Why I Like to Ask Why
Last bit of color from mid-October.
If you’ve been reading my newsletter/blog for more than a minute, you may have noticed that I connect a lot of different things to writing (like my true wolf story).
That’s why I’m writing briefly about the 2024 U. S. presidential election.
My preferred candidate did not win. Like many others, I was horrified and angered by the result. How could so many people vote for such a blatantly corrupt misogynist who instigated an insurrection?
I honestly would like to know.
But my question is obviously biased and would likely elicit angry, bitter responses that wouldn’t help us understand each other any better.
A better question would be “Why?” It’s a more neutral question and it can apply to all voters.
“Why did you vote for the person you chose?” (Mind you, I’m not actually asking you to tell me.)
“Why” is one of the most powerful questions. We learned that as little kids when we drove our parents crazy asking why the grass is green instead of red, why we can’t see the Big Dipper during the daytime, and what happens when we die.
Asking “why” helps us learn and grow.
Learning why real people do the things they do helps us understand them better. That understanding helps us craft more believable, nuanced characters.
By creating fascinating and complex characters, we can tell fascinating and complex stories. And through stories, we can develop and foster more empathy and ultimately more understanding.
We may still disagree, but if we understand each other’s concerns more clearly, then we’re better able to consider each other as fellow human beings, not as mysterious, unfathomable others.
If this kind of understanding is what you’re looking for too, with your own characters, then please take a look at Interview for Insight.
Enjoyable recent reads
Weisenberg, Marit. This Golden State. 2022. YA contemporary. Poppy is 17 and has been moving with her family her whole life because her parents are on the run from the police but she doesn’t know why. A story about identity and coming of age.
McKay, Hilary. Binny for Short. 2013. MG contemporary. McKay is a British writer with a British sense of humor. Her characters are fun and funny. She’s also got a fascinating structure to this novel with Binny and Gareth, her enemy, getting trapped by a high tide in one story line. Lots of back story is artfully woven in near the beginning before the main story ramps up.
Enger, Leif. I Cheerfully Refuse. 2024. Adult speculative. Set near Lake Superior several decades in a semi-dystopian future, but not a story about overturning the horrible government. It’s about one man coming to terms with grief. If you enjoyed Peace Like a River, you may enjoy this one. Lovely writing. I also adore the title.