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What Do Readers Want?

By on October 16, 2020

Have you ever asked yourself the question 'what do readers want?' If you haven't you might be missing a trick, Understanding what readers want is key to writing success.

What do reader want? The ultimate question answered!

Understanding what your readers want is key to any piece of writing. Whether you are crafting a blog post, writing content for an advertisement, creating your memoir, or plotting your novel. If you don't take the time to consider what who your reader is and what they might hope to gain from reading your work, then you will have a hard job writing something that resonates with them. In fact, you will have an even harder one convincing anyone that they should take some time out of their precious day to read what you have written in the first place.

Discovering what motivates readers, what inspires them, and what makes them tick is all part and parcel of being a good and successful writer. You need not only to understand what kinds of things they like to read, but also, why? You'll need to know whether they like a tragic love story or a hard-hitting crime drama. Also what it is that makes them weep for the two young lovers that are torn apart or keeps them glued to the page, heart beating a little faster as they try to work out whodunnit.

Answering the question, 'what do readers want?' will give you a unique insight that will help you craft a novel that excites them. A story which thrills them, moves them, and leaves them clamouring for more.

Readers -they are all different

Of course, readers come in all shapes and sizes and want many different things. It is up to the author to work out what kind of audience might enjoy the story they want to write. The author must then to go out and find them and learn about them and carry them around in their heads like a little imaginary confidant and always ask them: 'Is this the way forward? What should I make happen next?'

There are, however, some things that all readers want. They want a well-crafted, smart, and engaging story with a strong beginning, a page-turning middle, and a profoundly satisfying conclusion. They desire drama, want a protagonist they can relate to, feel a range of emotions when reading. Readers want to become lost in an immersive world. Your readers will search for compelling characters who are unique, exciting and mysterious, complicated and human (even if they are not). They want a book that is thoughtfully crafted and free form errors and is easy to understand and subtly shows them the way things are without telling them how it is and trust them to interpret the story correctly and gives them space to do so. Your readers will admire honesty. They don't want to be tricked into thinking they are reading something they are not, or given false promises or left with unanswered questions and confusion.

Know your reader and you'll write for them!

So, the advice to all writers, whatever they are writing, is this. Know your reader, and use what you know to create the perfect piece of writing just for them and deliver it in the best possible way. If you can do that there is no reason to believe that your work won't be a success.

So now you can answer the question what do readers want, why not learn how to keep readers interested?

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bethany cadman
Bethany Cadman - bethanycadmancreates.com

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