The Writer’s Dilemma: Writing Approaches

Am I writing for the readers OR Am I writing to get the best out of myself on the subject?

Often, most of the writers, especially when they are in their initial stages of writing habit, they come across this one question: Am I writing to help someone else or Am I writing because I want to get the best out of myself in an authentic way (which may eventually help others as well!)

The question is, where should the writer focus: helping others or get the best out of oneself?

Even I come across this dilemma whenever I sit down to write an article.

As I write, if I keep bringing in a reader’s mind or point of view, I tend to bend a little bit or deviate, per se, from what I want to say or write. At the same time, if I don’t think of the reader and just write as thoughts and words come out of me, as I think of a subject and what I as an individual want to say about the subject, there are chances that I may be able to get the more effective outcome. Of course, possibility also could be that, the outcome may not appeal to a mass audience.

Let’s take a look at how we could address this problem.

One can have many reasons for why he/she is writing. Let’s look at some potential reasons.

1. One may be writing so he/she is trying to find out if what he/she wanted to write about, comes out well or not. It’s like I may have a great idea about a subject, but when I finish writing and read it, it may not feel like what I wanted to really convey !!
2. One may be writing to see if the article gets more traction from audiences (say more likes and comments)
3. One may be writing, to not have many likes or comments but to see if at least a few people respond saying the article touched them deeply. We often hear from movie directors when fans write to them after watching a movie. E.g. One of the movies that I watched was about, how committing suicide is not a solution to our life’s problems. Many fans wrote to the director saying, “I did not commit suicide because I saw your movie and it changed my life”. Director said, more than the commercial success of the movie, it is about the rewards such as above, are the real outcomes that the directors are behind always.
4. One may be writing to make money out of it. E.g. writing a book to get more audiences and hence, better royalty or articles to get more claps and engagement in portals like medium.com to make earning.
5. One may be writing to see if there is a real improvement in their writing. We all write on various topics and very different subjects. Every domain of writing demands its own uniqueness. E.g. Analytical writing may need more research data. Creative writing may get more effective when written with real authentic or relatable experiences. So, as we write in more domains, we evolve as a writer which we may want to assess through our writing.

So, there could be many reasons why one may be writing in the first place. One can find all kinds of motivations as well, sometimes intrinsic, sometimes extrinsic.

Now, coming to how do we approach writing.

Step 1: One may choose why they are writing and stick to it. It could be any of the reasons mentioned above or there may be more reasons from which to choose

Step 2a: Once decided, one may keep that as an anchor(s). As one writes, he/may remember the anchor all the time to drive the outcome in a certain way. Hopefully, it helps to get the outcome to the expectations of the writer based on what is chosen in step 1.

Step 2b: One may take another approach, where the writer need not think of the anchor as something is written. Let the writing flow naturally without any filter. After the writing is complete, the writer may review the articles and make changes or corrections, remembering about the anchor, to get the outcome the writer wanted

In my view, writers who are in the initial stages of their writing, best may be to go by the 2b approach while writers who are seasoned a bit, may choose to go by the 2a approach. Having said that, there is no right approach or wrong approach or even, there is no one single approach that is expected to work.

I believe that it is very important for less experienced writers to develop the habit of writing. Writing, writing, and more writing based on their instincts, knowledge, expertise, thoughts and everything else that is out there in oneself. Best of the articles would come out one day, but until then, it is good to keep writing improving little things and especially awakening or molding our writing nerves in our body system if I can say so!

A writer can choose to work with both approaches in parallel and over time, writers may find that they are in fact, working both approaches as they mature or evolve in writing.

Hope the article helped to go little deep into oneself, to introspect more, towards improving in the writing journey.