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Q&A Write for an audience or find an audience for your writing?

Let me expand on @Cyn's answer. Tolkien wrote for himself. He was sure there would never be an audience for the Silamrillion, and was surprised by the wide acclaim of The Lord of the Rings. So wer...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:35Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42746
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:03:26Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42746
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T11:03:26Z (almost 5 years ago)
Let me expand on @Cyn's answer.

Tolkien wrote for himself. He was sure there would never be an audience for the _Silamrillion_, and was surprised by the wide acclaim of _The Lord of the Rings_. So were the critics, by the way. What happened is, Tolkien wanted to read a certain thing. Because it wasn't to be found, he went and wrote it. (Note that 'fantasy' didn't even exist as a genre back then.) Because it was this new thing, critics didn't know what to make of it, and the public only found out that yes, they did in fact want this, after the thing was written. So, from that perspective, write what you want, the audience will be found later.

At the same time, you need to stay aware of the general age group you're writing for. Your tone, your vocabulary, your content would all be influenced by whether you're writing for a child or an adult.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-02-28T12:18:07Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 5