Who Is Your Ideal Reader?

When you sit down to write, who are you imagining will read your words?

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Do you have someone specific in mind, or are you just aiming into the dark, hoping that with some luck, you’ll at least hit something?

I’ve come across this question many times over the years, first beginning with my days in journalism school. Who’s your target audience? Who needs to hear this message?

But for some reason, I’ve also always struggled with it. Most of the time, I didn’t really know who I was writing for.

I had ideas of who I wanted to reach, or felt that perhaps I could reach, but then when I sat down to write, that vision became fuzzy and felt far away. The picture of my audience was vague and blurry at best, and sometimes not present at all.

There seemed to be some sort of catch to it. Why couldn’t I get it?

Then Stephen King Says It

I have to admit that I’ve never known much about Stephen King.

I know about as much as anyone who doesn’t read him knows: he’s famous, one of the most widely read authors in the world, with dozens and dozens of best sellers. He’s one of the most popular writers out there right now, and has been for years — decades, even. His books have been made into movies, for God’s sake!