Writing with an Audience in Mind

Spotify link: https://anchor.fm/s/9d604abc/podcast/rss

Your mindset for writing changes entirely when you start writing with an audience in mind. That’s when your principal motive is to explain. To make your argument as clear as possible. To not confound your reader to the point he/she stops reading and decides that doing the wash is more interesting than reading something you’ve written. More than one famous writer has observed that the writer’s job is to make the complex seem simple.

People who have taught the subject matter they are writing about have an advantage in visualizing members of an audience. Over time, it helps you as a writer imagine what might be confusing to them. Where they might stumble. If you have not had an opportunity to teach, then it could be helpful to imagine explaining the article you are envisioning to an interested friend who is also a. colleague.

Having an audience in mind is helpful during the editing process as well. It helps you to spot what is interesting, possibly quite original, but it’s distracting. Off-topic. Not necessary for the 1-3 points you can support effectively within the space limitations of a normal article.

It’s liberating to write with a clear audience in mind and with the idea that you are trying to provide an explanation that is not overly complicated. You are trying to craft a storyline that will keep your audience reading and/or listening long enough to figure out what you are trying to say.