Unlocking the Reader’s Mind: Control We Wish We Had
If writing were mathematics, then only half of the equation would be in the writing itself. The other half lies within the reader. We can write what we want the reader to know, but when they are reading it, the big question is: do they get it? Not always. I’ve been in situations where I thought I had written something really well and the person reading it is totally lost (which is why we all need great first readers). I’ve also written simple stories that, when discussed in a college class I’m visiting as a guest writer, I hear all sorts of motifs, symbols, and crazy things I never imagined when I wrote the story (on those days I feel like a genius).
How does the magic work? No one knows. Or at least, no one has given me a believable thesis for it. We have no way of controlling what happens in the mind of the reader and, I think, once we find our own voice and are dedicated to it, we have little control over the way we express ourselves and think. It is our DNA; it is who we are. It’s frustrating when it doesn’t work, but it’s also equally perplexing when it does work all too well. What’s odd as well is that I find very little middle ground. The reader either gets it or they don’t. It either works or it doesn’t. It either sells or it doesn’t.
So what is to be done about it? Nothing, but two things: write and write the best you can. Once it leaves your hands and is published, then it is up to the reader to take the task from there. If all of us writers knew the secret formula for conveying our thoughts straight into the reader’s mental vein, maybe like a shot of gin, then we’d all be doing it. If publishers knew the secret of publishing works that resonated highly with readers, then those lucky writers would be getting royalty checks out the wazoo. But the truth is: none of us know much about how it actually works. It just does. And sometimes, it doesn’t.
So what is the takeaway? Write the best you can. And when it is the best you can, leave it at that. It could be you have a bestseller right from book one. It could be you have a bestseller at book five. Or it could be that the book you had that flunked (I’m thinking of Melville’s Moby Dick, Shakespeare’s plays, or Fitzgerald’s Gatsby) may someday rise and become a classic. But the moral is neither we nor our publishers, editors, publicists, or anyone has a clue on how to make it better than the simple act of resonating with a reader.
When it works, pat yourself on the back. When it doesn’t, write again. The point, though, is to keep writing.
Because you truly do not know when the magic will strike.
Like this blog? Sign up for Clay’s newsletter offering encouragement, skills, resources, and knowledge relating to a balanced life while writing, marketing, promoting, and living. https://claystafford.com/newsletter
