What Do Writers Owe Readers; What Do We Owe Ourselves?

Recently in my work as an editor, I was writing developmental notes for a first-time author. In his novel, he had chosen to write from the point of view of a certain character and well, I didn’t think it worked. I had several reasons, but the main one had to do with the authenticity of the character’s arc. Anybody who’s been to any sort of creative writing class or workshop can tell you what the arc of a story is: the journey of the main character as he changes, grows, or learns while facing challenges. In other words, the events of the plot as experienced by the character. And those experiences are uniquely shaped by what the author, as a human, brings to the table. Your character’s journey should reflect something you’ve learned, or explore a way in which you’ve grown or changed. With the perspective my client had chosen, I felt he was trying to avoid having any skin in the game. He seemed unwilling to do the emotional excavating required to find some personal connection to the work.

It seems to me that self-expression, this sharing of universal experience, is the main reason to write at all.

In addition to being an editor, I’m a writer, and I’ll be the first to tell you that sometimes, the ways our personal selves crop up in our writing don’t always…