This is a tough question. You’ll do yourself a service if you ponder it and answer it completely.
Perhaps you’ll need to answer this fifth question first:
Number 5: Why Do You Write?
Be clear about your reason to write. What do you aspire to, if anything?
With your reason in mind, now answer question #4.
Question #4: Do you care about what your readers think when reading what you’ve written?
You may write only for yourself. In this case you are your perfect reader. Or you might write to a single correspondent. You will likely know how they will read what you’ve written or be able to respond with questions when they’re puzzled. But if you write for a wider audience, the unknown reader, you’ll need to think carefully about how you write and how you attempt to convey information, emotion, and imagery.
Claiming to be immune to critics is a defensive reaction. Yes, there are people out there who take pleasure in tearing down artists. They’re jerks. But genuine readers will have reactions. They have questions. They may or may not want to read more.
They matter, don’t they?
You’ll need to answer that for yourself, and then, with that answer in mind, ask yourself the first three questions again.
The complete Five Questions for Writers.
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Randy MurrayFive Questions For Writers #4: Do You Care About What Your Readers Think When Reading What You’ve Written? (With Bonus 5th Question) by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
