Building the Author's Ethos: Writing Philosophy

It is important to write a great book. It is important to study the craft of writing in order to edit, revise, and rewrite that great book. But the work of a writer doesn’t stop with crafting a great book. The writer must think about his or her career as an author – in regards to what he or she writes and, just as important (if not more), what his or her audience wants.

Ethos, in general, is a distinguishing character of a person—what he or she stands for. In rhetoric, ethos is something a speaker must develop in his or her repertoire in order to affect his or her audience. In addition to the distinguishing character, the person needs to also establish expertise and knowledge.

What does this mean for a writer looking to develop his or her ethos?
For one thing, it means a writer needs to know what his or her writing philosophy is. Why do you write (aside from the love of it)? What do you hope to illustrate in your writing? What themes, narratives do you find yourself drawn to in your writing? Do these themes, narratives connect with you outside of your role as writer? Who is your audience? What do you want your audience to receive from your work? Where do you see your work going? How?

It is important to know what your “distinguishing character” as a writer is. Knowing this will help you develop the next part of your ethos: the marketing plan. Once you know who are you as a writer, what you bring to the table, and how what you bring is important to your audience, you have to develop a plan to market your wares—your expertise, knowledge…your BOOKS—to your audience.

First, the writing philosophy.

When I first started teaching, I was asked, “What is your teaching philosophy?” I didn’t have an answer initially. I wasn’t sure what a teaching philosophy was. I just knew I loved teaching.

And many writers just know they love writing.

A writing philosophy is much like a teaching philosophy. In a teaching philosophy, you are answering questions, such as:

1. What are your objectives as a teacher? What do you, ultimately want to accomplish?
2. What will you do accomplish these objectives?
3. How will measure your effectiveness?
4. What is so great about teaching? Why is it important? How will you make the institution of teaching better?

Essentially, in that teaching philosophy, we want to know the basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes—the philosophy—of the teacher.

We want the same things for the author.

Remember the italicized questions I wrote at the beginning of this article?

1. Why do you write (aside from the love of it)? What do you hope to illustrate in your writing?
2. What themes, narratives do you find yourself drawn to in your writing? Do these themes, narratives connect with you outside of your role as writer?
3. Where do you see your work going?
4. What will you do to accomplish these goals? How will you determine success, effectiveness?
5. Who is your audience? What do you want your audience to receive from your work?

Each of these questions should be thought about and answered to develop an effective writing philosophy.

Now, don’t worry if you can’t write this quickly. There is no set word count to it either. It takes time—and as many words as you need—to write your philosophy. One book written does not a writing philosophy make. Your writing philosophy will no doubt change as you move through your newness as a writer and develop yourself.

The point is to know who you are and what you bring to the literary table so that you can effectively articulate these things with anyone who asks…especially your audience.