Who cares? It’s such a rude question.
And essential for the writer to ask. I can read over some of my own blog postings here on this very site (when enough time has passed and I’m no longer smitten with the very blogfullness of my blog), and think “who cares?” It’s usually when I’ve tried to be too clever, or I sound like I tried to be too clever. Or just gave way too much detail.
The “Who cares?” question is a good one to pull out when you’re stuffing your writing with too many details that you might find fascinating but would even put your Aunt Ruth to sleep. When you are writing about yourself and even your elderly mother is bored. And, when you don’t have time to let your writing simmer and are working on a tight deadline, pull back, read it out loud and ask — out loud — who cares? If you can’t come up with a good, quick answer, consider rewriting or ditching it all together.
Because if the writer can’t answer the question “Who cares?” the reader will be sure to ask it.