Huang Ch'un-ming, a central pillar in the movement, recalls his motives: "I didn't have any great goal, and I didn't mean to write any great work. I just grew up in this place and saw many things and people that moved me."
只是生長在這塊土地，看到許多令我感動的人和事，有不吐不快的衝動。」以「莎喲娜啦．再見」、「看海的日子」等作品成為「鄉土文學」中堅的黃春明，回憶當時的寫作動機。