Cats, Monkeys, and Your Audience
Stephen Parrish has a funny post today. Then again, now that he is not inflaming the anger of conservatives from around the world, he can be funny again. And poignant. And . . . well . . . Stephen. I wondered what he would talk about once Obama won, but clearly, he hasn't lost any steam. My favorite part of this post? "Monkey speak." Nearly spit out my coffee with that one.
Monkey speak. I have to call my best friend from college today (he wrote the article I linked to)and ask him if he remembers a woman who was very good at monkey speak in our college creative writing class. (And can I BRAG about what a brilliant, HANDSOME !!!!!, and SINGLE guy he is, ladies? SO SMART! Editor of the political desk of the Boston Globe, lives in D.C.). I remember we were walking home from class. I went to college where the women lived on one side of the lake, and the men on the other. And he would always walk me all the way back to my dorm--and then turn around and go all the way back to the other side of the lake to his dorm. Did I tell you what a GREAT guy he is? And we had left creative writing class in which we critiqued a woman's short story. And it was simply monkey speak. For the LIFE of me, I could not tell you what that short story was about. Then the writer calmly replied that of COURSE it was from a cat's point of view as it looked in some mirror. I don't know what kind of drugs she was smoking, but I should have asked her for some, because I swear to you, there was no cat. Just monkeys. Speaking.
Maybe it was good that I majored in English, Journalism, and Sociology with a minor in Creative Writing. Sociology made me think about people; English about literature; Journalism about my AUDIENCE; and then it all rolled into Creative Writing. Because journalists have to communicate. And it can't be monkey speak.
When I am working on a novel, I never think about my audience. Not when I'm doing the actual writing. But in the back of my mind, they must be there somewhere because I usually assume at some point, I will want to SELL what it is I am writing, and people aren't going to shell out money for monkey speak. Unless it's this. (Who knew?)
Thoughts? How do you keep your audience in mind?
Monkey speak. I have to call my best friend from college today (he wrote the article I linked to)and ask him if he remembers a woman who was very good at monkey speak in our college creative writing class. (And can I BRAG about what a brilliant, HANDSOME !!!!!, and SINGLE guy he is, ladies? SO SMART! Editor of the political desk of the Boston Globe, lives in D.C.). I remember we were walking home from class. I went to college where the women lived on one side of the lake, and the men on the other. And he would always walk me all the way back to my dorm--and then turn around and go all the way back to the other side of the lake to his dorm. Did I tell you what a GREAT guy he is? And we had left creative writing class in which we critiqued a woman's short story. And it was simply monkey speak. For the LIFE of me, I could not tell you what that short story was about. Then the writer calmly replied that of COURSE it was from a cat's point of view as it looked in some mirror. I don't know what kind of drugs she was smoking, but I should have asked her for some, because I swear to you, there was no cat. Just monkeys. Speaking.
Maybe it was good that I majored in English, Journalism, and Sociology with a minor in Creative Writing. Sociology made me think about people; English about literature; Journalism about my AUDIENCE; and then it all rolled into Creative Writing. Because journalists have to communicate. And it can't be monkey speak.
When I am working on a novel, I never think about my audience. Not when I'm doing the actual writing. But in the back of my mind, they must be there somewhere because I usually assume at some point, I will want to SELL what it is I am writing, and people aren't going to shell out money for monkey speak. Unless it's this. (Who knew?)
Thoughts? How do you keep your audience in mind?
Labels: audience
posted by Erica Orloff at 7:06 AM
26 Comments:
You were up early this morning.
The Monkey Speaks book you linked sounds interesting. Have you read it? I'm not trying to put you on the spot. I'm just trying to determine if you are recommending it.
With my fiction I tend to be my audience of ONE, but somewhere in my head I'm aware of a couple things:
1. My real audience is busy and easily distracted, so I need to work very hard to keep them entertained.
2. My real audience presumably shelled out money for the book, so I'd damn well better give them their money's worth. It would really suck if they paid $12.95 for a trade paperback, but felt they only got $7.99 worth.
3. Although I'm constantly trying to write for the female demographic, I'm aware that the Derek Stillwater novels (in particular) work better for men.
4. These days I'm working on a lot of books for middle grades, so I'm very aware of reining in my tendency to swear and how I depict violence. (There's plenty of violence, but I'm careful about who it's used on and how it's described. I'm currently working on a fantasy novel for kids, and they fight monsters, so there's a fair amount of sword fights and staffs and other things).
5. In the case of middle grade and YA books, I'm aware all too often you're also writing for their parents, their teachers, their librarians, and that one of the tricks is that the people who acquire the books are adults. Weird.
Joe:
NOPE! Not recommended it. LOL! I just did a search . . . and voila.
:-)
E
Mark:
The young hero of my Magickeepers bvooks sword fights. So I needed to figure out a way to do so without too much violence. In my case, the sword chooses him (much like Excalibur) and as long as he is fighting for the right reasons and a pure heart, it can't cut him and will fight to the death for him . . . so he's pretty safe as long as he remains the good guy.
E
Twenty-some years ago, I spent eight weeks of my life reading Joyce's Ulysses and the accompanying Bloomsday Book for a lit class, and I still don't see how something can be considered "great" when 99.9% of the population doesn't know what the hell is going on.
Writing: Clarity is Job One.
IMHO.
Jude:
Eight weeks of your life you can't get back. Kind of how I felt about the two hours I gave to Star Wars III (the prequel).
:-)
E
Just did a search! Sounds like me.
My biggest thing is making sure I explain enough. It all makes sense in my head and I can picture things perfectly - just need to ensure the reader also has the full story. Or at least enough to get there without being confused.
How do I keep my audience in mind? Hmm. I guess I think about the books I wouldn't read, and that's my audience.
Hmm... I try to keep in mind that I don't need to overexplain everything in the first few chapters and not to "dumb down" my writing.
Yet I'm in the beginning of my learning curve when it comes to audience. I still have a long way to go to find my niche.
Like Mark's #1. And I'm constantly thinking: Will this word throw the reader from the story? How will this make them feel? How is the rhythm feeling to them? Am I building to my point smoothly? Where do I need to go to touch them? What kind of experience am I giving them?
And then, I often imagine it is a seduction of the reader, almost like I'm gently making love to them. (Is that ooh, gross, tmi?)
I just wrote a post last night that was silly, so I didn't post it. But I basically said that, perplexing as it is to me, a few people read what I write, so I have a duty and responsibility to do my best to touch them, in spite of how overinflated and silly my sense of importance is. Sort of like Mark's #2.
melanie:
Actually, the book I referenced yesterday--that was the problem. Nothing made SENSE--though I am sure to the author it did.
E
kath:
LOL! That's one way to approach it!
E
mlh:
Mine is the opposite, I think. I worry I am boring people and rush on through!
E
spy:
I "feel" that sense even more now that I write Middle Grade.
E
I write for me. Then I figure people who are like me in some way or like what I like, will like what I've written. Because I'm part of an audience too. I'm not sure how big or small it is, but I know that I'm writing for myself first and foremost. And if other people like too, that's great.
My end goal is write a terrific book that people will want to read, but I don't keep the reader in mind as I write. Instead I'm thinking about how to escalate the tension and raise the stakes.
I'm pretty sure I don't monkey speak. I don't even cat speak, though Belle keeps trying to teach me.
I write with only one person in mind, and that person changes from day to day. Sometimes it's a dead person. Some audience, huh?
Zoe:
I, too, like getting lost in my own story . . . so I am my own first audience, I guess.
E
edie:
I'm working on dog-speak.
E
stephen:
A dead audience of one. Interesting, my friend. . . . Paging Dr. Freud.
:-)
E
My audience, so far, is me. Have to start keeping in mind that the idea is to actually get someone else to read it a andn to write like that is the point :)
I mostly avoid "monkey speak"... but fall heavily into "I can't believe I just wrote that drivel" pits all to often. Good thing I can always delete and rewrite :)
I never think about the audience while writing either. Hopefully, if I follow my character's story readers will connect too. That's it. If I let all the other stuff in while writing, I'd be screwed since I'm a right-brainer.
ewoh:
Please . . . I am VERY familiar with the Drivel Pit.
E
While writing I tend to not give a flip about who's reading about P(the main character), I just have fun making bad things happen and then making things seem to be getting better and then making something worse happen. I try not to be confusing for the sake of my own nerves when I start the second draft. When I'm writing a perplexing scene I feel like the equivalant of a suger addicted child in a candy store. Even if said candy is covered in blood and tears and just a dash of teenage angst...
Hi JT:
I think writing that way probably allows for a very organic book because it's been written with a sense of fun for the author/by the author, instead of second-guessing on the first draft.
E
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