What’s the point?
What’s the point of your story?
In recent posts, I’ve pressed you to consider your audience’s pain points, even if you’re writing something light and fun. Now you’re going to take the emotional experience you want your reader to have and distill it into a short statement of what you are trying to say with your book.
Think of it as like a thesis statement for your novel.
Uggh, thesis statements? That sounds like homework!
You may be thinking to yourself: I don’t have a point – that would make the story preachy and boring. I just want to write a fun adventure story about pirates and mermaids. Do I really need a point?
If your sole intention for writing is to entertain yourself, then no, you don’t have to have a point.
BUT, if your goal is to publish the story, convince other people to pay for it, read the whole book, and enjoy it, then you need to craft a story that other people will care about. That is much easier to pull off if you have a clear point.
Why?
Because our brains are constantly searching for meaning. We read stories because we want to understand ourselves, other people, and the universe. We might consciously think we like stories because of the political intrigues, explosions, banter, etc. But we like it because it makes us feel something and we come out of the story a slightly different person than when we started.
If you want your readers to feel something after they have read your story, it’s a good idea to have a point.
