Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Questions are something I often use in my writing. For my non-fiction work, they often act as an underlying theme. I have been known to use them as titles too. For fiction, again I use them for titles and themes. In this case though I am getting my character(s) to answer the question. In my non-fiction work I’m answering it through the conclusion I come to at the end but I show my “workings” along the way.
Questions In Writing
Questions are usually answered. The huge advantage this gives a writer is they give you an immediate structure to your piece.
For non-fiction, you set the question, look at possible answers, and then, usually, come to a conclusion. The question should be answered to the best of the writer’s ability by the end, backed up by research which should be listed. Potential publishers will need to see your sources.
Aside from anything else, it means readers can check the sources of your research for themselves. It is always good to encourage further learning! It also gives readers reassurance in what you have written as they will see you have researched. It will give them more confidence in future things you write too. This goes for publishers you’re submitting to as well.
For fiction, the character can be seen to answer the question through what they say and do, so by the end there is a definite conclusion. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a happy conclusion. It should be appropriate to the character and the situation you have set up.
But there should be some sort of answer or the reader will feel cheated or, worse, wonder what the point of the story was. Think Chekov’s Gun rule here. Everything in a story has to have a purpose. So if your story centres on a question, it has to be answered in some way. Questions and answers are meant to be together.
So questions with answers are excellent structures for writing then. You have a start and a finish point. Have fun filling in the middle bit!
The Importance of Structure Regardless of What You Write
Getting the structure of your piece right is crucial. See it as the foundation stone for what you are going to write. Structure prevents you wandering off at tangents. It keeps you to the point. Readers expect to read in a logical order – a beginning, a middle, and an end. This applies just as much to non-fiction work.
There are different ways of setting up structures. Using questions is just one way. (Another is to have a theme, highlight that early on, and then proceed to show the theme as the piece goes on). But a question and answer structure is deliciously simple.
I’ve never believed in making writing any more complicated than it has to be so a simple structure, no purple prose writing, and sticking to sensible word counts all make sense to me. I think all of these things strengthen your writing and make it more “saleable”.
If you’re writing for a magazine, be it fiction or non-fiction, you will have to follow their preferred set up and format to have any chance of having a piece accepted by them. You could see that as their structure and they will have good reasons for having this. They know their preferred structure works and goes down well with their readers.
Most of the time writers don’t think about structure at all. It is almost invisible. It is when you go back through your work you will see the structure of beginning, middle and end. Questions followed by answers give you a good way into creating a structure that will work. It really has stood the test of time.
Questions and Answers for Fictional Use
So what kind of questions and answers could be useful for your fiction then? Think about the following:-
What does the character want and why? You would set this up early on. The answer at the end of the story is whether they get what they want or not and the consequences.
Why would a character help another one and why? Good old Frodo Baggins wasn’t going to get to Mordor on his own in The Lord of the Rings. So what led others to help him? Collective protection for them all basically. So for your own characters think about who would help whom and what each would gain from this? Frodo got support. Motivation here has to be powerful enough. The answer at the end of the story is showing how the help of other characters make a huge difference and there should be at least one difference.
Why would a character refuse to do something expected of them and why? That will play out as the story goes on. There will be good reasons behind the refusal.
These are just three good examples to start you off with and I am sure you will think of plenty of others. Do look at your favourite stories by other writers and work out what questions they are setting in their books and how their characters answer them.
Creative writing can lead to creative reading too and we can all improve our craft learning from analysis like this. Things don’t just happen in fiction. They’ve been carefully thought out by the authors and the whole thing will be underpinned by a sensible structure.
Questions and Answers for Non-Fiction Use
In thinking about your article, the following questions would be useful.
What will the reader get from this article (whether it is to entertain, educate or do both, you want your pieces to have a point so working that out first helps a lot!).
Have I shown by the end of the article the answer(s) to the questions posed. Where an answer has to be hypothetical, does your conclusion have a logical basis to it readers will follow and accept? Think plausibility based on known facts here. Most readers will accept not all can be known, new discoveries happen a lot, but share what you know and can prove here. Reasonable supposition based on all of that is fine. (I’ve used reasonable supposition for some of my historical flash fiction pieces too).
What would be the appropriate tone for this article? Am I consistent with it?
Are all facts checked, checked again, and yet again? Are all sources listed?
For this post, my question is how can I show the usefulness of questions and answers as a structure for any kind of writing. I’ve given the answers by outlining the points above. The above makes a useful check list for your first draft.
Conclusion
The most powerful works of fiction have a question at the heart of them.
Take Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the question there is will true love prevail? You could argue it did because the Capulets and Montagues resolved their differences, it needing a tragedy for them to do so. You could argue it didn’t because there was no happy ending for the couple themselves.
But the question is answered. It is just the answer could be in one of two directions, depending on the view of the reader/watcher of the play. But there is an answer.
One of the charms of stories is that answers are given. We know so often in life they’re not. I think this explains a lot of the ongoing appeal of fiction.
For non-fiction, the answer to the question posed could help readers see something in a new light or bring new information to them or both. Questions and answers matter then regardless of what kind of writing you do.
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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