“So for English, I have to write a five-page essay on that awful book, “The Fountainhead,” and I have to make sure I follow the T-BEAR format. Then I have to write a fiction story for creative writing, but it can’t be about anything dark because Ms. Smith doesn’t like that and will take points off.”
For me, I always considered who was reading my piece as I wrote. I feel we have been conditioned that way from a young age. I remember writing a poem for my mom on Mother’s Day and writing a short story to dedicate to someone (usually a family member). Sometimes in high school, I would write essays in a particular style depending on my teacher, which was purely dependent on getting a good grade. I wrote things because they were assignments with restrictions or requirements.
William Zinsser is known in the writing community through “On Writing Well,” which has gone through seven editions since 1976. Early on in the book, Zinsser details that writing should keep the reader in mind. They are your audience, the ones who will consume the piece, so you have to write something that will satisfy them. A chapter later, his position switches to discuss that writing should be done for you and not worry about the audience—the classic tale of a paradox.
I think this is most evident with people in journalism. They are given a topic that needs to be reported on and produce a quality story, whether they are interested in the subject or not. Their job depends on it. Authors who rely on writing for a profession cater to a specific audience for income. Sometimes they write more books in a series because people love them, but they don’t necessarily want to (George R.R. Martin is taking his sweet time writing the next Game of Thrones book).
Source: giphy.com
But then I think of my friend Abby, who wrote a book about her journey in fighting for a diagnosis when no one believed her pain. Has her book helped thousands of women validate what they are going through and fight for a medical diagnosis? Absolutely. Did she write it exclusively for them? No. She wanted to chronicle her battles and make it known to the world. She’s very candid, factual, and thorough in describing what she went through, proving that she is not afraid to speak her mind. She wrote it for herself; the audience just happened to join.
To me, the audience paradox can be viewed in two ways. The first perspective is yes, the audience is vital if the piece depends on revenue. There are those lucky individuals who write what they want as a profession and are incredibly successful. However, I think the more common circumstance is writing to an audience about something that is not interesting. Or, in my case, in a specific manner to get a good grade.
Pieces that are not high stakes or whose success is not crucial can be written for yourself. Personal blog posts about topics you want to write about, written in a way that sounds like you, are a great example of this. I feel you can really know a person by their blog posts because it’s free and unrestricted. The same can be said for journaling, poetry, fanfiction, anything that is purely just you.
Writer and vlogger Gabe (Ava Jae) neatly sums up why you should write for yourself first. Her message is geared more toward fiction but can also be applied to nonfiction pieces.
コメント