Writing Tip #38 - Know your Audience

 I can't believe I'm at tip #38 and I haven't addressed this already. Knowing your audience helps you to write for the people who will be reading your book. It will make a difference to things that seem like they shouldn't matter, like how fast you publish and where you publish.

So. Know your audience. The best way to do this is to be part of the audience for your genre. Ideally a fantasy author will read some fantasy. It just makes sense. As a reader, you can read other examples of the genre and see general guidelines for your own book. You can see what current trends are, take design ideas, and even find out what other readers think of that particular story.

Unfortunately, there isn't a big compiled guide for what to do and how to write for each genre. This is something you have to figure out on your own, or infer from other examples. 

I am a fantasy reader. I know what I like in a good fantasy novel. Things like a world that makes sense, some lore, different fantasy races (not necessarily elves and dwarves, but for me fantasy is often set in a world that is larger than the story that is being told.) If I am reading a novel set in our world, I don't enjoy magic being thrown at me out of nowhere. But you can still have a fantasy novel set in our world, it just needs to fit. Magic is a pretty fundamental thing to leave out until page 317. Even if you aren't going to have your main character aware of the magic, you should leave hints and clues for the reader to pick up on. 

Okay, rant over. That's something I've seen before and it bothered me. 

Another way you can get to know your audience is to engage with them. Talk to them. Ask questions. Ask them what, to them, makes a good book from the genre you are writing in. 

You can also do research, separate from reading other books in the genre and talking to your audience. The internet is a powerful resource, when used correctly. Often there is a lot of contradictory information, so read carefully. 

Yeah, that's all for now. Know your audience. 

This blog doesn't seem to have much of one at the moment, but I'd like to ask for suggestions on what you would like to see, as a reader. Feel free to comment on any one of my posts, or even email me at scribbler.collective@gmail.com.

Thanks, and have a good day.