Do not teach the reader anything. I mean, do not SET OUT to teach the reader stuff because they will see it a mile away and it'll feel pedantic and school-y and boring. :) You teach them by doing cool stuff that's illuminating and interesting and inventive and new and authentic and fun and heartbreaking and wonderful. And then the reader…
Do not teach the reader anything. I mean, do not SET OUT to teach the reader stuff because they will see it a mile away and it'll feel pedantic and school-y and boring. :) You teach them by doing cool stuff that's illuminating and interesting and inventive and new and authentic and fun and heartbreaking and wonderful. And then the reader learns what they want to learn from it and everyone learns something a little different. I would do my best to not think about teaching the reader or "market expectations" (except where necessary in a general sense, i.e. HEAs or you know, not gratuitously killing off your main character just for no reason.)
Thank you for your insightful response. If you’re in the editing stage and realizing that there are pretty cool and inventive things happening in the structure of your book, how do you signal these early on without appearing to want to “teach the reader” but also wanting to express that the details are not “fluff”? I am writing in response to a very acclaimed and respected beta reader who (thankfully) told me the truth about my first 10 pages (the advice was that she loss interest) but I am not sure how to edit and revise because the opening seems urgent and interesting to me and also “inventive” to a degree. If you feel you’ve said enough already, no worries and thank you for opening up for readers who are not behind the paywall.
You don't have to tell the reader you're doing cool and inventive things with the structure of your book, because the structure will tell them that. As writers, are are always more interested in our stuff than other people, but I think it's important to note when other readers lose interest in our stuff. That doesn't mean we have to kill ALL our darlings, but you might want to aim for simplicity in the first 10 pages to hook the reader in and then bring in the inventiveness. Or not! That beta reader is only one person.
Do not teach the reader anything. I mean, do not SET OUT to teach the reader stuff because they will see it a mile away and it'll feel pedantic and school-y and boring. :) You teach them by doing cool stuff that's illuminating and interesting and inventive and new and authentic and fun and heartbreaking and wonderful. And then the reader learns what they want to learn from it and everyone learns something a little different. I would do my best to not think about teaching the reader or "market expectations" (except where necessary in a general sense, i.e. HEAs or you know, not gratuitously killing off your main character just for no reason.)
Thank you for your insightful response. If you’re in the editing stage and realizing that there are pretty cool and inventive things happening in the structure of your book, how do you signal these early on without appearing to want to “teach the reader” but also wanting to express that the details are not “fluff”? I am writing in response to a very acclaimed and respected beta reader who (thankfully) told me the truth about my first 10 pages (the advice was that she loss interest) but I am not sure how to edit and revise because the opening seems urgent and interesting to me and also “inventive” to a degree. If you feel you’ve said enough already, no worries and thank you for opening up for readers who are not behind the paywall.
You don't have to tell the reader you're doing cool and inventive things with the structure of your book, because the structure will tell them that. As writers, are are always more interested in our stuff than other people, but I think it's important to note when other readers lose interest in our stuff. That doesn't mean we have to kill ALL our darlings, but you might want to aim for simplicity in the first 10 pages to hook the reader in and then bring in the inventiveness. Or not! That beta reader is only one person.
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