Writer A: Prologues
are a complete waste of time.
Writer B: Well—
Writer A: No! They are. I have fifty reasons why and will explain them in detail.
Writing Community: This sounds like an interesting topic readers
would find extremely interesting. Let’s discuss this on social media and set up
panel discussions at conferences.
Admit it. If you’re a writer, you’re
thinking: Hey, this is a debate I’d love to jump into! This is perfectly fine
if the audience is other writers, but all too often we try to pull readers into
these conversations and act as if they have an emotional investment in the
outcome in our opinions. I’ve seen this happen on social media and in person at
conventions and other events.
Somehow, fun and engaging conversations
involving an audience spin out of control when a panel of authors gets immersed
in a discussion about what elements really
distinguish a suspense novel from a psychological suspense novel. Or what is a
mystery verses a thriller? Or when can we truly categorize a work as a
neo-vigilante-fantasy-noir-literary romance verses a non-neo-vigilante-fantasy-noir-non-literary
romance?
These discussions can be long. They can
get heated. As writers, we feel passion and we know our passion will be felt by the readers. Except for one thing.
Nobody cares.
I mean, we care. And sure, some readers
might not mind getting pulled into the minutia of our world. But, most readers
don’t care one bit. And as if it wasn’t enough to subject readers to our
ramblings on Twitter and Facebook as well as at live events, we do it on our
blogs where we should be engaging our readers. Instead we go on and on about
whether we should outline or not before writing a novel.
Sadly, these are self-inflicted wounds
and missed opportunities. When writing a post, sending a tweet, or making an
appearance, we should to be cognizant of our audience and take every chance we
get to relate to them by talking about things they care about. Amazingly, those are things we care about too.
However, being writers many of us are introverted by nature and we are hesitant
to open up about real life. So writers delve into, and find comfort in, the
obscure and the academic. But, we don’t need to do this. Because most of those
things readers find intriguing, we do as well. Ironically, we don’t always
express the connection as well as we should.
J.J. HENSLEY is a former police officer and former Special Agent
with the U.S. Secret Service. He is the
author of the novels Resolve, Measure Twice, Chalk’s Outline, Bolt Action
Remedy, and Record Scratch.
Mr. Hensley’s first novel RESOLVE was named one of the BEST BOOKS
OF 2013 by Suspense Magazine and was named a Thriller Award finalist for Best First
Novel. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers.
www.hensley-books.com
www.facebook.com/hensleybooks
Steel City Intrigue - Blog
Twitter: @JJHensleyauthor
contact.hensleybooks@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/hensleybooks
Steel City Intrigue - Blog
Twitter: @JJHensleyauthor
contact.hensleybooks@gmail.com
Hi, J.J.! (waving from Pennsylvania!)
ReplyDeleteGood topic. I try to be aware of my audience and speak or write to whatever the group but it is hard to tell. Many readers are also aspiring writers. Most writers are avid readers.
Anyway, can't wait to read the new book!
During a recent trip, I talked to many people about mystery writing. No one was interested in sub-genres or even the different between a thriller and a mystery. What they wanted was a "good read" with interesting characters. So that's what I talked about.
ReplyDeleteHow true! If we want to be read, we need to keep the readers firmly in mind.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Very true. When I read Tweets containing such insane things as "I am not writing for my readers", believe it or not, I have a friend who does this all the time. Even disses prologues saying how stupid they are. I always pm him and suggest that it's not a good idea to no avail.
ReplyDeleteEasy to fall down rabbit-holes, harder to pull yourself out.
I'm both a writer of cozy mysteries and an avid reader of all kinds of mysteries as well as
ReplyDeleteother books, too. I belong to two book clubs and last year I read 97 books and am getting close to that amount this year, too. When I'm invited to do talks about my series, after I talk about my books, I open up for questions and comments. I often hear from some of my followers asking how soon my next book will be out.
I find, with the exception of whether is a plotter or panster/organicwriter, audiences don't care much for the writing process and prefer to hear more personal anecdotes and stories. Unless another writer is in the audience, no one cares whether I construct detailed character interviews before I start writing or whether I write in chapters or scenes.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck on your newest publication.