I Question, Therefore I Am

I’ve made my career out of asking questions.

After almost half a century in journalism, questioning people has become such an ingrained habit that my wife tells me I’m a collector of lives (which sounds like I'm a serial killer...which I'm not, for clarification).

In contrast, you’d be surprised how many people don’t ask questions of other people, whether it’s because of shyness, lack of interest, or that their focus is inwards and they only like to talk about themselves.

Yet asking questions to complete an interesting news or feature story for a newspaper or magazine, or indeed write a convincing book, is extremely important.

In terms of literature, just as important as asking questions of real people is asking questions of the ones who aren’t real. By that, I don’t mean ghosts, Extraterrestrials from a far-flung planet or robots. 

I mean, of course, characters in your novels and short stories.

If you don’t question, indeed cross-examine your characters, regardless of whether they play minor or major roles, before you put them on the page, you’ll not create credibility. The personality profile of your characters must be precise. Their likes, dislikes, fears, hopes, color of hair, clothes they wear, quirks, physical or otherwise. They must be drawn three dimensionally. They cannot be sketchy. You need to 'see' them in the flesh. As do your readers.

For if readers don’t believe in your characters, you’ve lost them. Not just for that book, but sadly, for others you might write afterwards.

And if you don't believe in your characters by 'seeing' them, then you don't believe in your book either. And it'll be a flop.

And questions don’t just apply to the characters in your stories. They apply to your entire approach to writing.

Here’s a short list of some questions to ask yourself as a warm-up, before you get down to the tougher ones about your characters.

What should be the title of my book? Does it capture its essence?

Is the all-important opening sentence too long or too short? Does it grab the readers’ attention?

What should be the length of my chapters, should they be varied?

How many characters should I have altogether? How many is too many?

Should my lead character be a man or a woman, and why?

What names should I give my characters to reflect them best?

How much of my book should be dialogue?

How many different places should action take place in?

Should I know the ending before I start? Or just let it flow?

It’s precisely because all these questions and more are so important that one of the specialised writing workshops at ‘Ireland Writing Retreat’ is entitled ‘IQ For Creative Writers.’ The IQ doesn’t stand for ‘intelligence quotient.’ It stands for ‘I Question.’ And in the workshop we explore and answer many of these key questions.

We’ve even gone as far as designing special, rather chic-looking ‘IQ For Creative Writers’ black T-shirts - to emphasise the true importance of asking questions.

So why not join us, you can ask us as many questions as you like.

During a 45-year career in writing, Sean Hillen has been war correspondent, health and science correspondent, book reviewer, travel writer, editor, publisher and author, as well as journalism professor and creative writing coach with Ireland Writing Retreat.

Sean worked for national Irish and British newspapers including ‘The Irish Times’ in Dublin and 'The Times' London, as well as the BBC and Time magazine, before emigrating to the United States, first to the United Nations Media Center in New York, then in American print and broadcast media. 

After winning a series of journalism awards, Sean left the US for Eastern Europe just after the fall of the Berlin Wall to establish the first journalism schools in post-Communist Romania with the Human Rights League and to teach at the University of Bucharest.

Sean directed media projects with a range of international development agencies there including the United Nations Development Fund, the British Council, the Soros Foundation for an Open Society, UNICEF and the United States Agency for International Development. He  later became chairperson of US Fulbright Commission in Romania and launched his own national publishing company based in Bucharest, with a full-time staff of 35 people.

Aside from training books on journalism, Sean also penned 'Digging for Dracula' - best described as “an informative, light-hearted memoir.” Sean is also a blogger and travel writer for Fodor's and https://www.justluxe.com/author/sean-hillen/and and his own website https://worlditineraries.co/

Sean’s first novel is entitled ‘Pretty Ugly.’ It deals with a growing health concern – the use of chemicals and nano-particles in everyday cosmetics, and the need for greater regulation.

‘Pretty Ugly’ transforms a modern-day medical controversy into fiction form by focusing on the challenges facing an unlikely trio – a supermodel, a skin specialist and an investigative newspaper reporter – as they lift the veil of secrecy on a powerful cosmetics company intent on concealing the health hazards from toxic ingredients in its products.

Sean has also written a novella entitled 'Driver's Diary - Death at the Mouth of Flowers,' historical fiction focusing on the mystery of who planned, plotted and assassinated Irish rebel leader, Michael Collins.