Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Writing What We Care About

It is always best for writers to write about what they are passionate about. If something really matters to you, you should write about that because you will have the most likelihood to have the manuscript written. Otherwise, writers who don't have a passion about what they are writing have a tendency to let such manuscripts fall by the wayside before completing them.

I find that with myself I never write about anything that I am not passionate about. In fact, most of the time my writing projects are derived from questions that I have or tragedies that I have seen second hand. Sometimes, if I am angry about something, I will write about that. That anger propels me to write the manuscript quickly.

For instance, some writers write solely to make money. Many writers can write for that reason for a while and then after a while their projects peter out and they start losing energy somewhere along the line. Some such writers have to drag themselves kicking and screaming to the finish line. What a torturous way to write!

I'm not saying that writers should not write for money. I'm just saying that writers should also write for the sheer love of writing about topics that they really care about. This will make their lives as writers much more meaningful and fulfilling. This may inspire you to write more consistently.

The best way for writers to write about what they care about is to sit down and make a list of topics that they really care about and then to write about the ones that they are most passionate about. For instance, my list of topics are as follows:

- Friendship
- Peer pressure
- How to avoid bullying
- How to avoid being too thin
- How to deal with the negative messages that the media sends girls
- How could we avoid perfectionism when it comes to our weight
- The pressure of overachievement for girls
- The pressure to conform

So, when I am writing nonfiction articles, I will probably be writing about one of these topics because I really care about them.

So, what topics do you care about? What would you like to delve in deeper? Make a list of such topics and then you will know what you need to research and start writing about.

Happy searching!

Irene

1 comment:

  1. Great post, Irene. I was just talking about this with another writer the other day: how important passion is in writing. When you write with passion, it shows in the prose.

    ReplyDelete