Writing advice
Will the audience understand and like my writing?
I often say I write only for myself or I compare my writing with no one or I am still practicing creative writing so I won’t worry about how good or bad it is. But I end up doing something contradictory almost always.
In The Folded Paper’s online writing meetings, we write for 10 minutes on a prompt and then read it out to the audience. When it is my turn to read out my writeup, I have this mild (at times, strong) anticipation whether the Paperians will be able to find the extraordinary metaphor I came up in just minutes or whether they will laugh at that funniest joke ever written.
I have come to accept that this anticipation is inevitable. In the almost three years of writing practice, I am more comfortable sharing my writing publicly (thankfully!). But, that doesn’t come without any expectation of how the audience will react to it. We could do something for ourselves and still like it to be acknowledged and appreciated by others.
Fortunately for me, I have had my writings acknowledged and appreciated often in the meetings. The audience goes ‘Aha!’ or smiles or nods as I read my writeup. Most times, not at the places that I thought they would, but at places that connected to them the most.
My experience has been the same while delivering speeches or presentations. Audience miss my genius often and applaud for what made them experience an emotion or sounded most similar to an experience of theirs.
So now the question is —
Is the audience wrong if they aren’t listening to/feeling what we want them to listen/feel?
No.
In fact, firstly, the fact the audience is feeling something after reading our writing or listening to our speech means we could keep the audience’s attention, which is in short supply these days. A win.
It is just that the audience see it from a different lens than us. They bring their own perspectives, vulnerabilities, and individuality and they are adding meaning to what we have to say with this unique mix of experiences. Hence, what we want them to feel is often different than what they end up feeling.
What could be a better way to understand our fellow humans than to have them react to our work?
This mismatch in expectation and the audience reaction has a huge benefit for us — we learn one thing or two from how they react to our stories. Writing needs us to understand humans and lives. Understanding the audience reaction gives us more perspectives on life and everything around it. And of course, helps us improve our writing.
Also finally, joining your writing with the audience’s experience of reading will ensure that your writing stays longer.
A word of caution
Please don’t discard or draw back your idea because the interpretations varied. Marvel at how perspectives are different and incorporate the perspectives and ideas that make your writing better.
Finally,
If you are stuck wondering whether people will like your writing when you will share it, then just write (and edit, if needed) and share it. You will get to know the many more avatars of your writing as your readers see it.
Watch a video that talks about a similar concept — Death of the Author.
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