Audience and Constraint (Michelle Intro) (07/27/2019)

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Sometimes, literary or so-called “creative” writers talk about writing for oneself and writing for an audience as if these two things are diametrically opposed. But if in writing “for yourself” you derive pleasure or satisfaction from writing clearly and beautifully, from puzzling out how to communicate concisely and eloquently what initially seemed impossible to communicate, from putting words together so that their rhythm is pleasing to the ear, from finding illuminating connections between things that seem unalike, from writing dialogue that is sharp and humorous, or from shaping plots that are engaging and surprising, then are the pleasures of writing for yourself not also the pleasures of writing for an audience?I work by day as a science assessment writer. The many thousands of multiple-choice and other assessment items I’ve created over the years have an important job: to reveal what knowledge students have learned and what skills they’ve acquired and where their knowledge and skills are lacking so as to determine where instruction needs to occur. To perform that job, these items must meet all sorts of criteria, such as being clear and concise and accurate, but also appropriate for and fair to their audience. I have to consider factors such as vocabulary, cultural references that may give some students unfair advantages, and what common misconceptions students at a particular grade level may be likely to hold.These constraints and criteria determine the success of an assessment item, but also they are very much part of the pleasure of assessment writing for me. I enjoy puzzling out solutions to what seems impossible at first to assess in a student-friendly manner. I enjoy the challenges of shaping content so that it is logical and relevant and aesthetically pleasing in its construction. In other words, I’d say that my pleasure in creating assessment content is very much tied up with my desire to meet my audience’s needs. I've noticed that writers who talk about writing for oneself as being in opposition with writing for an audience tend to paint writing for an audience as somehow less authentic than writing for oneself, as though in considering the audience, one might fail to mine what obsesses them, sacrificing their vision to please others. These are legitimate concerns if a writer views their audience as being far removed from themselves. But what makes the relationship between the writer and their audience different and special in literary writing is that we get to decide who we want our audience to be. In just about any other type of writing, our audiences are pre-determined. In school assignments, the audience is usually our teacher. In job applications, the audience is a prospective employer. In technical writing, the audience is a targeted user or customer. But in literary writing, we have the autonomy to decide who we want to write to or for. If we love weird fiction, then by all means we should write for an audience who loves weird fiction. If we don’t particularly like fabulist fiction, then we don’t have to and probably shouldn’t write for an audience who favors fabulist fiction. In this sense, writing for an audience isn’t a constraint; it’s an enormous freedom.Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here.Michelle RossFiction Editor

ATTICUS NEWS

HAVE YOU SEEN OUR READING LIST?FIND A BOOK TO ROUND OUT YOUR SUMMER 

Congratulations Kate Finegan, Sandra Marchetti, Lindsey Novak! Read about these ATTICUS ALUMNI. 

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

Do something spiffy with your day.Start with Feral Town by Adam Gustavson... VINCENZO

BOOK REVIEWHEAVEN, BY THOSE WHO MAKE ITA review of A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF HEAVEN by Mathangi Subramanian from Algonquin BooksReview by Maria C. Goodson"We cannot discount the power of a smile at someone you pass on the street, the conversation you have with the squeegee kids, or the piece of trash you pick up on your street. The women in Subramanian’s novel show us this, in a very real, unapologetic way."GET THE BOOKREAD THE REVIEW

FICTIONBASKETBALLby Siamak Vossoughi"Men got to make declarations all the time. They had all the formal occasions to make them, but a woman had to make hers when she could."READ ON

POETRYAFTER CELANby Gary PercesepeA finalist in our 2019 Poetry contest"Columbine, red against the Colorado sky.My auburn-haired mother did not come home."READ ON

CREATIVE NONFICTIONPERSONAL DEFINITIONS OF THE WORD STROKEby Deanne Gertner"1. the act of striking, blowI am seven and it’s the summer between second and third grade. I’ve been getting in trouble a lot lately."READ ON

INTERVIEWREADING FOCUS:IN CONVERSATION WITH KWAME OPOKU-DUKU OF DEAR OCEAN"...I’m starting to see work being produced by younger people of all backgrounds about climate change because it’s this thing that is weighing over their future." - Kwame Opoku-Duku IIIREAD ON

FILM REVIEWIS IT TIME TO GIVE UP TARANTINO?A review of ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD from Quentin Tarantinoby Emily Moeck"Tarantino churns out another high-budget blockbuster overflowing with star power and classic cinema references that will invariably leave his fanboys wet in the pants. But for the rest of us watching, it might be time to consider dethroning the king."READ ON

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