Short-Form Nonfiction Week: Are You Writing To Your Audience Or At Them?
Added 2025-04-16 06:24:34 +0000 UTCI have a friend called Bosco. When I talk to him, I say one of several things:
โWhoโs the good boy?โ
โAre you the good boy?โ
โYes, you are!โ
โSit.โ
And โHigh five.โ
I donโt tell Bosco about what Iโm anxious about today because he wouldnโt understand it. I donโt read him poems or teach him how to do mathematics because Bosco is a dog, and his brain isnโt wired that way. He mainly just wants to hear who the good boy is. This mystery has been with him since he was born, and heโs ready for answers, now.
Welcome to short-form nonfiction. It requires you to know and acknowledge who youโre talking to. If itโs Bosco, I highly recommend, โWhoโs the good boy?โ If itโs a group of humans, you need to know what they actually want to read about. This marks the difference between talking to an audience and talking at one. Itโs tempting to write for yourself, but somewhere along the way, youโve got to decide if you hope to be read. Writing short-form nonfiction is a lot like talking to a friend.
Unless youโre writing for your own little echo chamber, youโve got to know your audience. Do they want to hear your message? How much do they know already? Can you really add to their experience? How much research do you need to do to achieve that? Does your language appeal to their reading preferences?
I know this sounds an awful lot like marketing, and I suppose in a way it is. Itโs just that youโre the brand. You are selling your soul. Have you ever wondered who youโre selling it to? This information will help you tailor your work to an audience.
I write on Fetlife every day. I donโt do it for clicks. I do it because Iโm constantly learning how to hone my work for this audience. Iโve managed to attract a list of rather special readers. Theyโre people I admire and hope to reach, so their clicks tell me where Iโm going rightโor wrong. Iโve been doing this for an awfully long timeโa decade if you want to know, but this is a long learning curve for me.
I want to be the very best one day. I want to be good enough to impress Donald Hall, not that heโll ever read a damn thing I ever write. My followers are valuable. Theyโre the measuring stick I use to practice new mechanics and perfect old ones. I highly recommend it. Fetlife has thousands of exceptional and incredibly fussy readers. They have real value to a writer, but this is not todayโs message.
Today, weโre talking about the difference between writing to and writing at.
I highly recommend the latter.
