Wednesday, January 29

The Goal of Writing

The Goal of Writing

What is the goal of writing?







Story: A Definition




There are two parts to this:

1. Emotional knowledge: reliving the life

Truby writes:


2. Figure out the puzzle: a verbal game


There are two parts to this:

a. Give certain information about the characters to the audience.

b. Withhold certain information about the characters from the audience.


Question: What do you think the goal of storytelling is? 



  1. The goals of writing are 1) to entertain, 2) to inform, or 3) to persuade.

    The goals of storytelling are 1) to entertain or 2) to inform. Accomplishing the first goal creates an emotional experience in the reader. Accomplishing the second goal creates an intellectual experience in the reader.

    1. Well said! As always, thanks for your comment antares.

  2. For me, as writer and reader, for literary and genre, it's what John Gardner refers to as the fictive dream that's important. To be completely drawn in, so I'm no longer consciously reading, but experiencing the story in an immediate, and immersive way. It's the fictive dream I'm looking for a reader and looking to provide as a writer. The latter is easier said than done of course.

    1. Ah yes, the fictive dream. A beautiful way of looking at it, thank you for reminding me.

      You inspired me to pull his book, The Art of Fiction, from my shelves. I'm tempted to call Gardner an accomplished writer but that would be like calling diamonds pretty.

      I opened his book to a random page and read this:

      "... art has no universal rules because each true artist melts down and reforges all past aesthetic law."


