[by Billi Joy Carson, Senior Editor/ Editing Addict]
Editor Tip: Write What YOU Love
It’s true that writers need to write to an audience. But the process is not a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. As a writer, you do NOT need to find the audience you think is best worthy, and then force yourself to write for them.
Write what you love, and find the audience that loves to read what you write.
When C. S. Lewis was asked about his books, The Chronicles of Narnia, and whether he wrote specifically so children would read them, he answered:
“I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story. The good ones last. A waltz which you can like only when you are waltzing is a bad waltz.”
Lewis wrote what he loved; he didn’t morph his writing so it would be read and liked by his audience. He found the audience that would cherish his writing. Children love his books; adults do too. Why? Because C. S. Lewis poured passion through the pages of his books—a love that is obvious, and not forced, a contagion of enthusiasm that inspires generations, young and old, to pick up his books and read again.
Know your audience, don’t choose your audience; your audience has chosen you. Write what you know, write what you love, and write what the world will want to read again and again.
[by Billi Joy Carson, Senior Editor / Editing Addict]
Editing Addict, LLC 