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What Is an Intended Audience?

March 29, 2021

art, book, intended audience, literature, marketing, publishing, writing

I often refer to “intended audience” in my posts, somewhat assuming we all know what it is. And it’s partly true that most of us have a vague idea. But the proverbial devil is in the details, and in this case understanding what an intended audience is – and why you should care as a writer – can make a hell (no pun intended) of a difference.

Let’s start with the vague idea most of us have about this concept that every author should know about. So, what is the intended audience of a book?

It’s the kind of reader expected to read the book.

And so, we might say that the intended audience of romance fiction is not really upper-class professors of philosophy – though, you never know – but, say, lower-middle-class, middle-aged women.

All this is extremely generic – we haven’t reached the… devil yet – and very superficial. It mostly revolves around marketing considerations, in the sense that it offers an estimate on who is likely to buy a given book.

But the most intriguing aspects of establishing an intended audience have to do with artistic considerations instead, and they are much more complex. Crucially, they are also the most useful for a writer to know, and that’s precisely what I’ll share with you in this post.

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Restraint in Writing: Doing Your Characters Justice

March 15, 2021

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

ambiguity, fiction, pace, patience, restraint, writing

I’ve often talked about patience and “less is more” in my posts. I’ve also often referred to the importance of subtlety and ambiguity, rather than over-explaining. Restraint in writing is part of this grand concept, and it basically refers to keeping your authorial eagerness in check.

To exercise restraint while writing means to understand narrative journeys. Exercising restraint and subtlety means to resist ~~divine~~ authorial intervention: If a certain outcome, way out, or solution is unlikely to happen in real life, then it’s twice as unlikely to happen in fiction.

Remember that, although life doesn’t need to make sense, fiction does!

And so, in this post I’ll show you why restraint when writing fiction is important. I’ll also show you ways to find and maintain this restraint. The way can be challenging, but the result will be worth it: You will end up with a narrative that is far more mature, engaging, and rewarding for you and your audience alike.

But, as a first thing, we need to zero in on the concept of restraint. So, let’s begin with some definitions and examples.

For many authors, restraint in writing sounds negative; it connotes limitation, being chained. Well, as you can see in the next photo, further below, being chained can be a good thing!

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How to Write Your First Book

January 25, 2021

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

book, feedback, imagination, writing

Writing your first novel is a big deal. If you pardon the ridiculous metaphor, writing your first novel is not unlike the first time you slept with someone: It’s exciting, scary, fascinating, and – looking back – kind of special yet also pretty “meh”. The trick in learning how to write your first book lies in understanding what to expect.

But there’s more.

To continue the same symbolism, just as a new partner makes it feel like the very first time all over again, you might have written ten books, but you can still get the “writing my first book” experience all of a sudden. In other words, even if you have already written at least one book, this post applies to you too.

Drawing from my own long and sometimes painful experience, in this post I will give you some simple but useful tips on how to write your first book of fiction – whether it’s your literal first or the first book in a new beginning you want to be making.

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