What am I trying to say?

One of my instructors from Grub offered to meet with each student individually after the last class to talk about our writing. He did it on his own time - which was amazingly generous. Most of the instructors teach multiple classes and juggle freelance work, barely piecing together time to get their own projects in and this was such a nice extra.

During our chat, he asked if I write without knowing what is happening in the story. The answer is yes and no. Usually, the basic concept comes to me before I write it, but I never know any of the details until I get to them. I like the surprise.

In every other part of my life, I tend to be a very linear thinker, so I am always hesitant to put too much of a plan together because it rubs against my creative mind. He said that he'd thought that to be the case, and that my work had a certain natural energy (!) which carried the reader along. He called one of my stories tight. Nice.

That said, at the end of the first or second draft he thought I might need to spend some time thinking more about what I want the reader to leave with. In other words, what am I trying to say?

Right.

Good question.