The Essence of Writing

Has there ever been a writer who has been completely satisfied with the words he or she has written? Whenever I write something, I like the idea behind it but there’s always something I’m leaving out. It’s just something simple yet completely inexpressible like an invisible weight on the chest when you see something heartbreaking, or the way snowfall makes you feel clean.

You have to have an audience in mind when you write; otherwise the story will not make sense. The bible was written with God as the audience. Dr. Seuss was written with his children as the audience. You have to find an audience before you can tell the story. Your story all depends on who you’re telling it to. The process of writing is the process of visualizing this person, this audience.

The more I write the more I understand that all writing, fact or fiction, is a series of pictures, not words. The job of the writer is not to proselytize about his beliefs in vain efforts to convert the heathens, but is more that of a director. The writer needs to decide what pictures to put in and what pictures to leave out. Non-fiction comes from interviews; sources, primary and secondary.