The Audience

I've had ample opportunity to think about why I write this past week. I've been doing it for a long time but never thought much about publishing until the past five years. And as I stewed over what I want and why I do what I do, I realized that my main driving factor is sharing my own particular brand of storytelling with my audience.

I used to pound out entire manuscripts in record time, in order to turn around and read them to my family. After all, that's what my mom did. She's a writer, too. I knew my audience back then, what they liked, how to make them shiver or laugh. We'd huddle up on a bed or couch, maybe sit on a hill at a park, and read together. Sometimes I'd make up stories off the cuff as a bedtime ritual. It was nothing but pure fun. And to this day, my family still brings up the stories that stayed with them.

As I grew older, my audience extended out to other people I knew, co-workers, friends, other people who wrote or participated in theater. I partnered up with a cousin to write plays and put on productions for rest homes, hospitals, and youth groups. I shared my manuscripts with these people and began the constructive beta reader process, where they'd give me feedback. I wanted criticism because I wanted to become a better writer. I snuck creative writing into the reports I wrote for other classes in school. My teachers loved them, and I confess, it fostered my love of learning.

The best part about all of these encounters was touching my audience. Sure, I'd run into some people who didn't care for my style or the subject matter. But for those who did, it was like drawing them into my world and our relationship took on a new level.

I still enjoy that part of writing today. My current manuscript has produced a peculiar audience connect. Half of the people who have read it have dreamed about it. Considering the story idea came from a dream, on my part, I've found this development curious and kind of cool. Like many of you, I'm on the reserved or introverted side of the scale. It's also a struggle for me to blindly send out a story to an audience I haven't been able to gauge well. I have moments where I've fretted over apathetic or negative reactions. But the trick is to live for the positive and enthusiastic responses. There is an audience out there; we just have to find them.

So my questions for you: Have you had anything unusual or quirky happen when other people read your work? What's your driving motivation, the part that gives you the most satisfaction, about the writing and/or publishing process?