I spend a lot of time writing about how the reader will react to your writing. It sounds as though I believe I can speak for all readers, but of course readers are individual, subjective creatures. How can I know their responses so confidently?
When I mention ‘the reader’, I’m not talking about my individual reactions and proclivities. I’m really talking about how I react when I read travel memoir story drafts written by my writing students. I’m thinking about the steps to writing a great travel memoir, because I know that’s what any reader is intuitively attracted to. Following the 4 steps to writing a travel memoir story: providing a provocative opening, introducing a quest, giving that quest meaning, and providing an ending where you describe the change you’ve gone through, means that the reader will be satisfied, and even hooked by, your story.
Who should you imagine when you think about your reader?
Think of someone who is vaguely interested in the place you’ve travelled to, and likes to read travel stories. So, this reader is potentially on your side, but, you still have to invite them into your story warmly by providing an intriguing or evocative opening. If you follow any digressions or tangents, you’re likely to push the reader away. Remember that reader is, most of all, interested in what you wanted out of your travel journey (your quest and the meaning behind it), if you got it or not, and what you learned in the process (or, how you changed). If you can focus on covering these things, the reader will be on your side.
I often tell writers to think of your first draft as for you only: getting your ideas down, telling your story in its roughest form, and feeling proud at the end that you’ve completed a first draft.
Then, take a break, at least twenty four hours, but hopefully longer. When you pick it up again, think of that next draft as for the reader.
Now, read through and revise your draft with that reader in mind:
What would they think of that opening? Would they be intrigued enough to want to keep reading?
Would they be lulled by the beauty of your opening prose, perhaps?
Next, is your quest clearly established?
Do you include scenes that directly link to that quest?
Is there backstory present which reveals the deeper meaning of your quest?
Do you interpret the events of your story so that the reader understands the motivations for your decisions?
Finally, the ending: does it reveal whether or not you achieved your quest?
Does it reveal how you’ve changed?
Although you can have a pretty good sense of the answer to these questions and revise accordingly, it is difficult to determine much of this on your own. That’s why it’s important to have a feedback partner, or get in touch with me to arrange for a feedback session. It can make a world of difference to your writing to receive that critical, constructive feedback. The more feedback you can get, the easier it is to sharpen your image of ‘the reader’ and how they react to your writing.
