Writer, It's Not About You.

How is it possible that I wrote five books, including a memoir, before the lightbulb went on for me and I realized that writing a book really wasn't about me?

And how is it possible that it took me five more years to implement practical strategies I was discovering to serve the reader?

That weird situation is possible because no one told me. Well, they may have told me, but I didn't hear it. About six years ago, though, I heard it. And I hope you will, too.

Writers, it's not about you.

Even if you're writing a memoir that is literally about you, it's not about you. The best books serve the reader.

• If you're writing memoir, the way you tell your story resonates with the reader and creates an opportunity for her to reflect on her own experience.
• If you're writing Christian Living, every chapter has takeaway value for the reader. 
• If you're writing self-help, the reader discovers practical strategies to live differently.

For many of us, writing to serve the reader requires a complete inversion of our thinking. I had lots of stories and ideas in my head that I wanted to share with readers, but I wasn't being thoughtful and intentional about meeting their needs.

As I mentioned, that conversion in me happened over time. I learned from Jonathan Merritt how to create a single target reader for my book, and then write to meet her needs. I learned from Margaret Feinberg how to consider the needs of a reader on every page. I learned from Lysa Terkeurst how to identify readers' needs and craft a book, from the inception, to meet those needs.


So What?

If you're anything like me, I suspect that when you're writing you want to brain-dump all those ideas and stories you have crammed into you head. Fine, go ahead. But then be sure to return to every chapter and make sure that it serves the reader.

• At the end of the chapter, can the reader name the one big idea you were communicating in that chapter? (Can you?!)
• Does the reader see what the big idea looks like as it's lived out in the lives of people who are like her and unlike her?
• Is she equipped with practical tools to gain traction with the big idea in her own life?

Craft a book so that it meets a reader's felt need.

And if you really want to grow and develop as a writer who serves readers:

Jonathan and Margaret have created Write Brilliant

Lysa and her team equip writers through Compel Training

Has this revolutionary idea, that it's about the reader and not about you, found traction in your heart and head? If it has, be strategic about meeting readers' needs. If it hasn't, hang on to this idea and commit to discovering practical strategies to meet readers' needs.

Before You Release Your Words Into the World...

If you're writing a book you hope to see published, your words must serve the reader.

• Maybe it's a memoir.
• Maybe it's self-help book.
• Maybe it's the story of a remarkable relationship.
• Maybe it's tips about gardening.

No matter what you are writing, it has to have value for the reader.

So before you send your proposal or manuscript to an agent or editor (or before you send it to me to review!) imagine that the agent/editor/publisher will be reading your words with one question in her heart: What's in it for the reader?

Questions I want you to ask, of your proposal/manuscript, before you release your words into the wild...

• What is the value, for the reader, in this book?
• When she finishes the first chapter, does she want to keep reading?
• When she's really tired, is there a reason for her to keep turning pages?
• Does every sentence, every page, every chapter serve the reader?
• When she finishes, can she articulate the single important takeaway of the book?
• When the reader sets this book down, has she gained something from it that she wants to share with a friend over coffee?
• Does she want to buy a copy for her sister because the book had so much value?
• ls she able to apply what she's learned to her own life?

If the answer to some of these questions is either "no" or "I don't know," I want you to return to your word-baby and review it one more time through the spectacles of an agent or editor. Name the value--write it out--that the reader gleans from each chapter.

If you can't identify the takeaway value for the reader--the "payoff" for purchasing your book--then work at it until you can.

Ultimately, "your" book is not about you. It's about the reader.

Serve the reader.

Writing Problem, Writing Solution: Telling an Animal's Story Via a Human Companion

The roadblock a writing client and I faced this week was how to communicate a powerful message in the telling of an animal's amazing story. Our solution was to use a human, who journeys alongside the animal. 

But we realized that some of the ways to "show" and not "tell," through the human, will be more effective, and engaging for the reader, than others.

As you'll see, we discovered that the best solution is to show the character interacting with the animal. The worst if to have the human thinking about her insight. (#telling) 

Serving the Reader By Telling an Animal's Story Via a Human Companion...

1. (Best) Human discovers something by interacting with the animal herself.

2. Human interacts with others who are interacting with, or impacted by, the animal. 

3. Human observes others interacting with the animal.

4. Human notices, sees, overhears, others talking about their experience with the animal.

5. Human has a conversation with someone else where she describes how she's experienced the animal's actions and impact.

6. (Worst) Human reflects, internally, on the meaning of the animal.

What's worked for you?

Q & A: "Agent says my memoir is autobiography.."

Q: “I wrote a memoir, but it is lacking. Agents tell me it’s too close to autobiography, and that’s where their feedback ends.”

A: Without looking at your memoir—which I hope can feel appropriately impersonal!—let me suggest a few possibilities…

1. It may be all about you

On one hand, a memoir is all about you. On the other hand, it can’t be all about you. (Unless it’s really just for your eyes. Or for your family.) For a published memoir to succeed, it needs to be all about the reader.

A memoir is all about the reader when:

• Sentences are sculpted using rich engaging language.
• The narrative employs principles of good storytelling: narrative arc, robust characters that the reader cares about, conflict, resolution, etc. The writing is so compelling that the reader doesn’t want to put it down.
• The reader is able to make connections to her own experience, even when her experience is wildly different than the author's.

2. It may tell too much

An autobiography—of a President or a pop star—is meant to be comprehensive. It seeks to answer all the questions a reader will have: What was President Lincoln’s SAT score? Was Beyonce in a church choir as a child? Ideally, it tells the story of a person’s life from birth until the present.

A memoir doesn’t attempt to offer that systematic account. Rather, it shows the reader a “slice” of the author’s experience. It uses the best storytelling techniques to gift the reader with a beautiful story.

3. It may lack a clear theme

A mark of the best memoirs—The Glass Castle, Kisses From Katie, Angela’s Ashes, Running With Scissors, Night—is that there’s a clear theme woven throughout the text. The authors don’t attempt to tell everything. They develop a clear theme and “deliver” on it in every chapter.

Do any of these inform the weakness of your memoir? The wily thing about memoir is that it's difficult to be objective. Mine, The Girl in the Orange Dress: Searching for a Father Who Does Not Fail), benefited greatly from the keen eye of a wise editor, Cindy Bunch.

the tip: Have a writing colleague, friend, or relative read your manuscript and ask them to consider these 3 possibilities as they read. Then authorize them to be brutally honest!

If you've written a memoir, or are writing one, what's been your "growing edge"? Or what's your unique challenge?





Develop your craft; serve the reader,

Margot