The Balance Between Authorial Experimentation and Audience: Some Thoughts
I’ve always been a bit of a writer. As an English major who took almost double the amount of units needed to graduate, just for the joy of it, you can imagine how much writing that entailed. I also wrote poems at times when the Muse struck. I was far too distracted with life to make a habit of it though. I was always a full-time student working part-time and commuting on the bus four hours a day (Yes, four hours, and I didn’t even live that far from the college. Public transit in my area was just that bad at the time). After college, once I started teaching, I commonly taught five classes at a time. Being new as a teacher, I needed more time to grade and plan lessons. Writing was a luxury to pursue, and I didn’t think I would ever do anything with it. It was something I thus neglected.
Recently, I’ve been inspired to start writing more. I don’t have any definite goal right now. I am not sitting around writing articles thinking I am going to be able to pay my bills let alone be rich and famous because of it. I am just happy to engage with part of myself that needs to be exercised. I have spent so much time in silence that writing is a way for me to express myself. More importantly, I would have to give a nod to Kant here. We have a duty to share our talents with the world, for the world is better by it.
Now that I am starting to write more often, I find myself experimenting with the word because I think writers should have a period of trying out different styles. It’s part of the growth process. Most of my writing is academic. I love researching and using the works I have read to craft an argument. However, I realize if I am not writing for academic journals and scholarly conferences, there is but a small audience for that type of writing. Nevertheless, I think my writing though heavily influenced by the academic is relevant because I try to tie it all in with issues of current note and interest. Using literature, whether fiction or non-fiction, in a relevant way is something I believe in deeply. Still, as a person new to the writing scene, I have been trying to write other types of texts and sometimes use other points of view if nothing but for curiosity’s sake, to see what other types of writing would be like if I was the one doing the writing. One can view the process of discovering the potentialities of writing as stepping into a new wardrobe and trying on all manner of different garments in order to see what looks best. Normally, one might wear only garments in dark colors, but if sifting through some wondrous armoire, a person might discover that a lighter color isn’t so bad as long as the cut is right. I ruffle around trying out unusual things with my writing in case I might stumble upon some other style of writing that suits me. I think that it is a mark of intelligence to realize how much you don’t know and to be willing to ask questions purely for the sake of wonder. By experimenting with my writing, I am asking myself about my capabilities and asking my readers what they favor.
Be that as it may, when a writer steps into some different voice, there’s the potential that the audience may take issue with the variability of the author’s work. I do not imagine that I have much of an audience. I’m incredibly new at writing anything for non-academic, public consumption, and my Medium stats seem to suggest tumble weeds rolling through the isolated rural cabin that is my account page. Still, I can imagine how odd it might be for a reader to get used to one voice, one style, and then find that the familiar author may use quite another one. It might even smack of insincerity. An intellectual writing like your run of the mill generic listicle generator is going to feel like a triangle shape being shoved into a square even if the writing is sincere. Worst yet, what if the audience feels betrayed, almost like the author is a villain engaging with different styles in a selfish attempt to generate a larger audience base? That makes the position of the author stressful, but what kind of audience would be examining a fledgling author that minutely? It’s all a matter of how the current flows really. Life, as if by its own impetus, pours forth in its own stream. For that reason, there’s a statistical probability of it occurring, and if it did, the audience would be a discerning one.
An author must be brave enough to do what he needs to do to grow; however, any prolonged attempts at writing in genres that feel unnatural will prove unfulfilling and counter-productive. Some of the world’s greatest authors had to dip their feet into the verbal pool and write in ways that weren’t natural to them at first. Think of a playwright who only writes comedies. When the playwright wants to test out the waters of the tragic genre, the outcome, whether good or bad, may not fully represent the author’s voice or customary style. With more practice though, the playwright may find that he can create both comedies and tragedies and with more experimentation, it may be discovered that the playwright can create a compelling history and pleasing sonnets. Hemingway experimented with his writing in the beginning and came to be the master of dialogue as plot. Engaging with different styles of writing can help the writer discover more potential than he realized was there. This is the rub though: if the author feels unnatural writing in certain styles, it will shine through in the writing. Trying it out a few times is one thing, but making it a habit is going to be a problem, especially if the author finds himself growing an audience that expects a certain quality of writing from him. I say this with full awareness that these contemplations are better suited for authors with larger audiences, but it leads me to what I actually do best: I notice I am most happy with my writing that has a somewhat intellectual quality or that is magical and creative. When I try to write something I imagine as being more of what people expect from a mainstream writer, I apprehend it comes off as artifice despite my sincerity. It’s the voice shift. If I acted as if I were my own audience, I would recognize the voice as being different from the usual style. I may even perceive something off — almost as if the author was not writing in a state of joy. If the writing doesn’t feel like me, I can imagine an audience reading it and scowling. Some of the questions that I imagine my audience posing are: “What is this listicle monstrosity? Is she foolish enough to think people would want to read about her personal life? Why is she keeping things so simple when she’s so complicated?” That brings me to an important point. Experimenting with your writing is a good thing, but it’s all about balance. A writer who writes in an unnatural style habitually is neglecting the integrity of the creation, and that is what one variation of a disgruntled audience would be sensing. If a writer finds joy in a different style and faces a different version of a disgruntled audience who just dislikes the writing because they think it is bad, then the author would need to either find a new audience or elect to write in the different style for the sake of doing it, regardless of the audience’s needs. Obviously, this differs if you are writing while in the employ of another, in which case the practice of using different styles may be useful, depending on the position, but a narrower range of creative license if any is likely, due to the potential composition of the audience being customers and clients. In which case authorial growth may need to occur during the off-time unless, of course, the publication is aimed at an audience that enjoys reading and doesn’t necessarily want something within the range of narrow predictability.
These thoughts bring me to an important lesson I’ve learned while being a new writer: this situation of balancing between experimentation and audience is just part of the terrain of the authorial experience. Although experimenting with the word is more common with newer writers, veteran writers still experiment with their writing if for no other reason than to exercise their creativity. If you are a new writer, the balancing act is something you should consider. My inner-teacher is coming out here, newbie that I am. I figure if it didn’t occur to me at first, it might not occur to someone else. Finding your voice while balancing your authorial growth is a matter of experimentation at times, but to the unselfish author, the audience’s need for an authentic written work is an important consideration.
For those of you who have been writing in the public sphere for awhile, what are your thoughts? Do you experiment with your writing? For those of you writing independently, how do you balance your creativity with audience expectations? For those of you who write professionally, do you do more creative writing as well?
