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I’ve been thinking a lot lately, about how my own experiences have affected my writing. I have looked at several of my better stories and I have been able to pick out things I’ve learned, people I have known and even different events in my life.

That is not to say I’ve recorded those things in the stories, but used the experiences to provide flavour to the writing. Definitely not word for word, but more in how they would cause my characters to act and the story to develop.

So, I decided it would be fun to have a few people join me to discuss this. As often happens, I was only able to line up the schedule with a couple people, specifically Jeff Hite and JR Murdoch. We met via Google Hangout and just talked about how experiences have affected our own writing.

This is the first time I’ve used Google Hangout in this way, so, the audio is not quite as crisp as I would like. Still the discussion is good so I hope you enjoy that portion of the show.

I’ve also read and reviewed John Campbell’s book, Dreadnaught, which is part of his new “The Lost Fleet, Beyond the Frontier” series. You will hear that review today.

That’s today’s episode. I hope you enjoy it.

Show Notes

00:00 — Opening – Get Published Episode 93 – Putting Experiences into Your Writing

Everything has to start somewhere and this is the start of “Get Published”

00:14 — Introduction – Get Published Episode 93 – Putting Experiences into Your Writing

Welcome to the show.

01:28 Promo: BabylonPodcast

02:31 -Tips and Typos

Mike reviews Jack Campbell’s The Lost Fleet, Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught

04:13 - Promo – Nutty Bites

04:43 — Get Published Episode 93 – Putting Experiences into Your Writing (continued)

Mike, Jeff Hite and JR Murdock talk about using personal experiences in writing.

47:03 - Promo - Flying Island Press

47:48 — Closing

Thank you for listening.

Websites mentioned in this episode:

Michell Plested - http://www.michellplested.com/

Jeff Hite - http://jeffhite.com/

JR Murdock - http://jrmurdock.com/

Babylon Podcast - http://www.babylonpodcast.com/

NIMLAS Studios/Nutty Bites - http://nimlas.org/blog/

Flying Island Press - http://flyingislandpress.com/

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I thought I would talk about audience today. Specifically, knowing who you are writing for and how you can ensure that you’re hitting the mark.

I’ve been shown the value of understanding who might want to read my stories several times.

When I sent in Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero originally, I kind of knew who I expected my eventual readership to be: boys, ages 9 – 15. Simple enough, right? After all, the book is about a boy in that age category who wants to be a superhero. I expected some girls might like it and the occasional adult too.

Then my editor, Robert Runte, and I had the chance to meet last Fall. He told me that when he got the manuscript he passed it over to his 13-year-old daughter to read. His decision to do the edits was made when she told him, “You have to do this book, Dad.” That was unexpected, but welcome news. Then later when I was hearing from Lorina and Robert about what they thought the book might do and commented on some of the other elements of the book, I realized that adults might enjoy it too.

Now that I’m going through the galley (for final proof), I have found some of the humour and scenes that adults might relate to better than kids. Was that entirely planned? In some cases, yes and others it is a happy coincidence. Probably the result of me, an adult, writing for the me as a young person. I was trying to satisfy both people.

The next obvious incident was when I came up with the story idea for Boyscouts of the Apocalypse. When I actually told the campfire story and saw the reaction to it, I knew I was onto something good. When I started having adults request more stories (and the Scouts too), it was obvious that the idea appealed to a large range of people.

So, when I started writing the story (episode 3 of the podcast version will be available at the end of the month as part of the Action Pack Podcast) I tried very hard to write something that the boys and adults both could enjoy. I’ve had some positive feedback from both groups who have listened, so I think I’m hitting the mark. Please tell me different if that is your experience.

The point is, don’t write something for a group if you have no way to know if that group is interested. For example, writing about sparkly vampires for boys probably won’t work unless you have some twist where the sparkle gives them super powers or something interesting. If you think the idea might work, talk to a few people from that group and see. If they are interested, maybe you have something good. Maybe you won’t.

What I’m suggesting is essentially doing market research.  If you are intending to sell something, you can never know too much about the marketplace you are selling to.

If you are only writing for yourself, it doesn’t really matter. In that case, the only person you need to satisfy is yourself. Mind you, if you are like me, you are probably your own toughest critic.

Good luck with your writing.

Tags: action pack podcast, audience, boy scout, boy superhero, boyscouts of the apocalypse, five rivers publishing, irreverent muse, market, michael plested, michel plested, Michell Plested, mik murdoch, mik murdoch boy superhero, mike plested, robert runte, scouts, zombie