Why we write

     In the late 1980s, a writer named Isaac Singer gave a lecture at a university. Afterward, a student asked him what's the purpose of literature. He did not hesitate. "To entertain and instruct," he said. Notice that he said entertain first, then instruct.
     Too often we think of entertainment as funny or a lack of seriouness. What Singer was saying is that if the reader is not entertained - if he or she is not engaged in something they enjoy - then all possibilities of instruction are lost.
     A person who receives a gift and enjoys it is entertained. A writer's job is to give a gift to the reader. Author Richard Russo puts it this way: The writer "comes bearing a gift he hopes will please. He starts out making the thing for himself, perhaps, but at some point he realizes he wants to share it, which is why he spends long hours reshaping the thing, lovingly honing its details in hopes that it will please us, that it will be a gift worth giving and receiving."
     In other words, it must be entertaining.