This month's topic for the FM Writers Merry-Go-Round blog tour is to explore your ideal reader. It pretty much a perfect topic with perfect timing for me this month. I've been participating in a lot of guest blog Q&A posts and 'who is your perfect reader?' is a question that has come up more than once.
I have struggled to answer it in a pithy, snappy way and I think the question does deserve serious consideration.
The bottom line is not everyone is going to love every book. Not everyone is even going to want to read every book, no matter how well written it is. If you don't like westerns, no amount of praise or recommendations are going to have you delve into the books of Larry McMurtry, books my husband adored. He is also a big fan of techno-thrillers. While we often share books, these books usually make my eyes glaze over by about page 7. I am not the ideal reader for a techno thriller or a western.
With my debut coming out this week, I am prepared for a mixed bag of folks enjoying it and folks just not feeling the love. It is nearly impossible to write the One Book to Rule them All. What I have written is a book aimed for teen and young adult readers, ideally with appeal to all genders. I don't have a specific reader in mind when I sit down to write. Rather, I write the books I wanted to read as a teen/young woman--books that speak to ordinary heroes finding and trusting their own power, set in a world with just a bit more magic than this one contains.
What are the characteristics of my ideal reader?
Perhaps the most important quality is the desire and the ability to be swept away into another world--that suspension of disbelief that is at the heart of any immersive experience. That is what I have always craved in my reading and what I look for in a book today.
It is the partnership between the reader and the writer that makes that experience come alive. As a writer, I promise to do everything in my power to create a story where you can bring the power of your imagination.
If I succeed, then you are my ideal reader.
Want to see what a whole group of writers think about their ideal readers? Take a look at the Merry-Go-Round blog tour hub.
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