Open
your facebook. What do you see?
Cats,
cats, and more cats.
OUR OWN CATZILLA!
Visit
friends’ blogs. What do you see?
Cats,
cats, and more cats.
Open
your home page and what do you see?
Stories
about???
Cats,
cats, and more cats.
Cats
dancing, cats sneaking up on dogs, cats hiding in unusual places, and cats
doing any and all sorts of things.
What
on earth does this have to do with you…the writer?
Cats
are obviously quite popular. Does this mean they might have a place in your
stories? If not cats, then what? Are you in touch with what is important to
folks? With what touches their hearts, their minds, their souls? Are you locked
away with your head in the sand, or are you in touch with what is touching
people directly at their cores?
Yes,
you need to write the perfect story, the story you are called to write, but do
you take the time to be current/contemporary with what is important in today’s
society? Are you writing to an “old” group of readers or are you writing with
contemporary standards in mind?
Do
your readers want to read a Jane Austen style or have you updated the Austen style
to meet the needs of today’s readers? You can still write the same type of
story, but have you decided to run from the 1800s to 201---yikes---2015?
With a
story still in early eras, have you made the move to write with updated,
current styles?
Cats,
cats, cats! What are YOU writing about?
7 comments:
Good reminder! Thanks, Linda.
I have to keep reminding myself.
A good reminder to examine one's writing from the viewpoint of readers, not the writer's own viewpoint. The things readers find interesting may not be the same things the author wants to talk about. It's a challenge, but reminders like this us recall its importance.
Oh, yes! If I had my way, I'd be writing in Austen's style. Telling, telling, telling. Full of adverbs, head-hopping, and dialogue tags galore. It was what I read growing up and I loved it. It took other writers and editors to drag me kicking and screaming into the modern era.
Loved the post and the comments! Always keep the reader in mind and keep learning :-)
Amen!
You’re absolutely right. Just the other day, I decided that Natty (new lead character) could use the sort of fleshing out that a new kitty would bring into her Bangkok life. And the nice thing about fictional pets is that when you give up your master bedroom to visiting grandkids at Christmastime, and stay in the cats’ room instead of your own, they don’t tromp all over your head at 2:00 a.m.
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