As a writer, the search for a value system may not seem relevant to you but it is - and not just 'relevant', 'central'. Even if you're surprised you have any values, the first step as always is to identify them. Let's see what comes up.

Go with your first responses to the following questions:

1. Do you have a personal belief/philosophy about writing as a public service? What is this?
2. Who does the written word help? When is writing useful? Where can it help? Why does it help? In what forms can it help?
3. Is there any clash between your personal belief about writing and your writing up to this point? What is this?
4. If someone reads/hears what you've written, what do you think they would believe your personal writing belief to be?
5. What do you believe to be OK in writing? What do you believe to be not OK in writing? (NB Is this a matter of your taste or a matter of your values?)
6. How much meaning/significance does writing have in your life?
7. What is the value you attach to yourself as a writer?
8. What sort of writer are you? Commercial, Professional, Hobbyist, writing for personal or professional development?
9. Why do you want to engage with an audience in this way?
10. Do you have any spiritual/ethical guidelines or frameworks which influence the way you write?

By now, you will begin to understand what values currently form the building blocks of your own writing philosophy. None of this relates to technical matters. This is all about the essential 'you' as a writer.

Now for an exercise on some moral considerations. In the light of what you've just been thinking about:

1. Write down 10 values you know apply to your writing
2. Prioritise 5
3. Prioritise 3
4. Draw a coat of arms using symbols (animals, shapes, objects, anything which represents your three 'values' etc) identifying these three and providing yourself with a motto which over-arches your writing activity. (Search in a Book of Quotations or make up your own)
5. If you'd find it useful, look at this whenever you settle down to a writing session.

A word about fiction writing!

In non-fiction writing, your theme is explored through your knowledge, experience and your value system. But, even more apparent, in fiction, the way your characters explore the situation you have presented them with will reflect your values. Character is plot and your character's reactions result in change but any change described in a story you are writing is the result of your character's reactions within the thematic framework of your values. This is the true purpose of your writing. Even opposing value systems, as expressed by antagonists, serve this end. You are answering your own questions.

Copyright: Elizabeth Gates 2009