When people talk about elements of a story, it’s common to talk about plot, pacing, character arcs, adverbs and adjectives, conflict, characterization, and so on and so on. And all those things are important to a story, but one element that isn’t talked about often is Audience. Because every story has an Audience.
To clarify, I’m not talking about who a story is intended for. That is one definition of audience, and it isn’t irrelevant. Most stories have an audience in mind, even if that audience is only the person who is writing the story. And most commercial art has an audience it is aiming for. Whether it succeeds with that audience or not is often a measure of how successful it is. Generally speaking.
But I’m not writing about that when I refer to Audience as an element. I’m referring instead to the person outside the story that is engaging with the story.… Read the rest “The Audience is Watching”