Understanding

We talked about this word a little bit last week, but I promised I'd delve further into it later on. The time has come.

Understanding

Writers, as our main goal, strive to reach understanding. We know that people everywhere across this world are searching for some form of understanding, and we wish to give it to them in some small way.

But how is it that we achieve this goal? I'm glad you asked.

1. We make stories that make sense

This is one of the first rules of writing, actually. Whatever you write, it has to make sense. Why? Because if it doesn't make sense, no one will actually want to read it. It just becomes a confusing jumble that no one really has the willpower to follow.

By making stories that make sense, we've made something very different from the real world. Let's face it, half of the stuff that happens around us every day doesn't actually make any sense. It's illogical and insane, and that's what we're trying to escape by reading.

When we give our readers a story that is filled with sense, with logic and emotion that follows order, we've given them something they're likely searching for in their lives. 

2. We shape worlds into something believable and relatable (even if it's on another planet)

Readers are looking for characters they can relate to, ones who have similar goals and beliefs, or ones who break them away from the monotony of their own lives.

We given them this escape by creating realistic and believable characters who understand what the reader is going through, because they're going through it themselves. It doesn't matter where in time and space your characters are. If they're believable and relatable, you've made something every reader is looking for -- whether they realize it or not. 

3. We give our readers more information than what they would have in their real lives

Truth be told, half the time we have no idea what's going on in our own lives. And it's not our fault. It's just the way things go. We only have our own thoughts to listen to, and we can't get inside someone else's head to figure out what they're thinking.

In stories, however, we often can. This allows us to give the reader a better understanding of the way other, real, people think -- by putting them into the minds of several believable and relatable characters we talked about above.

Doing this helps them to understand their own lives, and really, it helps us to understand our own as well -- as well as the lives of those around us.


It's what we do. It just takes time to do it well.

[love]

{Rani D.}