McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
How to make a Publisher Angry
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
Personally I like stories that require that degree of paying attention, but to each their own.
Wordmaker:
The easier you make it on the reader to follow your story, the more likely they'll recommend the book to a friend and buy the next one.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Wordmaker on June 12, 2013, 03:44:24 PM ---The easier you make it on the reader to follow your story, the more likely they'll recommend the book to a friend and buy the next one.
--- End quote ---
Have you never put down a book or given up on an author because you feel they're spoonfeeding you information and treating you like an idiot ?
If so, you would be in the minority among my acquaintance.
Wordmaker:
There's a world of difference between making your book easy to follow and treating the reader like an idiot.
The Deposed King:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on June 12, 2013, 03:24:02 PM ---Personally I like stories that require that degree of paying attention, but to each their own.
--- End quote ---
You don't want to dumb things down as if people are idiots but at the same time neither do you want to talk over their heads or become so cute that they can't understand what you're doing.
I generally tend to do what I do, but that said when discussing such things I like to ask a few questions when talking about if something's too obvious or is it too complicated or it doesn't do three things etc. If you can't say this thing is just plain fun from beginning to end then-
I ask what is the IQ/skill of the writer. What is the general IQ/sophistication of the target audience. Then what does someone representative of your target audience (a beta reader) think. To my mind just as I would research a character I didn't feel comfortable enough about, or a country or a technical process I needed/wanted to learn more about, you need to take a look at your target audience. The wonderful thing about today's audience is its so large and so varied that you can pretty much do what you do and have a group of people who are on the same wavelength. However if you are worried about finding that a massively more encompassing broad based appeal then I guess you've got to worry about doing more.
Best advice: don't sweat the small stuff. But if you do, then make sure you're able to speak to your desired audience. For instance I can't do hard science sci-fi. I'd need someone to help me out with the physics and engineering. Nothing insurmountable but I'd have to pick a few brains and get some help with the weeds. If you've identified a weakness, either work to avoid it, gloss over it, or get some help. Either college courses, people who know more than you, the might 'google search' etc.
The Deposed King
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