What Readers Say Behind Our Backs (and Sometimes to Our Faces)

I recently had the privilege of moderating a discussion between a local author and an inaugural book club in Silverthorne. After the two hour dialogue, my author friend and I shared our impressions over a glass of wine. Number one take-away: most readers are not writers and therefore say things we would never say to each other. It got me thinking about how best to handle conversations around my own work.

A common mistake amongst fiction readers is conflating writer and main character. If this happens, I might first concede certain similarities as reflections of the lens through which I see the world before pointing out differences. This also provides an opportunity to explore the distinction between autobiographical fiction (fiction heavily based on real life, like Angela’s Ashes) and memoir. As publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress Brooke Warner writes, “The reason it matters that we talk about what autofiction is not—namely, a memoir with a fiction label—is because memoir as a genre has long fought for legitimacy in a world where readers and critics alike love to judge memoirists for their behavior rather than the work itself, and women who write memoir are more maligned than the men who do.” I would argue this same double-standard exists in fiction writing as well. (Ask any woman who has ever written about “bad” mothering.)

While questions like “why didn’t so-and-so just tell the main character who the killer is?” might be useful in the early plotting stages, say with an agent or critique group, the same question from a reader can feel like an attack. My fellow author fielded it with poise, explaining the secondary character’s motivation for withholding information. Of course we all strive to construct complex worlds with their own consistent logic and rules, but in the end, fiction, unlike real life, is more about achieving a suspension of disbelief as seamlessly as possible. Some readers enter this contract with a greater willingness and imaginative flexibility than others.

Bottom line, your writing will never be for every reader, and that’s ok. All we can do is stay true to the stories only we can tell and let the rest go. Easier said than done, I know. I’ve also heard some writers like to throw axes at print-outs of their negative reviews, so whatever works for you!