Your readership

Great question, Shawn. I am currently writing a fantasy that (hopefully) appeals to a general audience, but includes enough genre standards to make fantasy fans feel at home. It has taken a bit of juggling, but I think I'm getting there.

Hmmm...I'm writing prehistoric non-fiction and it has a ton of science in it, and since I'm no PHD, I think I can handle the terms and explanations. Although I'm starting to meet with a little resistance with a few agents that believe I might not have the Platform and might need an edited by, forward by, co-author paleontologist. My book will interest all readers in dinosaurs and/or Ice Age mammals.

Triceratops

Definitely

To some degree it depends on what I'm writing, but for most of my fiction I have a specific audience in mind.

The most extreme case is erotica--you write very differently for college guys than for lonely older women or gay men or women, whatever, from sentence structure to names for things to who your characters are, what happens, and how they react.

Mystery and mainstream are the same, just less so.

Maryn

It's an interesting question.

First I write the story that's in my head and then obsess about its genre/readership/approachability. Mostly in terms of marketing it to an particular agent.

I think it makes a big difference, though, when you give it to betas. I've had a beta reader write "yucky" and "this is disgusting" all over a manuscript. I was peeved, but I think it was my mistake to give a hard SF piece to someone who prefers her novels squishy and romantic.

I write primarily mainstream stuff so the audience in my head is comprised of generic everyones. On those rare occasions when I've written for a more specific audience, I try to put myself in their shoes and determine what they will want, like, and expect but this has its limitations.

Beth

I guess i write for like minded folks like me. Crime readers are a different batch of folks. We don't like the frills of romance stuff. We don't like too much tech. stuff.
I like the way a crime is pulled off and how the bad guys come up with the ideas to start with. But then, i figure there is some crime in all of us, we just don't all act on it. (thank goodness)
For me crime stories are easy fast reads. I don't expect to gain anything redeeming from it. How big the clouds are and what color blue the sky is do not need to find their way into my reading of crime books.
If i read SF then i am looking for being totally lost in a world that doesn't have real people or places in them.
If i read erotica, then i want to lose myself in a world that i don't live in.
If i read horror, i want to be scared to death. Nothing short of chills and thrills.
If i read humor, which to me is the hardest thing to write, i want to laugh even if i am by myself.
I guess crime readers are shallow people. (that's a sad thought) Again, these are just my opinions.
I love you guys.......Wendy

I basically write for two people: my wife and myself. I just want to write something that I think is interesting, and something good enough to keep my wife (a non writer) reading.

If others enjoy my work too, that's just a bonus!

My audience

I'm writing a series of modern American private detective novels, so they are indeed genre-specific and geared toward the private eye fans.

My novels are adult, and contain scenes of graphic crime violence, sexual situations, and contain adult language. These are certainly not Agatha Christie cozy mysteries. Therefore some readers might not like my books.

What does this entail? A modest acquaintance with firearms and police procedure, but not much else. And since I'm not writing a techno-thriller, I don't use a great deal of weapons terminology -- any generally informed reader would be fine:

"... I checked the Glock. Full magazine of Cor-Bon .45 ammo, one round chambered. I stuck it into my Galco shoulder holster and got out of the car."

But not much else.

Likewise for police lingo. I'm also not writing a "police procedural" book, so there are only general cop terms in my book, and they are all in common parlance.

Otherwise, my novels are geared toward the well-educated reader. My private eye is bright, educated, and has interests in classical music, art, and theater, among other things. He's pretty urbane.

That being said, I don't place a lot of other restrictions on my readership. Any general adult reader would be able to get through my novels, as the "technical" stuff related to weapons and crime are side-bar and not pertinent to the plot line.

HConn said:

I write for four specific people.
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I work the same way. First person I write for is me. I'm trying to write things that I'd want to read.

When I'm revising, I try to write for a specific editor (who've I've never met, and am never likely to meet, and who is (probably) never going to read my work), and think about what s/he would say if she read my work (helps greatly when you're trying to be self-critical).

The gods

We're writing heavy-handed religious satire, probably in reaction to our miserable Southern Baptist upbringing. We used to worry about our extended family reading it, but we've given up on them. Now we're assuming god and his or her representatives are looking over our shoulder. It keeps us from getting too nasty.

I've never thought about this before. I have, on occasion, wondered what age group my WIP falls under. I always assumed it would be adult, not really teenage stuff, but by being just barely an adult (and still not, to some people) it's difficult for my eye to gage just what it is I'm getting myself into.

I always just assumed that I wrote for me. This is something I would like to read. I think the two people I definitely would not write for would be my parents. It's not that their tastes are different, there's just some part of me that doesn't like the fact they could someday be reading a novel by me. I haven't quite figured out the Freudian aspect of it, but oh well.

I'd be floored if perfect strangers read my books; mortified if my close aquaintances did.

It's frightening to admit, but I think in many ways I'm writing for people who don't particularly read much genre fiction at all. I don't know if I can describe what I mean, exactly. I guess I'm writing for the unindoctrinated.

It's sort of like, "Hey, here's an ordinary shmoe just like you, only he's just about to be sucked into the weirdest experience of his life."

I write for me, what's in my heart, what needs to come out. My betas like it, but it's not for the squeamish or the easily offended.

Mari

I've written for specific audiences before.

However, in the context of Novel Writing, I want to reach a broad audience. Although I'm going with a grand fantasy (Epic or whatever you want to call it), I'm hoping it will appeal to people who do not generally read fantasy lit, and reach people of various age ranges.

My Beta readers include fantasy lovers, but also include non-fantasy lovers. Unlike Tolkien who claimed to hate allegory (yet he refers to applicability which isn't far from allegory) I love allegory, and use it a great deal.

My greatest difficulty is trying to find balance. I want it to be a challenge to those who want a challenge, who love to think deep thoughts and explore mysteries, but still completely readable to those who simply want a relaxing story to read for sheer entertainment.

So, its not "John finds a magic egg, and it hatches into a dragon. Then Ed finds a magic sword and kill's John's dragon because he happened to have a bad hair day when he got a printout of the New Jersey Dragon Tax, and decided to nuke Monmouth County."

By the way, if you have a magic egg, don't bother going to New Jersey, because the Dragon tax in New Jersey is truly outrageous, and you'd only know this if you had a pet dragon and lived in Monmouth County for any period of time. I'd suggest moving to the Poconos. Lower taxes, and more room for your dragon to romp."

I write for myself. That said, I always have my potential market/readership in mind. It's not like I would shape my stories to fit certain demographics, but it's always good to know what the potential market is. For example, I'm not shy about using swear words, because I know my potential readers won't mind.