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THE TWO ROLES OF THE WRITER

As we saw in the article “The Magic Relationship”, in order to get any kind of responses from readers, you have to have a communication with them.

Effective communication depends upon

a) using words of a language the reader can understand in a way which he or she can grasp, presented in a legible form, with perfect grammar and so on,

and

b) attracting rather than repelling the reader with these words.

Where a writer is too demanding or there are two many errors in a) then b) tends to break down. Successful writing therefore goes in two stages.

1.  Getting into effective communication with the reader.

2.  Doing something for or with or to him or her using the various techniques of the art of writing.

There is many a reader who will go around raving about a particular writer, whose techniques are not particularly technically or aesthetically wonderful. Nothing emotional or spiritual has been accomplished, or perhaps even attempted. All that has happened is that a tremendous attraction has been established between the reader and the work, largely based on wish-fulfilment. This is often so aligned with the reader’s own longings that he or she then considers that something miraculous has occurred. This is why “popular” fiction can be so popular without any sign of advanced writing techniques -the communication alone has accomplished something.

It’s possible to mistake the fact that a communication has been established, and the reaction on the reader to this, with having done something emotional or even spiritual for the reader.

There are two roles for the writer who aspires to be really successful.

1.  To form a communication.

2.  To DO something for or with or to the reader.

These are two distinct steps.

It is a very tricky and no small thing to be able to communicate to a reader. Because it’s done all the time whenever we read, we can forget what an amazing thing is occurring when we take symbols from a page and instantaneously compute with them mentally and emotionally. It is quite remarkable, and is such a remarkable feat that it appears to be an end-all of writing to some.

But now you should be able to go somewhere with it.

Here’s the really odd thing: readers really WANT to know what you have got to say; they really WANT to enjoy what they are reading. It is very hard to remain disconnected with words. A reader has to work at it. If your communication is very good and very smooth and if your word discipline is perfect so you don’t upset this communication and if you just maintain your rhythm with the reader all the time, and do it with perfect control, you will achieve more popularity than you ever thought could exist: readers will reach for your work again and again. You will have created an “un-put-down-able” book.

You must write well, get perfect discipline and get your rhythmic patterns in. Don’t jolt the reader, let your scenes complete. But all of that is simply part of the FIRST role of the writer.

That first role is important. That creates the ladder that goes up to the door and if you can’t get to the door you can’t do anything. The perfect communication, the perfect writer control, perfect auto-reading1  -all of these things are just to get you in a state where you can do something for or with or to the reader.

Writing perfectly means being able to reach the reader, being able to “talk” to the reader, and being able to maintain a rhythm. All of those things have to be very good; they all have to be present and they all have to be perfect. If they are all present and they are all perfect, then you can start to emotionally or spiritually affect somebody reading your work.

It takes a technique now. If you can never get in communication with readers to use any techniques, you will have failures in writing. If you’re not in communication with a reader, he or she can’t respond emotionally in the longer term. The wish-fulfilment of popular literature generally has a short-term effect; to make a lasting impression, the writer now has to use the techniques of writing used by the great authors.

But first, sit down and start writing and start handling the characters and ideas and problems and that sort of thing and do it by completing your communication and not jolting readers’ around.

There are a lot of things you could now do with readers. You can create some very very spectacular effects.

Keep readers going and keep that communication in. And then do something productive for them USING the communication.

Grant Hudson B.A. (Hons.)
Inner Circle Writers’ Group
P.O. Box 546
East Grinstead
West Sussex
RH19 4XJ
United Kingdom

Phone: +44 (0)7738 447764  
E-mail: admin@innercirclewritersgroup.com

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