Issue 29: Did I Write This Story For You?
Thinking about who we write for and what we can consider when thinking of them.
I finished reading Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta for what I think is the third time. As always, it was refreshing to read one of the classics. Buchi Emecheta is a writer I respect — how was she able to write so many books while raising kids on her own? In a foreign country with racism, classism and all the other isms?
Rereading it this time, I noticed things I'd failed to notice before: the italicized local words, the over-explanation, the references to Africa and African men or women. The writing uses language that feels like it isn't meant for me. All of these made me ask: who was this written or edited for? When we tell our stories, who is it for?
Most writers are told when writing fiction and creative nonfiction, not to think of the audience (except you’re writing genre fiction). That’s the job of the publisher, the marketer. But when it comes to content writing, we’re constantly thinking of the audience. What are their interests? What formats work for them? As someone who’s worked in publishing, is a fiction writer, and works in media, I’m constantly thinking of the audience.
Knowing your audience helps you figure out what stories they care about. It also helps with the tone and voice of your story.
I've been thinking about “audience” as a general concept for a while, so I came up with a few tips that anyone writing anything at all might find useful. I'm not sure fiction writers need all of these (it is, I admit, too distracting to constantly think of your reader, I mean, you must if you are to actually get tangible royalties.) I'm pretty sure that we need some. I'm tired of seeing egusi italicised in stories. For what now?
Rule one: Write for yourself — write what you’d be interested in reading. This requires a level of honesty. I find that if I write for myself first, I can use words, phrases, narratives I'll be interested in reading. My first draft is typically for myself. It's my chance to unload. By the time I'm on the second draft, I'm thinking of a potential reader, even if it's just one person.
Write to an audience. I’m pro-fixating on a particular group(s) and writing for them. I typically think of the audience in three parts: primary, secondary, and hidden. Primary audiences are those who I'm aiming my story at directly. They're my target audience. You are my primary audience. I'm writing this letter to you. I think about what you can take from this every single time I write. My secondary audience might be subscribed but are generally indifferent when it comes to literature and writing. When they find subject matters that interest them, they read. Finally, my hidden audience would most likely stumble on this incidentally.
Imagine your audience and be specific about who they are and what they like. Your audience should have one big thing in common.
Don't try to please everyone. You can't. You’ll run into trouble.
Answer the question “why would they care about this story?” Nobody cares about your story more than yourself. By putting it into the world, you're assuming more people would eventually care. But the question is why? Answering this question also informs the way you frame the storytelling. The reader can't know your intention, but they should be able to infer it after reading and from other details like the story title, snippet, blurb, copy, etc.
Don’t dumb down your writing. Trust that your reader is smart and sensible: Don't explain terms, your readers can Google. You can always put some contextualizing information to make local terms understandable. It's different if you're writing on difficult subjects in order to make them understandable to readers.
I hope this makes sense and you’ve found some of it valuable.
It's a pretty short letter today! I hope you're having a good week? Stay safe and see you next week. Don't forget to like, share and comment. You can also reply me, I always look forward to your emails.
Thank you for this! Currently thinking about improving my writing so that i can write personal statements that I actually like, ones that are true to me and I won't cringe at years later. This was very insightful