I'm with Liz and Cog on this one. I've said it before, but you can't please everyone, so you might as well please yourself. I mean, you can try to write for everyone but it's pretty damn near impossible for it to be RECEIVED by everyone. I'm guessing what your professor meant was make your characters relatable to everyone... which is a little more plausable. For example, I don't have any concrete evidence for this, but I'm willing to bet that EVERYONE has felt loneliness at some point in their lives. As for the cultures of past generations, I'm reminded of that Woody Allen film, "Midnight In Paris", where the protagonist goes back in time to what he thinks of as the "golden age" (the 1920s) only to meet a girl who has her own notion of what the "golden age" was. So in that sense I guess everyone can relate to some sense of nostalgia—even if not everyone relates specifically to 80s pop culture. But then, I'm wondering, are the references read as "obsessive" because they're dropped in gratuitously? Or is it done as characterisation?
Not at all gratuitously! At least, I'm making a huge effort not to. The fact is that the MC is not allowed to play in the street and while her mom is at work she will either do homework or watch TV. She is 8 years old and the story is set in 1981. The MC's whole world is based on pop references. It's part of the character... if she sees a girl with very long hair for example, more likely she will compare her to one of the girls in Eight is enough rather than maybe a mythological figure... because that is her imagery.
The books that are for "everyone" usually contain something that resonates with people regardless of their age or gender. Say, somehow Harry Potter resonated with people beyond the target YA audience. Twilight also seemed to hit the spot somewhere that went beyond its intended teenage audience (though don't think it ever managed to break out of its targeted female audience lol). So that's how I'd interpret the term "everyone". It's not that everyone, eg. every countable individual, will enjoy the book, but that the vast majority of people would be able to relate and, therefore, enjoy the book because somehow what you communicate crosses these boundaries between groups. However, getting this right is a little like hitting the jackpot in my opinion - I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all formula or a concrete list or number of elements/ingredients that would guarantee the creation of such a masterpiece. (Not that I think of Twilight as a masterpiece - I rather hate the writing, but hey it was certainly a success so it must have done something right... even if I can't see what it could be lol) But you, as the author, should focus on yourself and/or your one target audience. But then again, look at the film Whisper of the Heart - an anime focusing on the dreams and struggles of a 12-year-old girl with the great ambition of becoming a writer, inspired by her teenage crush who is going on to pursuing his dream of becoming a violinist. And I can say this is not a children's movie, but it resonated with me. Somehow, the problems of a 12-year-old was familiar to me, even though I no longer remember very well what it's like to be 12, and it wasn't that I had to imagine myself as 12-year-old to sympathise. The film spoke to me right now, as I am now, at the age I'm at now. Somehow, somewhere, it crossed that boundary of a child's POV and spoke to me as an adult. Admittedly it's a family movie, but it's not a family movie like Hollywood family movies are, where the humour is often exaggerated and it's silly fun and you have to forgive its silliness in order to enjoy it. No, this film wasn't silly - it was extremely sincere, and I think that's why it succeeded where many "family movies" didn't. There was nothing silly about it even as the 12-year-old girl sat rocking on the floor, knees drawn to her chest, waiting with abated breath for her elderly friend to read her finished novel, her first reader, and then when her friend had finished and told her she has talent, burst into exhausted, frustrated, painful tears. I can relate to that. It honoured so many precious things and presented it with all the pain and frustration that it comes with, not simplifying it for the sake of story, audience, or medium. That truly makes a work of art. So, now I am not very experience, I'm not an editor like your teacher is, I've not even been published. But I'd like to think that the secret to success is to treat your subject matter with utmost sincerity, not shying away from the graver and darker things only because it's meant for children, not shying away from the innocent, pure joy that things meant for children can bring even if you're writing a dark novel for an adult audience, not shying away from the failures of your characters, not shying away from what's truly dear to your heart and presenting it unabashed like the actress who goes on stage and pours out her soliloquy. Vulnerability. I guess that's what all our characters, and our books, and our writing, need.
I think the teacher was a bit off in the statement, but I can understand where being too 'involved' with a certain time frame or culture could turn off potential readers. I don't think it's a matter of writing for everyone (as others have noted, that's just going to dilute the story and is really impossible to do anyway), but to write so those cultural references don't create unnecessary speed bumps for the reader. "Big Bang Theory" is indeed an excellent example - it really makes no difference what reference they make, because the relevance is 'explained' in the context. We don't have to understand the specific reference - we only need to realize that they're talking about, for example, a comic book character who behaved in a way relevant to the actions in the scene. The mere fact that they use comic book characters as if they were 'real world' is what's important to the scene and characters. So, if the fellow in your group was getting overwhelmed by all the cultural references, it may be something to look at, rather than dismiss. It might not be that you're using too many, but that you're not explaining them clearly within context. And that, in turn, goes back to writing for 'everyone' - opening the door to a wider (but not all inclusive) audience by better contextual explanations.
I agree with that. At the end of first draft I will look at each single reference to make sure that each one has a reason to be there, and that it's well explained.
Write to please just one person: you. If there are other people who have the same taste as you, and it's a pretty safe bet there are, and your book is written well, then it will be popular. But it'll also be something that you as an author can enjoy writing and seeing the success of, rather than some commercialised tripe you pulled out of your a*** to meet a deadline. This makes sense if she was about five. As a student at a university it's slightly worrying. Has given me ideas for the next philosophy debate, though...
I don't see anything constructive or useful here. You've been making some... interesting ...posts today. Are you feeling alright?
Yep! But don't forget the Writing Nazis. I ran afoul here making a point and got flagged. Such is life. I'm here to learn how to become a better writer, to have fun and try not to piss too many people off. But it happens without ill intent on my end and assumptions made on the other. Now to my post. Reverse gender roles.....Her instructor becomes a man. What will my reply be? Anyone reading free of assumptions? Anyone? Bueller?.....Bueller? I will often post with humor. And do you know why......Bueller? Because so much in life is funny. And if that bothers you, a truly harmless choice of words in my posts then I'll just say like I said in class umpteen time to kids with unending lame excuses........Oh well. Gallowglass! Extra pudding for you! Don't care if you didn't eat all your meat! Glad I could give you an eye deer. Hope it's a deer with better than 20/20 vision....A most excellent eye deer. Tell me what you find worrying and odds are I'll give you another idea.
Quite well and thank you for asking. And congratulations on the birth of your twins. Extra special. Ours are 33. Never knew they were identical until they volunteered for a study at the age of 18 and Wa-La. They're called "mirror-image twins." There's a special bond and odds are it will be with your's. One of ours survived cancer. Just graduated from college. But we won the lotto of life. He responded to treatment unlike any the oncologist had ever seen. He never had a patient like our son. Didn't know anyone who had a patient like our son. He had only read of such patients in journals. One insight I came away with was the Oncologist. They keep their distance from patients. Goes with the territory. But he became another person seeing a young person survive like he had never seen before. He lives for those moments and for eight years I have smoked a ham every Thanksgivings for him and his staff for saving our son's life. Boo! Guess I just kinda snuck-up on ya
That's amazing. I'm glad your son is well now. My twins are fraternal, being opposite sex and all, but my brother and I might be identical-we both come as marrow donors for the same people. All of this makes me appreciate what my own mother must have gone through.
Is it possible you misunderstood? This just seems such a strange thing to say. People are so different and how con someone empathise with somewhere they have never been, a situation they have never been in, a time they have never lived through, as well as those who have? It is true that a good story can overcome some initial disinterest, I once read a fantastic novel about a tennis match in which one of the finalists was aware that he had to keep the match going as there was a terroroist threatening to shoot the players and the Queen in the Royal Box the minute it ended. With little interest in and not much knowlwdge about tennis I none-the-less found my self gripped by the tension and intensity of the story. Great books set in fantasy places or the distant past have the same chance with everytone of awakening the imagination but there will still be a different response from those who have read a lot of the genre and those who have not.... You can only make a book bland and anonymous by stripping it of references and allusions that will resonate with some people more than others! You cannot make all your readers a blank page.
