Part I: Chapter 5 The Audience Summary

Although the writer should strive to keep the reader's interest, the real audience is the writer. The writer composes to please self first, and if readers are pleased as well, then all is good. The difference is between the craft of writing and the attitude the writer takes while writing. The craft of writing involves the removal of clutter and the development of style, with mastery of the fundamentals (spelling, grammar) a given. The attitude the writer must take while writing involves a negative: do not worry about what editors or readers might like. They do not know and will not know until they read the pleasing work.

This advice addresses an issue that developing writers will encounter with marketplaces—magazine editors, literary agents, and book publishers—where an appeal is made, or...