Connecting with Your Audience
We all write for different reasons. We write to create worlds, tell stories, and escape to new realms. We write to inspire, encourage, and persuade. We write to teach and coach. We write to preserve memories and express emotion. Whatever your reason for writing, your audience will remember how it impacted them for a lifetime.
“It’s too heavy!”
The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom, was forced reading by my mother when I was fourteen. Since then, I’ve read it three or four times. Corrie has become one of my heroes. I greatly admire her tenacity, grace, and her complete surrender to the Holy Spirit.
One moment that has stuck with me from the book is when Corrie (age four at the time) and her father, Casper, were travelling on the train. Corrie asked her father about something no little kid should have known about. Her father took a moment to ponder her question. Then he asked her to pick up his suitcase.
“I (Corrie) stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.
’It’s too heavy’ I said.
‘Yes,’ he said. ’And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger, you can bear it. For now, you must trust me to carry it for you.’”[1]
Corrie came back to this moment many times as an adult experiencing the atrocities of the Nazi concentration camps. Many times, she prayed, “God, this is too heavy to bear. Will you bear it for me?”
This has stood with me since I was a teen. “God, will you bear it for me?” became a prayer that I came back to again and again. No, I did not experience anything as terrible as what Corrie did, but it doesn’t matter how big or small your burdens are, your Father has big enough shoulders to bear those burdens and wants to carry them for you.
Writing with your audience in mind
Before we get too far, I just want to add this note: I mainly write in creative non-fiction. I don’t write fiction (or haven’t yet…maybe one day). So, this is all coming from my experience as a non-fiction writer and may not apply the same way to someone who writes fiction.
Corrie Ten Boom wasn’t simply writing out her experiences. She wrote intentionally, sharing her experiences with us so that we could see the power of God in her life and know that He is powerful in our lives, too.
I don’t know about you, but when I write, I imagine my audience—sometimes intentionally, sometimes subconsciously. Sometimes, the audience is just the Lord; sometimes, it’s my husband. If I’m preparing something ministry related, I obviously picture the audience I’m teaching; however, if kids are involved, I also subconsciously picture their parents or ministry leaders because I’m thinking about how I want them to be able to continue fostering whatever I’m teaching.
The most interesting one to me is when I journal about the things the Lord has done in my life or what He is teaching me through His word. I subconsciously imagine one of my great-grandchildren reading the journal.
Who you imagine yourself writing for can do two things:
It can reveal your values and your purpose for writing that piece at that time.
It can also act as a guide that helps us make creative decisions to make a connection with our audience.
For example, imagining my great-grandchildren reveals a value for legacy and a desire for my children to know God like I do and even more. And so, I write to teach them about the Lord. I write so they know their history. I write to give them a reference for something to come back to later on when exploring Kingdom concepts and ideas. I’m really writing stuff down for myself so I don’t forget, but I write with legacy in mind.
Why is connecting with your audience important?
There are so many reasons, and it comes back to why you’re writing. If you’re writing a story for entertainment, you want them to like it and keep reading your other works. If you’re writing something allegorical or to teach, you want the message to hit home. If you’re writing a persuasive essay…you get the point, right?
As I mentioned earlier, knowing your audience acts as a guide to help you tailor your work for them so that your purpose for writing hits home. Corrie Ten Boom wrote to share the power of God in her life, and her testimony became wisdom that I applied to my life, which then became my testimony.
What does this look like practically?
Truth be told, it will look different from writer to writer. Here’s how I apply it—this isn’t a formula in any way, it’s just what’s going on in my subconscious as I write:
Picturing my audience makes me ask their questions
Your audience will bring their lived experience with them when they read. Picturing them helps you anticipate their questions, ideals, beliefs, and even misconceptions. Let’s take this journal entry from my art website as an example. It’s about hearing God’s voice. I started out writing about the different ways God speaks, but then questions and doubts started to arise.
“God doesn’t speak to me.”
“God doesn’t want to speak to me.”
“I’m not far enough in my walk with God for Him to speak to me.”
“What about that verse where Jesus explains why He speaks in parables? That sounds like He doesn’t want them to understand!”
“What about the verse that says, ‘Who can know the mind of the Lord?’”
“How do I know when it’s Him?”
“Sin keeps us from hearing God.”
“I’m scared I might hear demons instead.”
As I wrote, I imagined all these things someone who is just learning about hearing God could say. It came from a desire for people to grow in their relationship with God—I don’t want anything hindering them—and it gave me a guide for what to write. (And it turned into two blog posts, haha!)
Picturing my audience helps me get unstuck
Writer’s block. We’ve all been there. One way I get past it is by imagining my audience. In this instance though, I’m not anticipating their response, I’m thinking about why I’m writing to them. It brings me back to point one about values and purpose. It helps me when I’ve circled too long and can’t get to the point. For the hearing God post, not wanting anything to hinder someone from hearing God gave me a path forward.
Exercise
Take a moment and revisit something you’ve written recently. Did you imagine anyone reading it (could even be a younger or older version of yourself)? Who are they? What are they like?
Think about that person for a moment. Why do you think you imagined them? Why were they reading your work? What did you want them to experience?
What do you think that reveals about your values in that moment and purpose for writing that piece? Do you feel those values were represented in your work? Is there anything you would change so that your purpose hits home better?
Picturing your audience is actually a tactic used in marketing, but I think it applies well to writing too. In no way does it mean changing yourself to be more palatable. But by asking yourself the above questions, it can help you get in your audience’s mind and write so that your work can make the biggest impact.
Notes:
[1] Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place (Barbour Publishing, Inc., 1971), 31.
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