade, and to express an opinion.
My daughter said she thought one of the purposes should be to make money. :) For her, my writing is just another job. I told her it was a way to make money, but not many of us would write only to make money.
So she asked me what the purpose of my books was. I think she was expecting a clear cut answer from just one of those four purposes.
I told her my books were mostly written to entertain. In fact, I put a lot of time and effort (and, yes, even market research) into writing to entertain.
But the books are basically wrapped in ad copy. That would be the cover, the blurbs, and the cover copy. I also have a teaser at the beginning of my Penguin books and some of my books have teaser chapters at the end. So, the book is there to persuade, too. It’s there to look tempting on a shelf or a website. And, with my content, I’m hoping to persuade readers to buy more of my books. I’m persuading my readers to like my characters, to like the story, to keep reading the book. Persuasion definitely plays a part.
I know that the times I’ve wanted to inform as a purpose, I’ve nearly gotten myself into trouble. I’d have a big research session and that temptation is always there—to show what you’ve found out and inform the reader. It’s easy to get excited about your research. But…the reader isn’t there to learn more about blunt force trauma. She’s really not. So we have to be careful about how much we inform with fiction—a little goes a long way. But, yes—sometimes I do try to inform with my writing.
Expressing an opinion, though? I’d like to think I haven’t done as much of that. As a reader, reading what is clearly the author’s opinion (a political rant, for instance, or support of a cause) can be very jarring. The opinion becomes author intrusion when it doesn’t seamlessly fit into a scene or when it doesn’t sound natural coming from the character expressing the opinion. Opinions have to be handled with care in fiction, for sure.
What’s the purpose of your books? Do your books have more than one purpose? How do you keep yourself in check from too much informing or from author intrusion?
Image: MorgueFile—Alvimann
Elizabeth – Oh, that is such an interesting question! I think there’s a balance between entertaining – that is, giving readers an enjoyable mystery-reading experience – and informing. Whether the ‘informing’ part is background detail (such as you give about quilting in your quilting mysteries) or information on a social issue, it can add to the reader’s experience. But only if it doesn’t overwhelm the plot. So what’s my purpose? To pull readers out of their lives and tell stories is probably the best way to put it.
I think stories do have a purpose, but it’s a matter of listening to the story.
You don’t set out to write a story about, say, the fear of failure. You have these characters, you listen to the, and you notice that there’s a pattern — there’s something that resonates among them.
And if your protagonist is the one who fears failure most, then that’s what the story will end up being about. The other characters will have other ways they deal with failure, because they are all individuals.
Entertain! Possibly amuse. Or maybe that’s just what I do. Might be a little of my opinion in there though, as certain aspects of our current society will never be represented in my work since I don’t believe in them.
I should probably stick with entertaining and amusing…
Margot–Providing escape is the best purpose of all!
The Daring Novelist–Listening to the characters and the story itself is key, isn’t it?
Asking what our character fears most is a great approach. I love character-based plotting. Makes for great conflict. :)
Alex–Ha! Well, it’s definitely safer to stick with entertaining. :)
I tell myself that the purpose of writing books is to make me happy. I suppose that falls under entertainment, but it is my entertainment. But, some days I think selling lots of books will make me happy. Other days I think I’m ok with writing just one. Of course, if I were writing as my livelihood, I’d quickly change my tune. No one can afford to take such a laissez faire approach to one’s livelihood. I’m looking at you James Joyce.
I totally remember those four purposes of writing! English homework hasn’t changed much. :)
I agree with everything you said, but I’m going with your daughter’s insight about making money. ;) LoL!
Entertaining is absolutely #1 priority. It keeps people turning the pages. But if at all possible having some underlying theme or subtle message like “Be yourself” or even “Adopt a shelter animal” really does add another layer.
I always consider my books as entertainment. I write what I want to read. To me, they’re “airplane reads” (although if you read them in the summer, they’re probably going to be classified as “beaach reads.” This is not to say I don’t try to inform my readers–I like to learn something when I read, but that, to me, is a side benefit.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Great post, and the kind of thing I feel every serious writer needs to consider.
I write to entertain and, secretly, to teach. The “teaching” is like green vegetables added to another food group, which we sneak into the diet of toddlers!
Jody
Entertainment has to be the top – I think everything else just kind of goes along with that. But I want a better word than entertain – maybe transport, to a totally different place. Entertain sort of implies keeping someone occupied for an hour or two. I want them to be immersed in my world even when they’re not reading the book! Ambitious maybe, but why not? :)
Laura–Good to know it’s consistent, anyway!
If only it were *more* money!
Peter–Ha! James is probably blushing in the hereafter. :)
Jennifer–Oh, we should definitely keep a theme…you’re absolutely right. The book I just finished writing had a “don’t discount the elderly” theme. Where I think I’d have gotten obnoxious with it would be if I had my protagonist or another character go on a major rant about the elderly being valuable members of society…something like that. Instead, I had my octogenarian sleuth run into a few age-related set-backs (pointed out by her son), had her experience a dark moment where she really didn’t feel up to the task, then had her solve the case. (That’s not a spoiler, y’all…my sleuths always solve their cases…ha!) So…it’s tricky. We have to incorporate a theme without beating the reader over the head with it.
Jody–Ha! Yes, if we puree it enough, we can sneak it in. :)
Terry–Exactly…exactly what I’m doing. What do I like reading and can I replicate that for my own readers?
Nick–Sounds like the perfect goal to me. :) If they’re immersed, they’re escaping.
Hmm… I’m writing to entertain, but I also want to talk about things that happen in a certain environment, in my case, college.
Deb–So…I’m thinking you’ll have some scenes set in the classroom while a professor is talking? Maybe you’ll have snippets of what the professor is discussing (“Dr. Thompson was droning on and on about photosynthesis) or actual dialogue showing bits of what the teacher is covering. I’d guess that could get tricky, but I love academic stories.