tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post6051927192706909175..comments2024-03-28T01:00:29.382-07:00Comments on TalkToYoUniverse: TTYU Retro: "Hook the reader with your opening," they say - but precisely whom are you hooking?Juliette Wadehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-33579511447017578322013-06-18T15:25:07.530-07:002013-06-18T15:25:07.530-07:00Of all the many things which are important, consid...Of all the many things which are important, considering your audience (after it isn't just you any more) is THE most important thing.<br /><br />After all, you know it's not YA - regardless of how you start it.<br /><br />But audiences are going to have to take a lot of things on faith (I know how to write, I'm taking you on a facinating trip, this will be worth your time and your money, I know how the story ends and the pieces I'm feeding you are all going to connect up in the end...) just from picking up your book and spending some of their life making mental pictures with your words on the page/screen. So you can guide them to seeing 'the story' your way, but they are entitled to having SOMEONE driving the bus to SOMEWHERE.<br /><br />So maybe it's not quite your audience that you have to consider, but instead what is written on your marquee: this is the show you're going to see.<br /><br />And that marquee is: the cover, the title, your name (if the pseudonym writes YA), front and back matter, blurbs, and especially the sample that will show up electronically if they care to look - the first line, paragraph, scene, chapter, ...<br /><br />I won't say audience, quite, or even 'target demographic', because I have been quite startled to get a wonderful beta reader who is nowhere near the reader I had in my mind when I moved from 'just me' to 'audience of readers.'<br /><br />So don't sell yourself short, but DO sell yourself right - you do your part to describe the story, and the readers will be able to choose.<br /><br />I'm trying to do that consciously.<br />ABEAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com