Tuesday, December 05, 2006

The Writer's Audience

In a comment, Jamie says:

"I would contend that all writing is for an audience. Even private diaries, where the audience is the writer himself -- or, perhaps, the audience is the future. I think a writer always has to be mindful of who his audience is, or the work will suffer. (That's a long discussion, maybe best saved for another time.)"

No time like the present, Jamie! And since it IS a long discussion, I have given it its own thread.

4 comments:

  1. Bust-ed.... ;)

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  2. I am intrigued by your comment that there is always an audience, even when the writer doesn't intend it. As a kid, I used to imagine that one day, after I die, someone would find all my papers and publish them. I don't think that way anymore, but perhaps I should.

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  3. It reminds me of a sermon that's stuck with me all these years. It involved a parable about a guy who, unsure how to talk to God, started telling Him stories about his experience. "He likes stories," the priest said. (I guess, at an early age, I must've taken that to heart.)

    My experience has been that whatever you write, sooner or later, a different person reads it...even if it's you, with new eyes. In high school, I once read a note that I'd written a few years earlier. I recognized my own handwriting, but not the guy who wrote it.

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  4. I love the sermon. God likes stories. Good thing, since we humans can't seem to stop telling them.

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