Writing
a book allows for a one-sided conversation to take place. The author tells the reader what to think,
how to feel, and what to do, based on the words that are chosen or omitted on the topic selected for discussion. A real conversation only takes place
after the book is read – with reviews, social media, author appearances, news
media interviews, book club discussions, or classroom debates.
The
good author, however, tries to think like the reader and understands the
assumptions, standards, and knowledge that such readers operate under. If an
author truly has no idea about the values, tastes, perceptions or lifestyles of
his readers, how can he write for them?
He must
think along with the reader and set the pace for what unfolds next. The author
is in total control of the situation, but only if he properly reads the tea
leaves on the mood and mindset of the public.
How
does one push the envelope if he has no idea of a baseline from which to sprout
from? How can one shock or humor or
educate unless he knows what his readers know?
Writing
allows for arguments to be shaped, views to be molded, and for facts to fit
into a neat construct. The world could
make sense when it’s only looked at from a certain perspective, when certain
ideas, events, or theories are ignored, downplayed or refuted. The world, from
the vantage point of a novelist, only works best when he or she holds one view
above all others, when one truth is higher than other truths.
Books
provide a narrative, however accurate, fair, or factual it may or may not be,
and the only other view that matters is that of the reader, who will either
agree with the author or whole heartedly disagree. The book’s legitimacy or greatness will
depend mainly on how the reader sees the world and how it either clashes with or
supports the view outlined by the author.
If
readers, in the end, determine a book’s greatness, shouldn’t authors query
their readers more often? Shouldn’t
writers make bigger strides to know who their readers are? If the writing process is one-sided, so is
the reading process. Readers react to
what’s written. They either will play
along and be led to something familiar and yet refreshing or they will be
challenged to choose whether or not they buy into what’s being proposed to
them. The writer-reader connection is
one that needs to be looked at more closely if we are to come to see books as
not only sparking a dialogue, but actually providing one.
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