Writing for An Audience

This post is not about writing for an audience in the sense that you decide to write a book for teens or children or adults, or any other group. My main focus here is having an audience as you go along, having feedback as you write a lengthy novel.

I recently began writing a new novel and this time I had the opportunity to read the prologue and first chapter to some young relatives one day. I hesitated a little bit, but we were all very bored and I had just begun writing the novel so I went ahead and began to read it aloud to them. At first I was a little hesitant and nervous but I was thrilled to find that it was compelling enough for them to ask for more, to want to hear the rest of the story.

This spurred me to write more chapters and share them as I write. The questions they ask, their responses to the parts of the story they enjoy, has motivated me to keep going and helped set aside a more regular time for writing. It has also been helpful in informing me of which parts are clunky or awkwars as I continue to read them aloud. Children and youth ask questions if part of the writing is unclear or vague and this has helped me tighten the writing a little bit and make sure it remains clear and readable, providing enough information and description so that someone who is not inside my head can understand the story with having to do guesswork or scratching their heads at the vague parts.

The novel is still not finished, I am only about halfway through and I know I will need to go back and do a lot more editing when I am finished, but I have noticed a huge difference between it and my previous novels, finsihed and unfinished. The experience of reading my new chapters out loud to a willing audience, and audience who will demand more when I am done reading and who will call me out on mistakes or inconsistencies or unanswered questions, has been an enriching one.

If you are in the process of writing a novel and you find yourself stuck or in need of motivation or just wondering if parts of it are any good I would highly reccommend finding someone to read it aloud to. They should, of course, be interested in the type of book you are writing and I would reccommend a younger audience.