What kind of Hip Hop name is Steve anyway?

The Second Part of Steve's Feedback:

I would also challenge you to think about the audience you are writing this for - is it just for you, or people who like the same things you do? What do they look like, what music do they listen to, what do they study etc. this is how I begin any of my work, and I find that it keeps me thinking about the audience (which, after all, is who you're doing this for, and hopefully who will pay you for it.) 

Now this part has has given me some trouble. HAVE I been writing this for anyone in particular or have I just been writing this for myself? After giving it a lot of thought, I'd have to answer the latter. At least when I started, anyway.

Here's the thing, I don't really write anything with a specific audience in mind, I just write the sort of things that I love and hope that people like it too. When you about things you're passionate about, you tend to enjoy it more and get more done. Okay, I may be generalizing here, but I find it's true for me and my writing habits. I can bang up a 2000 word short story in a few hours or a nice little manifesto in response to an article about comics or movies if I'm so inspired. However, it took me a year to finish an essay that should have been done within a month because I just didn't have the same interest invested.

 I recently attended a book-promotion by Matthew Reilly, one of my favourite authors and a HUGE inspiration for this series. Basically, he shares the same philosophy, write what you know and what you enjoy. Considering this guy's sold millions of his books worldwide, I think it's safe to say he's got a pretty decent idea of what he's talking about. He's even admitted that his books are written mostly for entertainment value, but also to get teenagers into reading, and you can see why. His writing is accessible to a wide audience. It's not particularly profound and there's little more than pulse-pounding action interspersed with the odd political tidbit or tech specs of military equipment or procedures but that's okay.

This is the attitude that I've had towards the series so far, but perhaps Steve has a point. Yes, I'm writing primarily for myself, but maybe I SHOULD be considering my audience.

According to the stats on the Drake Mandible Facebook Page, my biggest demographic are my readers aged 18-24, which is basically my age.

https://www.facebook.com/DrakeMandibleAndventures/likes

Now this is another generalisation, but if other people are like me, they probably have a short attention span. This is why I've been trying to keep instalments only a couple of words long. Nice bite-sized chunks so that people can read it, enjoy it and be ready to receive the next episode. This is why I've been including the polls, so that I can gauge what people do and don't like in the series and can bring their own feedback and suggestions into the mix.

I also realize that this "writing for myself" mindset probably isn't the most productive and might be limiting my audience. Which is another part of why I'll be doing the darkening of the series, to experiment so that I can try my hand at all kinds of styles of writing.  I've never written anything particularly insightful or empowering. I'm not coming to the aid of an oppressed minority, nor am I forging ahead of the pack and creating bold and visionary new work that will change how people think. I believe at this time that there are other people far more qualified for this than I am.

This isn't to say that I won't ever try my hand at something ground-breaking, it just won't be at this particular time with this particular project.  For now, I write purely to entertain, to create interesting stories and share them with people.

I can really see your growth as a writer technically through the progression of the story, but I'd invite you to just have a think about the classic rule - show, don't tell. There are times when some of your story is over explained to the audience. Let the audience fill their images into the story as well, and then it becomes a dialogue between writer and audience. This rule will become vital when you get to the radio play stage. 

Yep, this is exactly what Mike told me. Again, it's something I'm trying to work on. It's not easy as I am certainly a teller, but I like to think that I'm starting to get the hand of it. Going back to my previous point, I still want to grow a bit more as a writer before I try to tackle bigger issues.

I have, however, been a lot more mindful of this as I convert the story into script format. It's kinda tricky to "show" things in an audio format, but the inclusion of SFX and more concise dialogue help a lot. Since I'm also conflating multiple chapters into a single podcast, I'm learning how to cut down on unnecessary waffle (Pity I can't do that here :p) and find ways to get my point across in fewer words.

Vital indeed Steve, especially since each podcast is 2-3 minutes in length.


Other than that, I've really enjoyed the story. I remember reading my dad's old wartime comics, and it's interesting to see someone play with that tone again. You're on the right track! Keep growing, keep asking for opinions of those you trust and just write it.

Thanks Steve. That's exactly the feel I'm going for, but I will also be taking your feedback on board and trying out new things with the series!

Stay tuned, ladies and Getns ;)

Nate.