The Audience

There are many major elements involved in writing. You have to think of setting, character, plot, momentum, imagery, and diction. I plan to eventually talk about all of these elements and the knowledge I've gained in them, but first I want to talk about audience. I feel audience is an important element of writing that people can forget when they're learning the standard writing "formula" in a workshop or writing group.

The audience, of course, are the people you are intending to read your story, poem, or novel. Some writers only want to write for themselves. Publishing doesn't matter to them because they just write for their own enjoyment. For these writers, the audience is themselves and they can write whatever they want in any form or non-form. They don't have to worry about other people necessarily understanding what they read. I even know someone who writes in their own code so no else can read their work.

Writers who want to share their writing with others, though, need to know their audience. Some writers write for commercial publishing, others for literary purposes, and some are completely experimental.

For these writers, it is important that they know what their typical audience member expects. What are the conventions of their genre? Now, this does not mean you have to write always within these conventions. Every story would be the same and completely boring if this happened. However, reading up on the conventions for each type of publishing style and each genre will help you to know what your reader is expecting when they take a look at your piece.

To understand your genre and the conventions it includes try:

1. Researching conventions for your genre online
2. Reading plenty of books/poems/stories similar to the one you are writing
3. Creating your "perfect reader"

The "perfect reader" is a fictional person you expect would be the perfect person to read your writing. If you write Young Adult, say your perfect reader is a 16-year-old girl who lives in rural Wyoming with her single mother and her tabby cat. She spends her evenings reading books (like yours) because there is nothing to do in town except go bowling or watch movies their theater doesn't receive until 3 weeks after the release date. She has short brown hair, an overbite, and wears glasses in the evenings when she takes her contacts out. She likes lattes, french fries, and chemistry (because she gets to be lab partners with her best friend since 2nd grade).

See what I'm getting at here? If you make this perfect reader for your piece, you have someone to compare and contrast ideas with. Ask: "Will my perfect reader laugh at this?" "Will she think this metaphor is accurate?"

The best part about this perfect reader is, even if you make her super specific and give her quirks and strange habits, there are tons of people in the world who are similar to her. They will understand her and it will feel like the story you wrote was written just for them. Think of all the times this has happened to you. You read a book and thought it was written just for you - the author just got you.

You can have this happen if you create your perfect reader. Then, your audience will feel more connected with your writing, you will have a goal to work toward and a "person" to bounce ideas off of, and (if this is what you want) your writing will feel more like a piece to be shared and less like that thing you work on in the early hours of the morning with a coffee cup in your hand.

So, before you start your writing, consider who will be reading it. Don't dwell on this too long, but you should have a general idea. Then, when the piece has been revised a few times to make sure all plot points are accounted for and the sentences flow nicely, find your perfect reader and read your piece from her perspective. It'll be like looking through new eyes.