We all know that answering the five W questions—who, what, where, when, and why—is important in non-fiction (particularly journalism). But these questions can be important to your writing no matter what the genre. Taking some time to ask, and answer, the five Ws can be helpful in increasing your motivation, improving your focus and clarifying your purpose, and it might just give you some ideas for a new article or story. Over the next several posts, we’ll dig a little deeper into the types of questions we can ask to make sure that our stories are well developed and interesting—to the writer and the readers. Let’s get started with the Who.

Who will you to write about?

Whether you’re writing a short story, a personal essay or an investigative journalism piece, there will be people involved. In fact, I’d argue that without people there is no story. Even if your topic is the war, a new invention or the latest scientific breakthrough, the best way to approach the subject is through the eyes of those closest to it.

To find out who you will write about, you may have to answer a few more questions. What types of people intrigue you? Who have you always wanted to interview? What characters are lurking in the corners of your imagination? Start asking these people the five Ws and you’ll find your story.