What is the WHY

I’m cur­rently read­ing “The Amaz­ing Adven­tures of Kava­lier and Clay” by Michael Chabon. It’s an engag­ing story focus­ing on two cousins in the late 1930’s in New York who are work­ing to break into the comic book indus­try as artists and writers.

As they begin to brain­storm poten­tial char­ac­ters for their first big pitch to a pub­lisher, they start by list­ing super­pow­ers, pos­si­ble names, and cos­tume designs, until Sammy “expe­ri­enced a moment of global vision, one which he would after­ward come to view as the one unde­ni­able brush against the diaphanous, dollar-colored hem of the Angel of New York to be vouch­safed to him in his life­time.” Here’s how Sammy shares his rev­e­la­tion with his cousin Joe:

“The ques­tion is why.”
“The ques­tion is why,” Joe repeated.
“Why is he doing it?”
“Doing what?”
“Dress­ing up like a mon­key or an ice cube or a can of fuck­ing corn.”
“To fight the crime, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes, to fight crime. To fight evil. But that’s all any of these guys are doing. That’s as far as they ever go. They just… you know, it’s the right thing to do, so they do it. How inter­est­ing is that?”
“I see.”
“Only Bat­man, you… see, yeah, that’s good. That’s what makes Bat­man good, and not dull at all, even thought he’s just a guy who dresses up like a bat and beats peo­ple up.”
“What is the rea­son for Bat­man? The why?”
“His par­ents were killed see? In cold blood. Right in front of his eyes, when he was a kid. By a rob­ber.”
“It’s revenge.”
“That’s inter­est­ing,” Sammy said. “See?”
“And he was dri­ven mad.”
“Well…”
“And that’s why he puts on the bat’s clothes.”
“Actu­ally, they don’t go so far as to say that,” Sammy said. “But I guess it’s there between the lines.”
“So, we need to fig­ure out what is the why.”
” ‘What is the why,’ ” Sammy agreed.

They were focused on the wrong start­ing point. The WHY is much more impor­tant than the WHAT or the HOW. Good advice for all cre­ators. What exam­ples do have where you focused on the WHAT or the HOW when you would have been more pro­duc­tive to start with the ques­tion WHY? Share your expe­ri­ence in the com­ments below.