There's Only One Audience You Need To Write For
If You Don't Know it - you shouldn't write
When it comes to writing everyone tells you to write for someone different.
Write for your readers or your ideal audience.
Write to the market if you want any chance of selling copies.
However, there is only one person you need to be writing for.
And they live in the mirror.
Why You Should Write For Yourself
When you first sit down to write, it should never be with the audience in mind because your audience is years away from seeing what it is that you've written.
You on the other hand are the one who is going to have to sit down and live in that story for weeks, months, or years on end.
My mother constantly asks me to sit down and write her a beach read so that she can enjoy something that I've written and I repeatedly have to tell her no.
I would never sit down to read a beach read even if it would only take a few hours of my day so I sure as hell am never going to sit down to write one.
Each day would feel like torture.
Writing shouldn't feel like torture and it should never feel as if you have to drag yourself by your shirt collar over to your writing desk to get your words in for the day.
Sure some days it can kinda sorta feel like that, to begin with, but at one point we fall back into the habit and we wonder why we dragged our feet on the way over to the desk to begin with.
There are hundreds if not thousands of writers in the world, or even in your city that write for the sole purpose of writing.
They don't write with the intent of showing a single sole what they have written because in essence that is was writing is about.
Sure showing our stories to the world and finding others that want to crawl inside them and make themselves at home between the pages is a wonderful thing, but that comes after the fact.
It's after we've built the walls and furnished it to the best of our ability so that we feel safe and at home in it.
Make sure you are writing for yourself first before you think about anyone else.
Follow your own interest, ignore market trends unless they are something you feel a deep connection with, and be honest with yourself about the things you enjoy in stories.
When you write for yourself you're not ignoring your readers, but you are taking care of yourself first by making your home in the writing and making it as authentically you as possible.
If you feel at home, then your audience will as well.
Best of luck!
With love,
B. xo xo
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This story was originally posted on Medium.
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About the Creator
Elise L. Blake
Elise is a full-time writing coach and novelist. She is a recent college graduate from Southern New Hampshire University where she earned her BA in Creative Writing.
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Comments (2)
True, true, true. Writing is not a chore it is a choice.
Once again, you nailed it! I keep telling people who ask me about it that you only write for yourself. The audience may come later...just don't expect them to give you a map.