Authors' Purposes and Why Readers Read

I know it has been a while since I actually posted anything here, but honestly I’ve been swamped. My YA romance novel, Wildflowers, came out on the 8^th of this month, so I’ve been answering interview questions and writing guest posts. I actually came to the point where my brain said, “I’m out of words!” Wow! That was a big one that my husband had a hard time believing, but I assure you, it didn’t take long before my thoughts started churning again.

One thing that has been bubbling in my thoughts is authors’ purposes for their stories. This goes hand-in-hand with why readers read. My husband, for instance, is not a fiction reader. He likes to read biographies, autobiographies, self-help, and educational books, but not every reader desires to read for that purpose. I have a daughter who reads anything and everything. Seriously, she will actually pull the wrapper off a Coke bottle and read everything it says. She’s read more books in a year than I’ve read in my life. She LOVES to read, and it doesn’t matter what it is to her. Don’t get me wrong, she has her favorite types of books, but if she can find a book lying around, she will pick it up and stick her nose in it.

Writers tell stories to a particular audience. Some writers share with children, some with middle grade, some with young adults, and some with adults, and just like there are different categories and genres authors write in, there are also different purposes for their stories.

Here’s a list of some of those purposes:

1.     To Entertain

2.     To Escape

3.     To Inspire

4.     To inform/educate

5.     To provoke

6.     To move readers deeply

 

It seems the majority of the books published fall into the category of entertainment and escape. I suppose I could be wrong, but considering how difficult it is to find an agent and to be picked up by a publishing house when you write for a different purpose, I think that the mass market is full of readers that read for those reasons. I like to read for entertainment and escape, so I completely understand, but there are readers out there (like my husband) who don’t have a desire to read for those purposes, so there has to be authors who write with other intents.

When it comes to my purpose with writing, I fall into multiple categories. I write in two genres: middle grade fantasy and young adult contemporary.

When I write in the fantasy genre, my writing falls into three categories. My fantasy book, The Called Ones (And the Keys of Sight) is dualistic in nature. First, it is a story of a group of kids who find a portal into another dimension within Earth. For me, it was an escape to another realm with vivid descriptions where your imagination can run wild. I escape to this other realm as I write. I see that world, taste that world, and smell the sweet scents of the unique flowers there. The story is also allegorical. My main focus is on the picture it paints of what I believe to be a truth that exists around us, so its main purpose is to provoke thought. The first book in the series The Called Ones is an introduction to the characters and the other dimension they find, so it may not be as entertaining as some readers desire, but the second book in that series The Keys of Sinew, which I’m presently writing, takes the children on an adventurous quest, so it will entertain readers on top of allowing them to escape to another world and provoke thought.

As much as I enjoy escaping reality and entering other worlds, my heart lies in telling stories that move readers deeply, which is also the main reason I read books. I love picking up a book and having a variety of my emotions tapped into. I want to feel the pain a person experiences. I want my heart to swell with love and compassion. I want to cry when they cry. I want to be angered by those who have harmed them. This is the main purpose of my writing. Of course, I’m aware that there are readers out there that have no desire to feel the attraction as two characters look into each other’s eyes or feel the warmth in their hearts as they gently kiss for the first time, nor do they yearn to feel the shattering of their own heart as they watch the character’s world fall apart before their very eyes. Some readers have no longing to feel the heavy weight of depression as it sinks over the character and enshrouds them with darkness, but I do. I want to experience all of those things as I read a story, so I write what I love. I write from the pain I’ve personally experienced in this life.

Will every reader love my work? No, I’m well aware of that, I always have been, but readers who like to read books that move them deeply and touch their hearts; those are the people I write for.

My first book published, Plain Jane, deals with the downward spiral of depression in a young girl’s life. I want readers to see how a young, intelligent girl can be swallowed by the black abyss and sink into its depths. I want people to understand how depression can take someone with a bright future and bring them to the point of grabbing a bottle of vodka and a bottle of sleeping pills seeking to end their pain. (Don’t worry; I’m not giving anything away there. That scene is in the preface, so readers know up front that the character came to that point, but they are left not knowing if she goes through with it or not. You have to read to find that out)!

I've received phone calls from readers so touched that they've had to share the range of emotions churning through them from the character's plight. I've received cards of thanks for writing such a beautiful story that the reader could relate to and how deeply the story touched them. When I get those phone calls and receive those cards, I know that I've fulfilled my purpose in writing. Will it be a bestseller? I can always hope for that, and I do hope for that, but it's not my purpose.

So, why do you read?

If you're an author, why do you write?