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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37123
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37123
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Neither your individuality or your creativity is precious, no matter what they told you in kindergarten. Your story may or may not be precious, depending on whether it is any good or not. Creating a good story is not about expressing yourself (no matter what they told you in kindergarten), it is about expressing your story.

Stories are **told**. That is, they are transmitted, communicated, to other people. They are good (and therefore precious) insofar as they are successfully recieved by the reader. As a writer, therefore, you should be 100% focussed on what the reader receives.

Unless you write purely for catharsis, your private slang, your native word choices, are entirely inappropriate unless the reader can readily receive them. To reach the reader, to produce something potentially precious, you must write in language that is readily accessible to and evocative for the class of readers you hope to reach.

You don't necessarily discover this by listening to what they say or reading what they write, because most people have a much larger recognition vocabulary than use vocabulary and will readily understand lots of words they would not ordinarily write or say. Instead, read what they read, and read it extensively, and with attention.

Writers read differently from other people. They read with attention to structure and story and vocabulary. (Some complain that it ruins their enjoyment of popular entertainment -- they see all the flaws.)

Learn to read like a writer and this will teach you to write for an audience. Francine Prose has a fine book called _Reading Like a Writer_.

Original score: 5