Homework #2
Step 1 - Look in the Mirror
What are your strengths?
● Creativity – I am not lacking for ideas and I am very good at coming up with new ideas/solutions to fictional problems quickly.
● Strong, complex characters
● A good understanding of my chosen genre and tropes
● A sense of humor
What are you the best in your world at?
● Empathy – I think that my natural empathy helps me craft complex, layered characters with whom readers can identify.
Why do readers pick other authors over you?
● Don’t know – haven’t published yet.
Why do people read other similar stories rather than your story?
● Don’t know – haven’t published yet.
What do you do that exhausts you?
● I can’t really answer this as I am doing everything for the first time, which makes it all equally challenging, exciting, interesting, and exhausting.
What are your unfair advantages?
● I currently have all the time I need to devote to my writing career.
What gives you the authority to write on the subject you’re writing on?
● I’m writing fiction, so I guess the answer to this is that I know my genre. I know the rules and how and when to bend or break them as needed.
What gives you the authority to explore the themes in your writing
● When it comes to fiction, I think that simply having life experiences gives authors the “authority” to explore most themes.
Step 2 - Look at Your Readers
Who is your target reader?
● I am unpublished and don’t have a real “Timothy” yet, so it’s difficult to complete this exercise. At best, I can make some educated guesses, but I think that these will have to be refined as I start publishing and get to know my readers.
● “Casey” is a 23 year old woman. She’s a college graduate and is currently employed as an entry-level clerk/assistant in municipal government. She doesn’t love her job, but finds it tolerable and is all about the benefits. Casey has a chronic illness and/or a disability and works to live, rather than living to work. Always an avid reader, Casey began reading fantasy novels when she was in high school. She’s obsessed with big, thick books that promise tons of worldbuilding and complex stories and she particularly likes characters that step away from the traditional genre stereotypes.
What does your target reader read currently?
● She’s reading Brandon Sanderson and Terry Pratchett.
How is your target reader different from other readers?
● She enjoys immersing herself in a new world and exploring all the nooks and crannies (even those which are not touched on in the book itself). She demands a high level of internal logic and consistency, but so long as that is met, she loves books that allow her to let her imagination loose.
Why does your target reader read books?
● She reads to escape. She wants to escape her “boring” life and the difficulties imposed on her by her illness/disability. She also reads because she is shy and introverted, which tends to lead to her being lonely. The people in the books become as important to her as real people.
How can you thrill your target reader?
● By giving her a new world to explore and telling her a story that allows her to forget or ignore her current reality.
Step 3 - Listen to Your Readers
● I am an unpublished author and am, therefore, unable to do this part of the homework.
Step 4 - Look in Your Reader’s Mirror
● I really struggled with this and I don’t think I can honestly answer these questions until I start publishing and gaining readers.