Pandering

In the conversation in which my sister reflected on my manuscript, she mentioned that putting romance in the book was "pandering to the reader". I wonder about that. Dani Shapiro, in Still Writing (link), states that we write for one specific reader. That reader might change from work to work, but usually remains consistent for the length of the piece. And of course, the identity of the reader is entirely up to the writer.

So we do write for a 'someone'. Be it my neighbor, my sister, or myself, the act of scripting words generates the potential for future reading. We cannot write in a wholly selfless manner. We are human, after all. And this brings me back to my initial question: to what extent does that reader's identity impact our craft? See, if I was writing for my sister, I'd remove all hints of romance from the work. But if I was writing for myself... let's just say bring a fan. (As I was writing the book, I kept having to pull the characters back from these really steamy situations. They'd just go there by themselves! I had nothing to do with it.)

The point is, we pander to the reader all the time. The act of writing generates the inevitability of a reader. There is little point in fighting it. Words are meant to be read.

And so I wonder about the extent to which outside forces, such as the identity of our audience, influence our craft. This, I feel, is worth fighting. If we let our readers influence our content, we are not involved in genuine creativity. Yes, in order to sell, we are supposed to cater to our intended audience, but I feel like that is a polishing step. While we are doing the writing itself, we need to be ruthless in our honesty, and to hell with the reader.