How to Become a Writer

Identity Through Purpose is a theme that shows up throughout Self Help, as well as in the story “How to Become a Writer.” This theme manifests itself through Francie’s search for an identity and profession that make her happy, despite what those around her think she should be or do. The relationship between being and doing is clear from the very title of the story. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that one who writes might not be a writer without the suffering one must take on to truly fulfill this role. The first line furthers this binary: “First, try to be something, anything, else” (1), as if the nature of what one does for a living directly connects to who one is and what they are to become.

As Francie struggles to accept that she is a writer, the events recounted all revolve around questions of her identity and purpose. One is seen as inextricably linked to the other. When Francie, who is notoriously bad at plot, reads one of her stories aloud in class, the other students call it “outrageous and incompetent.” However, if the work is flawed, then she must be, too, which is shown when another classmate asks if “[she] is crazy.” Here, Francie’s classmate cannot separate the writing from the writer.

The same happens later in the story when Francie shares one of her elaborate plot ideas with her roommate. The roommate responds as if something is wrong with Francie, putting an arm around her, and encouraging her to get out of the house and go get a beer, as if she were mentally or physically ill. The narrative conceded that the classmate and roommate may be correct, however, because the more Francie writes, the more depressed she is. Writing is affecting her body, her brain, and her emotions in negative ways, but she cannot stop. It is a “a calling, an urge, a delusion, an unfortunate habit” (21).

The narrator’s insistence that Francie major in child psychology or attend law school acknowledges the dangers in having one’s identity tied up to one’s purpose. The text urges Francie toward another path. However, Francie chooses to become a writer in spite of the solitude and so-called suffering that comes with it. This is not always a matter of choice. Francie registers for a birdwatching class, but due to a registrar error, she winds up in a creative writing class. Every time she takes a clear step away from writing, something draws her back into it. “Wonder how the hell you ended up here” (6), the narrator (as Francie) thinks sitting in that class on the first day, but later in the paragraph accepts it as her fate.

Toward the end of the story when Francie is asked whether writing a novel is her dream come true, the narrator commands her to respond: “Say that of all the fantasies possible in the world, you can’t imagine being a writer even making the top twenty” (36). Here, it becomes clear that Francie never had a choice. She was destined to become a writer, even though it requires sacrifices of her.

At the end of the story, as Francie sits across from yet another date who does not understand her writing, there is an acceptance or final merging of Francie’s identity and purpose. In fact, in the last lines, there seems to be a celebration of it as Francie watches her date rub his arm, neatening his arm hair. In one way, he is a character to her, and she is observing him, perhaps to write this very story later on. She accepts that she will likely always choose another way—the way of a writer.