Picture Your Reader

What's the most natural way to tell a story? Telling it to someone sitting in front of you.

One of the life's greatest joys is getting together with loved ones, sitting down over food or drinks, and catching each other up on your lives. It's in this way that we naturally tell each other stories, and it can be some of the most fun storytelling. When you're telling your story to someone in front of you, you get to experience their emotions right away. You get to hear their laughs, see the reactions on their faces, and experience the glory of being hyped up to keep going.

When you're writing a book, you're aiming to receive the same type of feedback from your readers. The difference is that you're much less likely to get to see it face-to-face. And that can make the writing process hard. When you're feeling like you don't know what to write or stuck on how to describe something, it can get easy to stay stuck in your head, judging yourself, and in the end, getting in your own way and not telling the story.

One trick for getting passed this is to make the storytelling process a little more real for yourself by imagining yourself telling the story to someone real. I believe every book you write is for you first. That's a given, but no matter what you're writing, you eventually want this book to land in the hands of some reader, so that they can experience the story too. In your mind, you might already have one particular reader or the thought of who your ideal reader should be.

The more clearly you can see your one ideal reader in your head, the more clearly you can imagine their reactions. For me, my ideal reader is my mom and my sister, but if I had to choose one, it would be my sister. She's the harsher critic when it comes to books, but she's also the one who's read my writing from the beginning. The one who refused to read anymore until I finished my book, and the one who loves young adult fantasy the way I do. I want to write a book that she'll love. So, when I get stuck, I think, would Aneelah like this?

For you, your reader might be a family member who's been waiting for you to write this book forever. It might be a client that you've worked with that would really love the advice you can give. It might be a student you know, who would love what you're writing the same way you would if you were still that age. Or it could be a person you've never met, but who has experienced life the way you have and is seeking to feel seen and understood in a body of work. Whoever your person is, try writing to them. Try telling them the story. The more you can feel like you're sitting across from them, the more your story might flow out of you.

Love,

Q.