Scribblers Retreat

As a writer, you have the ability to influence thought, action, and values. The question is whose values you will adapt in order to do this.

You don’t get to choose whether or not what you write will affect someone’s actions or values. That is entirely beyond your control. And so, that leaves you, as a writer, with a powerful responsibility. When you write, ask yourself:

1. What do I want to have happen as a result of what I’m writing?

I’m not talking about fame here. I’m talking about your readers—what do you want them to feel, to believe, to do?

2. What things could happen that I didn’t intend to happen?

If you write about a young girl who makes a decision which you, as an adult, know will ruin the girl’s life in the long run, and you choose not to show the consequences, could another real girl use that as reassurance that she can make the same decision without consequences?

You have values, personally held beliefs that matter to you. What part do they play in your writing? Do you compromise your values because it’s “expected if you want to succeed?” In the long run, do your values mean less to you than fame and fortune? This is something you have to decide for yourself. How strongly do you feel about your values and what are you willing to sacrifice for fame?

Many will say you should be willing to sacrifice everything for your art. I disagree. In the long run, fame means nothing if you sacrifice your very core to achieve it. What makes a great writer great is passion, and turning off your passions turns off what has the power to make you great.

Don’t sacrifice your values for your art. Take your responsibilities to your readers, especially young ones, seriously. If everyone did it, there wouldn’t be a problem in the first place. So dare to prove to the world you are so talented you can break the rules by hanging on to your values, and still succeed.