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The Write Mind: Powerful Questions
Ever been asked a question that stopped you dead in your tracks? That hit a nerve and changed your outlook? That challenged assumptions and set you on a new course?
When it comes to communication and transformation, questions are among the most powerful tools we have—but not all are created equal. Take the ones I just asked, for example. Did you pause to answer yes or no? Do you even remember what they were?
Punctuation alone can’t elevate an impotent question to ‘powerful’ status. Simple, direct and open-ended, powerful questions come from a place of integrity and genuine curiosity. They stimulate discussion, encourage reflection, touch on deeper meaning and loose to the surface underlying information that often lies dormant within the recipient.
“So what?” you might ask. “What does that have to do with writing?”
Good question. See the difference? Powerful questions stimulate creative thinking, generate interest and open up vectors to explore. They typically start with ‘how,’ ‘what,’ ‘when,’ ‘who,’ or the writers favorite, ‘what if.’ Writers can use them to drill down into creative problems, flesh out characters, explore new angles and find solutions that might otherwise have eluded us. At its best, powerful questions can raise our awareness, jog us out of limiting habits and patterns, motivate fresh thinking and lead us to the future.
Notice how the following examples are structured to elicit meaningful responses, and that the answers are rarely known until the question is asked. Pay attention to how each question lands; you’ll know which ones are right for you. Create your own. Adapt and apply them to yourself, your writing, your characters, your business, your relationships and anything else in your life you want to grow.
As you explore the answers, you’ll probably find that more questions arise. Use them to get focused and drill down to specifics until a potential course of action becomes apparent. Regardless of whether you ask powerful questions of yourself or of a character in your novel, nothing meaningful will result until you take steps in the right direction.
So take them. What’s holding you back?
Have a question for Doug? Click here to submit it to THE WRITE MIND.
Doug Kurtz is a published novelist, certified life coach and the owner of Write Life Coaching (www.writelifecoaching.com). He earned his MA in creative writing at the University of Colorado, where he also taught fiction writing. He currently lives in Boulder, where he’s busy coaching other writers and working on his next novel.
