Catching Idle Butterflies

THE Reader

I believe it was the last day of the writer's conference when Jerry Jenkins spoke about his readers. He said when he writes, he imagines writing for one person, his best friend since high school.

I thought a lot about that, and I think it's a good idea to write to a specific person, and not necessarily a small or even massive audience. Writing for one person I know well is much easier. I don't have to worry so much about writing the wrong thing, using too simple or complex words and structure, because I know that one person will understand precisely what I'm saying.

With every entry in my blog I do think of one or two people as I write. It is rarely the same person, though, which is a good thing, because I write about so many different subjects. One person alone may not find all of it interesting -- Umm, actually, now that I think on it a bit, that's not necessarily true. You all come back because you find my writing interesting, regardless of the subject. Still, most times I do focus on one over others as I write, and I think it's important. It keeps my writing focused.

So who am I thinking of right now? letgocling mostly. She also heard Jenkin's speech, and she's rewriting her book to cater to a specific audience instead of a general one.

As for my novels, I have one person in mind when I write. He's one of my co-workers, Casey. I write for him because he's interested in my genre. He is very intelligent (sickeningly so) and knows how to dig deep into a story. He also scares me some. Because he loves to read and take apart books, I fear he would rip mine to shreds as to what doesn't work or make sense. To prevent him from doing that, I have to make sure I write the best book I can.

I need to have him read my manuscript once it's done, and before it's published. It's science fiction so it has quite a bit of technological advancement type stuff. He's an engineer along with a voracious reader, so I know he'll scoff at much of what I came up with. At the same time, though, he'll likely give me ideas on how to improve it; thereby making it more interesting.

My question is this: Who is your Reader? Describe him or her to me, because I would love to know.