Mandatory Questions for the Writer

A writer's job is to invoke questions. Yeah, I know, that seems like a given, but let's pick it apart some because there are different kinds of questions for you as an author to raise.

Standard Story Questions 

• What will happen next?
• Will the hero die?
• Will the villain die?
• Will everyone except the hamster die?

Character Questions

• How will the heroine overcome her fatal personality flaw?
• How are the characters inter-related?
• How will the reader relate to the main character?

Reader Questions

• What's the takeaway value of the story for the reader?
• Why should the reader care about your characters?
• Is the story strong enough to stick with the reader long after he reads The End?

Those are all great issues to ponder before you sit down and write the next Great American Novel, but don't forget about the often-overlooked set of questions that are all about you, writer . . .

Author Questions

• Why are you writing this book?
• What makes you qualified to write this story?
• What issue are you working on in your own life that will play out via characters in this tale?

Great stories raise great questions for the reader and the writer. It's those questions that take each on a journey of self-discovery.