My 8th grade son has really enjoyed his Language Arts class (what the schools are calling English these days) the last couple of years. His teacher actually moved up from 7th grade to 8th grade and he’s having her for a second year.
I’ve been impressed with the way the teacher has taught topics like mood and tone and the quality of the assignments she sends home for projects. I feel like he’s getting a really solid background in a subject that’s important to me.
He does have a new assignment, though, that’s got me puzzled. To be fair, it hasn’t actually come from the Language Arts teacher that he and I like so much—it’s a school-wide, quarterly book project and is supposed to supplement his other curriculum.
For the assignment, he’s to take the books he’s reading for pleasure and do a comprehensive project on them. So, not the books that he’s reading for class—books he’s reading for fun.
Commercial fiction. Genre fiction. For him, this is Sci-fi, fantasy, dystopian literature, etc…and do a project.
Fine. But one of the questions on the assignment is “what was the author’s purpose in writing this book?”
My immediate reaction was to snort. For commercial fiction? That purpose is personal to the author. It could be because they can’t NOT write. It could be that they’ve studied the market and studied the craft and written a book that they thought could sell…to break into a difficult and crowded market. It could be for money. It could be that they dreamed up a character that demanded to have a story written around them.
But almost always? It’s to entertain. It’s probably not to inform or educate. It’s to provide a reader a few hours of escape. It’s been carefully thought-out and designed and revised and sweated over to seem seamless and to be riveting.
Why do you write?
Just can’t help myself. And each book seems to happen for a different reason.
But you’re right about the ultimate goal. I always hope to entertain someone, even though it seems each of my manuscripts is aimed at a different audience.
I write just for fun >:)
I didn’t like language class very much. When other people (i.e. teachers) told me what to write about, it wasn’t much fun. Now that I can decide myself, I really enjoy it.
Cold As Heaven
Elizabeth – What an important question! I write for so many reasons, too. I write because I have stories to tell and I want to tell them. I write because the characters that occur to me want their stories told. I write because I want to make readers happy; I want them to get pleasure from their reading. There are a lot of other reasons, too, but I don’t want to monopolize your comments space…
…because it beats working.
Correct, I write to entertain, both for myself and the readers.
My Darcy Mutates
I write for just those reasons.
I can’t not write.
I write to get the character and story out of my head.
I write to entertain.
Good question. I think writers write for the same reason they breathe. I’ve been working on non-writing projects for the last few days, and I’m getting that itchy-cranky feeling.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
For fun. And if there is more to it, it is certainly to entertain my readers.
As a teacher of literature, I always tell my students that most fiction is written with the purpose of entertaining the readers so they shouldn´t try to search for a message – unless they are absolutely sure it is there.
I write because it’s fun, and if I didn’t do it, I’m not sure if I’d be able to find something else I enjoy as much.
Bless English teachers everywhere, but I’m sure many writers don’t write thinking ‘and now to deepen my themes…” although I’m sure a few very gifted writers do.
Why do I write? Honestly? It appears to be the one thing I’m good at. Not the most glamorous reason in the world, but I think I get points for honesty!
To escape and entertain.
I write, therefore I am. Besides, its a gift just waiting to get out.
I write to stay healthy and happy. (I get cranky when I’m not writing on a regular basis.) Lately I am also focusing on keeping my writing fun. I love writing, but it’s easy to get too serious and turn something I enjoy into a chore. So I make sure I am enjoying myself, often by thinking about what I could put in that would make a specific reader laugh (me, my sister, my friend).
erm… compulsion? I think I just don’t find anything else quite as satisfying. I like the process and I like looking back and seeing what I’ve done…
Great post! Intersting and odd assignment. I write because my characters can’t and someone must tell their story. And if I don’t do it, they’ll never leave me alone!
I write to inspire!
Writing keeps me entertained and I do hope that once the manuscript is released, readers are also entertained.
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Patricia–So you’re entertaining lots of different groups of people. Sounds like a good plan!
Cold As Heaven–It’s too bad that the fun is sucked out of the writing process at school sometimes. I guess there’s no way around it…but it seems like there should be.
Enid–And it’s the best entertainment!
Margot–I’m glad you’re sharing your stories with us!
The Golden Eagle–Besides reading, there’s nothing else that I enjoy as much.
Alex–I think I need to foster that feeling of escape.
Alan–The only job where we can stare out the window and say we’re working! :)
Carol–Perfect! And I think most of us share your reasons.
Stephen–And we definitely need to pay attention to our gifts.
Kit–I need to make it more fun sometimes, too. It’s easy to forget that it’s fun, when we’re doing so much of it.
Terry–I get cranky, too! Too funny.
Hart–Good reason!
Dorte–That’s what boggled my brain on this assignment–for genre fiction, it’s definitely all about the reader–making them happy and entertained. Non fiction or lit fic might be different.
Elspeth–I’m guessing that some literary fiction types do…but that’s not my area, for sure! Ha! And…good reason. I’m the same way–it’s the only thing I’m really good at.
Heather–You’re right–they’ll bug us to death, if we don’t transcribe their story. :)
Diane–And you do an excellent job at it!
Jane–Entertaining for both of us! I think that’s the way I feel, too.
Pretty simple for me – I write because I enjoy writing and I like having someone else enjoy reading my writing. What I’d like to enjoy next is having a publisher who would give lots of other people a chance to enjoy my writing – and hopefully send me a little money in the process.
“Lit fic might be different.”
True. But I saw an interview with Doris Lessing, one of my British favourites, when she received the Nobel Prize. The journalist asked her if there was a message in her books.
No, she wrote to entertain. If you have a message, you can´t write good literature, she claimed.
I write because certain characters have gripped and enticed me. But when it comes to writing about books, I get out of them what I need. Many times I say, “I don’t care what the author meant to say. This is what I found meaningful.” But then I always hated trying to guess what my teacher was going to say the “right” answer was about a book’s meaning. I often wondered, “What do you want me to say? What are you looking for?” Even doing basic book reports gave me anxiety. I was never taught how to write about books. I’ve had to teach myself.