My Worst Writing Fear: Losing the Interest of my Readers -- N. P. Griffiths

 

My Worst Writing Fear:

Losing the Interest of my Readers

by

N. P. Griffiths

     What is my worst writing fear? Is it the thought of no one reading my work or of suddenly losing the will to write another word? No, not really. Is it the fear that someone will beat me to the punch when it comes to publishing a story with a certain theme? Nope. Let’s be honest the fantasy genre has been around for a while now, so everything has been pretty much done before in one form or another.

   I guess my worst fear, when I think about it, is losing the interest of the reader. Keeping the readers interest is central to everything. I know it sounds obvious but everything pivots around fixing their eyes to the page. A reader who has gone from ‘This is great’ to ‘meh’ is not one who is likely to continue with your book or read anything that may follow on after.

   The problem for a writer is that, whatever genre they’re writing in, it is likely to be crowded with books that are trying to capture a piece of an increasingly competitive market. This is exacerbated in the young adult market because of the short attention span of younger readers and the fact that this marketplace has become so popular since the Harry Potter series

   Keeping the readers attention is a problem common to anyone who has wanted to tell a story and one that, while not foremost in our minds, never goes away.

   So what to do?

   Well, the solution, I guess, is to stay interesting. Sounds easy doesn’t it? But the pitfalls in trying to ensure that the reader sticks with you can often be bigger than the issue that you’re trying to avoid. A good example would be rushing the narrative to a perilous situation without doing the necessary groundwork beforehand to ensure that the reader is both engrossed in the story and invested in the characters.

   One of the things you can do to try to ensure that the narrative stays taut is to be honest with yourself when you redraft and ensure that the people you ask to read your work in progress are the kind who will give you feedback which, though difficult to hear, is both honest and constructive. This will be painful but will benefit you in the long run. Another thing to do is give yourself a decent gap between your drafts. The perspective this brings is invaluable when it comes to tightening your narrative.

   Ultimately it’s down to the writer to be honest with himself or herself as to whether their manuscript is where it should be before they decide to give it to the outside world. If they’re right then hopefully readers will agree with them and vote with their eyes.

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 Author Bio:

   N.P. Griffiths lives in Chaffered Hundred, Essex, where he writes steadily and works for a large company specializing in information technology. He is currently writing the next book in the Isabella’s Heiress series. He can be reached on Twitter via @neilpgriffiths.

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Blurb:

Isabellla's Heiress

Newly dead and struggling to cope with her new reality, Emma Elliott is thrust into a dark and desperate vision of London. In her fight to survive she meets friends, both old and new, and uncovers a world inhabited by two warring clans of angels, one bent on the ultimate destruction of mankind, the other committed to our salvation. A way out presents itself but with the forces arrayed against her Emma starts to wonder why, of all the people who have found themselves in this position; she is being singled out for such special attention. As time passes more questions arise for Emma. Who is Isabella, the woman she is constantly mistaken for? Who are the mysterious Cado Angelus who cast a shadow over Emma's every move? And what part does Emma have to play in the events that will soon unfold in her world and ours.

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