The Task of a Writer

“Our perennial spiritual and psychological task 

is to look at things familiar 

until they become unfamiliar again.”

~ G.K. Chesterton

What do you think writers do all day? Play with words? Drink coffee? Lounge around in their jammies? Shmooze with other writers and hobnob with authors of all ilk—all while using fun vocabulary words like ilk?

Yeah, you’d be correct, but that’s not all a writer does. It takes a lot of brain work to write. It takes percolating and wondering and playing the ‘what if’ game.

But there is one central task an author must accomplish in order to be great . . .

Exceptionality.

Here’s what I mean: think about your favorite writers. What’s one thing they all have in common? If you ponder it for awhile, I’d venture to guess that the thread tying great authors together is surprise, either in character development or plot twists.

It is the task of the writer to take what is ordinary, mundane, insignificant and open the reader’s eyes to see that object/emotion/idea in a new way, making it totally unfamiliar.

Sure, plots still need to be logical and heroes must change and grow. But it’s taking the reader by the hand and pointing out everyday sights with fresh language that removes a book from the good category and catapults it into greatness.