Writing a novel? Before you begin…
Start with WHY and then WHERE. Many writing advice articles say writers should do this or that. Yet others tell them they shouldn’t do that but this. Often they focus on just one thing writers should do or that they shouldn’t do. They write how there’s this one thing that if you’re relying on alone, is not enough. However, they rarely address the why or the where.
These reductive approaches are usually done for the sake of brevity, the service of simplicity or some other reason. These advice articles can actually make writing harder than it needs to be though. Writing for me is about life-long learning and what I know will never be enough. However, I don’t think being constantly reminded of this is very constructive.
Writers who separate their various roles by taking off one hat before they put on another can often experience disconnected results and lack of cross domain emergence. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t wear multiple hats. For example, I am an author, reader and entrepreneur. Though these are limited to just the single domain of writing, that doesn’t even begin to cover what’s beyond it. This way of perceiving things isn’t even about being a specialist versus a generalist. That’s an unhelpful and dichotomous way to look at it.
A Holistic Approach
Plotting versus pantsing is just one of many distractions while writing and a false dichotomy which can pit these two together as opposites. I find that plotting from the end can be effective, even though it will likely not remain exactly as planned as I intuitively wing my way through writing. A writer might decide to work on the beginning or even perhaps on what the midpoint should be. This nonlinear thinking can be beneficial to storytelling.
Don’t plot your story from the beginning or middle or end alone though. Do all three instead. Imagine where you want the story to end. Then think backwards to the beginning. Decide where the midpoint is but know that as the space between the beginning and end change, the midpoint might need adjustment. There’s no need to force a choice between either rigid plotting or discovery.
You can’t see where you’re going from the beginning but you can see where you’ve been from the end. This advice isn’t about choosing any one or two directions. Don’t collapse the three complementary and distinct elements beginning, middle, and end. This method requires holding all three structural points in mind simultaneously, seeing how changes in one affect the others. This approach demands a fundamentally holistic kind of imagination and creativity.
You can still be like a paleontologist discovering bones but even actual paleontologists eventually work to construct complete skeletons who understand how each bone relates to the others to form a coherent whole. One shouldn’t worry too much if not all the bones have been discovered in the early stages of writing because that’s fairly typical. However, that’s different from the decision to not care if you ever do. As an author, you get to decide whether you care enough to fulfill any promises made in the beginning of any work.
The Golden Circle
Simon Sinek’s groundbreaking book, Start with Why, offers a fundamental insight many may not have thought of applying to writing. He introduces the concept of the Golden Circle, which consists of three elements: Why, How, and What. Many individuals and organizations communicate from the outside in, starting with what they do, followed by how they do it, and rarely addressing why they do it. When writers treat the what, how, and why as interconnected and interdependent rather than separate and isolated; that’s when their work can gain both additional clarity and integrity.
This golden circle concept can apply even more powerfully to writing and storytelling when we integrate it with the concept of direction. When writers understand their reason ( why ) and have a sense of direction ( where ), their work can gain both meaning and momentum.
The relationship between why and where creates a dynamic tension that drives the story like dual pistons. The why provides the emotional core that makes a story worth telling and the where provides the directional clarity that helps writers navigate through the creative process without getting lost in random tangents.
Before beginning a new draft or revision, writers should think about at least one reason why. However, there’s often not only one why. Even if you already know your why, do you know the why of any of your characters?
Character-Driven Narrative: Starting with WHY
Develop your characters first. Let their WHY emerge and inform the plot.
It is my belief after doing much reading and writing that characters should drive the plot. Plot versus character needn’t become a dichotomy but it often does. Purge the thought of opposites from your mind here because it won’t serve you well in your writing. They’re both interdependent pieces of the whole and they need to be interconnected.
When you understand a character’s motivations through their WHY then their actions and dialogue can flow more naturally. This can generate plot points that feel organic rather than contrived or forced. With each decision, agency is woven into the narrative and creates storylines that advance your plot with organic momentum.
I don’t believe a plot can be saved if the characters suck no matter how amazingly high concept it is. How many movies have you watched where the plot is good but the actors portraying them are terrible or the source material they’re having to act out is awful? The audience connects emotionally through characters first, making even the cleverest plot twists fall flat when this connection is missing.
The interdependence between character and plot parallels the Both-And paradigm. They strengthen each other rather than compete for dominance. The triad of your characters’ desires, fears, and beliefs create the gravity that organizes plot events into meaningful patterns of synchronicity. The challenges of your plot can reveal new dimensions of your characters, deepening your reader’s investment with each page. As they suffer, the reader may begin to connect to, empathize with and invest in them.
The movies Mortal Engines and Passengers both had big budgets, A-list talent attached, and marketing campaigns that emphasized their high concept plots. Yet both underperformed because at a minimum, they neglected the WHY of the characters.
The WHERE Buoy
The Alice in Wonderland quote applies here: If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.
Knowing where a story is going is intrinsically tied to understanding why it’s being written in the first place. When writers treat why and where as interconnected and interdependent, their work develops a coherent structure without sacrificing the spontaneity that brings stories to life. This integrated approach enables writers to make creative discoveries along the way while still maintaining the integrity of their core and direction.
The most compelling narratives arise when writers maintain a clear sense of both Why and Where throughout their creative process. The why provides the emotional heart that makes readers care, while the where provides the navigational clarity that allows execution of the story’s vision.
A WHERE buoy acts as a guide in the fluid sea of a developing narrative rather than a restrictive guardrail. This orientation helps prevent what happens to so many stories that go off course and produce unsatisfying endings that result from not knowing their navigational heading during their narrative voyage.
Unlike outlining methods you may have tried before that often prescribe rigid scene-by-scene structures, the WHERE buoy approach acknowledges the dynamic nature of storytelling while still providing directional guidance. Some may subscribe to the model of either follow the outline precisely or abandon it entirely.
This again is dichotomous thinking and the WHERE buoy can offer middle ground by establishing navigational markers that allow writers to explore the waters more freely while maintaining awareness of their eventual destination. Writers can drift with creative currents, explore unexpected islands of inspiration, or sail into uncharted territories. Security can come from having reference points that prevent becoming completely lost.
This approach recognizes that the journey between story points often reveals emergent opportunities and connections that no static outline could predict. The buoys mark essential narrative waypoints without dictating how writers must travel between them, creating space for both intentional direction and spontaneous discovery. When unexpected storms of inspiration hit on the high seas, writers can temporarily divert from their course, secure in the knowledge that their buoys remain visible on the horizon.
The WHERE buoy concept embraces the Both-And paradigm as it acknowledges that structure and spontaneity aren’t mutually exclusive. They’re complementary and distinct aspects of the creative process as a whole. By providing orientation rather than limitation, it allows writers to navigate the complex waters of narrative with confidence while preserving the freedom essential to authentic storytelling.
Integration in Practice
My first win at writing was at a young authors contest where I wrote A Dinosaur From Outer Space in the fifth grade. I was surprised I’d won because I was classified as LD by the school because they didn’t know what to do with neurodivergent students back then. This early experience revealed how creative abilities often transcend the neat categories educational systems use to classify learners.
Information and language form the bedrock of human expression and knowledge acquisition. They create a powerful through-line that connects seemingly separate activities like reading, writing, and programming. This connection runs deeper than any simple trichotomy. It represents a fundamental unity that connects authors to readers.
When we recognize information and language as the common foundation across these domains, then we can approach them with a more integrated mindset. Rather than compartmentalizing skills as technical versus creative, we can see how they support and enhance each other. The programmer’s attention to logic improves the writer’s argument structure. The writer’s sensitivity to nuance enriches the programmer’s user experience design. The reader’s interpretive skills strengthen both programming comprehension and writing clarity.
Growing up in the 80s with no internet, I was pushed toward more practical things. Programming became my alternative form of writing and language art, and with better perceived job prospects. This wasn’t an either-or choice between being a writer or programmer but rather finding another channel for creative expression that society deemed valuable.
The programming path demonstrates what the Golden Circle would describe as adapting the what (coding instead of storytelling) and how (technical language instead of narrative), while maintaining the same fundamental why which was my drive to create worlds through language. This integration of seemingly separate disciplines created unexpected connections rather than compartmentalized skills.
It wasn’t until 2020 that I slowed down enough to remember how much I loved writing fiction. The pandemic provided that rare pause where many rediscovered their core motivations and perhaps their why. I started with a blog, then moved to short stories, building a bridge between technical writing and creative expression.
I published two novels on KDP in 2021 and 2022, learned a lot, but pulled them down last year to improve them before re-releasing. This decision reflects the non-linear nature of the creative process. The traditional publishing mindset often presents a false dichotomy: either your work is ready for public consumption or it isn’t. The more integrated approach recognizes that creation is iterative, allowing work to evolve even after initial publication.
Now, I’ve been serializing Quantum Invitation on Medium since March, letting readers discover the story one chapter at a time rather than asking them to invest in a complete unknown. This approach represents a third path that breaks free from conventional either-or thinking about publishing. Instead of choosing between keeping work private until perfect or publishing it all at once, serialization creates a dynamic relationship between creator and audience that evolves over time.
This journey illustrates how the most fulfilling creative paths often come from integrating various roles, skills, and approaches rather than forcing ourselves into restrictive categories. By starting with the why which here may be the love of storytelling and remaining flexible about the how and what, writers can discover innovative approaches that transcend conventional limitations.
This journey from young writer to programmer and back to writer illustrates more than just personal evolution. It demonstrates the practical application of Both-And thinking in creative work. Each phase contributed essential elements to my current approach: the imaginative freedom of childhood storytelling, the structured logic of programming, and the deliberate choice to publish serialized fiction. These experiences weren’t disconnected chapters but the synthesis of that which emerged from a unified creative philosophy.
Applying the Both-And to your writing
To help you implement these integrated concepts in your own writing, here’s a practical framework of questions and exercises designed to identify your why and break free from either-or limitations:
Finding Your Why
Begin by exploring the motivations behind your writing through introspection:
- Beyond publication or recognition, what impact do you hope your writing will have on readers?
- What personal experiences have shaped your perspective that only you can share?
- If your writing could only communicate one essential and core truth, what would it be?
- What questions are you trying to answer through your writing, both for yourself and others?
The answers to these questions form the bedrock of your Golden Circle and they establish the drive that will propel both what you write and how you write it.
Deploying Your WHERE Buoys
Once you’ve clarified your why, identify the key navigation points for your writing journey:
- What is the destination of your work? This is not just the satisfaction of completion or any adulation you may receive. It’s the emotional and intellectual resolutions you’re working toward.
- What are 3–5 essential moments or ideas that must be included to begin and fulfill your journey?
- Where are you willing to allow flexibility and exploration between these points?
Place these WHERE buoys as navigation markers, not as rigid constraints. They should orient you when you feel lost without limiting the creative discoveries you make along the way. You can freely move them about and replace them as necessary.
Practice Both-And Integration
Start small with these practical integration exercises:
- Choose a scene and write it twice. Once focusing on structure and once on intuition then create a third version that synthesizes the strengths of both.
- Identify a complex idea in your writing and explore it through a multilateral lens. This can be intellectual, emotional, practical, symbolic and more. Remember, the goal in Both-And integration is to avoid a unilateral perspective.
- Practice making conscious interconnections between your why and where in daily writing sessions.
By regularly engaging with these questions and exercises, you’ll develop a more holistic writing practice that honors both structure and spontaneity, purpose and direction, planning and discovery. The goal isn’t to choose between competing approaches but to harness their complementary and distinct strengths in service of your unique creative vision.
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