The Seven Principles of Effective Writing (Part Four)
by Glenn White

The Principle of the Lesson

The Lesson or Theme

The first three principles in this series concerned the writer, the reader, and language or medium of communication.
The fourth principle is about the lesson or theme. Determine what you want to teach or inform your reader. This same concept can be applied to fiction and non-fiction with minor adjustments. In fiction you may want to entertain your reader but you still must have an overriding theme. It is important you convey your theme or lesson to the reader whether writing fiction or non-fiction. You always want your reader to finish reading and come away with something. Let’s look at how to do that.

What is Truth?

Pilate’s famous question is never an effective writer’s option. You must know what general theme or lesson you want your reader to understand. Now, this may not come in the first draft but at some point you must know and develop your theme. What truth do you want the reader to know? It may be a simple lesson like, “Crime doesn’t pay.”
John Milton Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching, says, “All teaching must advance in some direction.” Determine what direction you want to take your reader and have a destination in mind. Where do you want to take your reader? What truth do you want your reader to know? Then, take them there.

Know Your Reader Revisited

You have heard it said, over and over again, “Know your audience.” Writing for children is obviously different than writing for parents. The reason? There is a different level of truth they understand. Again, Gregory is helpful and says, “The truth to be taught must be learned through truth already known.”
When you write you must know, generally, the level of your intended reader’s understanding so you can build on that level of understanding. Gregory says, “It is easy to add to what is already discovered.” The same applies to fiction as well as to non-fiction.
For example, writing a sci-fi story means you’ll need to build your fantasy world upon known truth. Avoid throwing around made-up words and images that make sense only to you. Write using similes and metaphors then you involve your reader on a level of their understanding. A good example is The Chronicles of Narnia where a fantasy world is built upon easily recognized animals and images. These succeed in teaching powerful truths. Again, know your reader, involve them in your story, and teach the lesson or theme you have for your reader.

Solve the Problem

Effective writing is solving a problem whether it is a fiction or non-fiction story. In non-fiction you’ll need to present the problem and some sort of a solution. In fiction you’ll need to create conflict for your characters and present problems for them. Then you must solve at least some of the problems. Let’s look at three stages of the problem solving process for your story and/or characters.

Doubt

The first stage is where certain things are known and action must be taken but there is uncertainty. For example, a parent loses a child to illness. The parent knows what has happened but wonders what to do with the loss. Does the parent replace the child with a pet, another child, anger, addiction, or a new mate? There is uncertainty in how to deal with the loss. Every problem begins with a measure of uncertainty or else it wouldn’t be a problem.

Organize

The person then considers what to do with the available resources to achieve the desired result or solution. This can be applied to your characters or you can arrange your non-fiction article so your reader can reach a solution. Keep in mind that stress is caused because expectations do not meet available resources.

Select

This last stage is when someone critically selects and rejects a solution or solutions to the problem. The basis for the selection and rejection is based on trial and error, blindly following someone else’s lead, or making a decision from a prior similar experience. Knowing this can provide rich material for characters in any story.

Know your theme, know your reader, present and solve a problem then you will be an effective writer. When you do that...then you’ll write to inspire!