What Do We Want Our Writing to Accomplish?

I have this friend who, every time she hears or, even more fascinating, sees the word “yawn,” she, well, yawns.  I discovered this quite by accident years ago, and have used the knowledge to play the occasional cruel trick on her ever since.  For a time I was even able to simply type the letter “Y” in an e-mail and send it to her, getting the same result.  And then there was the time I learned the word “pandiculation,” and sent it to her with a drawing of someone in the process of pandiculating, mouth agape, eyes squeezed shut…I was wickedly delighted to hear that made her yawn (and most likely pandiculate!) as well.

Obviously, not all of our readers or writing clients react so strongly or readily to everything we write.  Often we can put our words out there in the form of blog posts, articles, queries, submissions, proposals, contest entries and so forth, and not generate any response at all.  That can leave us feeling like we’re trapped in the darkness of a carnival fun house, feeling a bit nervous, fumbling our way through, wondering when we’ll see daylight again.

It helps, I think, to know what it is we want our readers or clients to feel about or do with what we’ve written once they’ve read our words.  In fact, I believe that knowing this up front, and keeping it in mind as we write, is every bit as important an aspect of writing as the story or information itself.  Knowing what reaction we want dictates everything from the words we choose to the cadence of our writing.  Do we want our readers to cry?  Buy something?  Get involved?  Do we want to frighten, inform or inspire them?  Do we want our writing to enrich their lives and, if so, exactly how do we plan to accomplish that?

Yes, effective writing is much more complex than plopping words in front of readers in the hope that they’ll behave in a certain way or take a certain type of action.   We need to know where we want them to go, and then use our writing skills to take them there.  That’s our challenge and, ultimately, that’s where we’ll find fulfillment.

Now, I’m going to let my friend know that I wrote about her today.  That should keep her yawning for the next hour or so at least (I write with a slight, evil smile).

Here’s to your writing success.

Mary Anne