I’ve often had others ask me questions that relate to writing. How do I do this or that? What advice would you give about this thing? What do you do when faced with that?

So, I thought I’d take some time this year and answer some of those questions. Hopefully you’ll find them helpful and maybe even encouraging.

What should I consider before I write?

We are not talking about how to figure out a story, or what genre or plot you should use, but rather, what are some things should a person think about and consider before they decide they are going to be a writer.

There are a whole host of things you could consider, but I’ve picked 4 questions to consider.

1. What do you want from your writing?
   What is it you are expecting or looking for in your writing? Perhaps you have to write for school and all you are looking for is a good grade. 🙂 Maybe you want to be able to express your thoughts and feelings about things in story form. Or maybe you have a longing to be praised and celebrated because of your writing. You might want the status of a “published author” (hint: I haven’t found much of it.) You might be disillusioned in thinking that you can make a lot of money if you write and publish books. (hint: I haven’t found that to be the case yet.) Or maybe you are just wanting to encourage others with your stories and all you are looking for is to hear how your story blessed someone else.
   
   
2. Why do you want to write?
   Some write because they have to write for school or because all your friends are doing it. Some write because they feel like there are genres that need more clean fiction. Others write because they just can’t seem to help it, and they’ve been writing for as long as they can remember.
   • Do you want books that have everything you like and nothing you don’t like in them?
   • Do you just like to make up stories?
   • Do you want to write because your friends are?
   • Do you feel that this is what God wants you to be doing?
   • Do you feel this is a temporary stepping stone in your life or something you’ll always do?
     
3. Are you wanting to write just for fun or to actually publish and sell your stories?
   This kind of goes along with with the first two questions. If you are writing for fun, do you plan to share your stories? If you are wanting to publish, will it be soon or after several years? Some people start writing just for fun and decided to publish later, and that’s just fine, but it does help to know what you are wanting to do, at least right now. It can change later. You may want to publish and go the indie route now, and then later try to be traditionally published. Or maybe you want to start off traditionally published right from the start. If so, what and how are you going to go about that? Knowing if you’re writing for fun for publication might and should probably influence how you write.
   
   
4. Does hard work and negative feedback bother you?
   Some writers go into writing with the vague idea that their stories will be loved and praised. They might even dream of them being best sellers. While some people might love and praise your stories, others won’t like them and will leave critical and maybe even negative feedback. You have to develop a stiff backbone if you plan to be a published author. And please, if you don’t want to actually work hard at writing and being willing to rewrite and get better and learn from others and study the art of writing craft, don’t plan to write for publication. No, it’s never fun to get negative feedback, and maybe some negative feedback is because the reader just doesn’t enjoy that genre, but you will need to learn which feedback is helpful and which should be ignored. If you are struggling with how to handle negative feedback, you can read my post HERE. But let me just mention here that writing isn’t all just fun and enjoyment. It can be hard and challenging. It takes work and effort to turn out a story that is worth reading.

I hope I have given you some thoughts to think about. Maybe you are already writing and never stopped to consider why you write or what you plan to do with your stories. Maybe you know someone who wants to write because they see you writing. Feel free to share this post if you think it will help others.

Are you a writer? Have you considered why you write? Are there any other things you would encourage others to think about if they were considering writing?