You decide what you write. No-one else. You’re certain of that, right?
First off, let me introduce myself. As the newly appointed Writers & Artists editorial manager, over the last decade I’ve come at book publishing from many vantage points – the buying side as Amazon fiction editor, slushpile reader, commissioning ed, writer and writing coach. This has given me a view on many facets of the publishing industry but, at the end of the day, I have always worked for one client: the reader. As a writer, you must make certain demands of yourself: the key one being to actively engage with your reader. Do you deign to amuse your reader/audience? Romance them? Shock them? Change them? Make them think? Make them feel?
All that said, who decided how I began this blog? In a way, you did. Sure, I decided its content but its direction was guided by my take on your needs. Firstly, you’re not going to be bothered with what I have to say unless I can back it up in some way. Secondly, according to this medium (online), I only have so long to grab your interest, so I’m going to have to be provocative (or at the very least intriguing). Did my intro achieve all that? Then all good. Now, if you’re still with me, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of who you write for and why.
Our time – the public’s, the individual’s - has never been so precious. The novel isn’t dying. But if it wants to live on with us, those whose business it is to advance it must not forget nor forsake their first obligation: connecting to the reader. The reader wants guarantees that if they go on the journey with this writer that they’re getting what it says on the package. And not because they are lazy or want to be spoon fed – how crass to dismiss an entire audience wholesale – but because we’re at a stage in our evolution where we need to ‘manage’ the flow of information. Now we can either help our readers or fold our arms, stare down disdainfully and say well, that’s not my job.
But today that is your business as a writer. Daily, people go away from enough experiences disconnected. Whatever you’re writing – be it a harlequin romance, a factual history, a literary work of staggering genius – you want to have affected someone when they turn that final page.
Before you even get to your end reader though, there is the minefield that is family, friends, acquaintances, social peers, fellow professionals, your very culture. The voices in your head. Would mum really want to read that? Shouldn’t your colleagues hear exactly what you think? And would so-and-so think more or less of you for courting an inflammatory opinion?
And even when you manage – if you ever do – to suppress/ignore/come to terms with those voices, a whole new chorus goes up: The Writer’s Group. How much sway do they hold? How much is constructive, fair comment? And where do you draw the line?
Then, after crossing the immense terrain that is completing a novel, along comes an official who says that actually there’s a whole other level of border control to go through – a whole cavalcade of readers you have to get past before you brush noses with your final audience. Now you can resent this, circumvent it (Self-publishing route) or roll up your sleeves and see it as fresh challenge to test your writing prowess at wooing a whole other type of reader.
For it’s all about connecting to your target audience, be that your agent (those first 3 chapters, that synopsis), an editor (that full-length manuscript, personal connection), the marketing department (Why will this book sell better than any of its competitors? Will you sell?) and, ultimately, your reader. By all means write your synopsis for the gatekeepers, refine your first three chapters, but never write your entire book for them.
So at the end of the day I declare who decides what you write is you and your chosen reader/audience in concert. You are trying to persuade them of something/to come along for the ride/to hear you out. No, you can’t please all of the people all of the time. But in the business of publishing, it’s a necessary idea to at least please one person other than yourself/a family member/someone you paid. Because if you can connect to one other human being, then potentially we (your publisher) can connect you to your widest possible audience, duplicating that intimate experience for hundreds/thousands/millions of readers.
Yes, ultimately, you have the power but please let it be on behalf of, or at least in response to, a defined reader. Otherwise, is that a novel you’re writing or prose with sensory impact?
So my question is twofold: At this point in time, who is deciding what you write? And who do you write for and why?
Signing Off,
Nicola
Very thoughful post Nicola.
I think there are certain situations in which it is positive to write for oneself - when using writing as therapy for instance (I speak as someone who has run therapeutic creative writing workshops for heroin addicts.)
But as soon as an audience comes into the equation and you consider publication this must change, because the writng then becomes a matter of communication - it is aimed outwards rather than inwards.
With writng as my sole source of income now I obviously have a vested interest in reaching out to as wide an audience as possible, and fortunately my agent and publishers have an interest in the same thing too, so though I might not always like what they say, they are usually right.