Teaching offered perennial challenges in reaching audience. I still remain mystified by how unpredictable my students could be, how the same lesson plan and jokes that worked the hour before fell flat in the next hour. There was always a sweet spot between adequate preparation and over-preparedness. There had to be a plan, but there had to be enough space between each step of that plan for freshness, spontaneity. Sometimes the best classes had no preparation at all, just a few notes dashed off minutes before the top of the hour, and almost straight intuition.
As a writer, I made the most strides while working with a mentor who later became the Poet Laureate of the U.S. We met once a week for 30 minutes. He'd read my new pages, we'd talk about them, then he'd take them home for a closer look and bring them back the next week with comments. I learned how to anticipate his irritation, his delight, when the magic happened for him and when my prose jangled to his ear. I often think that audience works best when we focus on a single discerning reader who is a reliable stand-in for other discerning readers. We can't very well connect with an abstract demographic. But we can make a human connection, and if that connection is with someone with a refined sensibility, they will represent a cohort.
This, at least, is what I tell my coaching clients. My greatest asset is being that discerning reader, that stand-in for other readers, for them.
I agree that audiences differ in their responses. I have never been a regular teacher, but cam see in my book talks how very differently they go down on different days. As you say, sometimes even the same light-hearted remark gets a different response. And no, we don't know how our books are received in the quiet corners of readers' minds, although we do get a lot of reader reviews on Amazon (et al) these days which can bring some insights.
I was just recalling in my own post this week, what it was like being a teenager in the late 80s/early 90s and discovering sexuality for the first time in the context of so much fear around HIV and AIDS. I think it was drilled into us that if we didn't use a condom we were going to die. So much fear. Your experiences in this area sound fascinating Ann and I love that the retirement village residents were so open to it.
It WAS fascinating. I knew nothing about AIDS or about dying until I got involved first professionally writing up a WHO workshop on the subject and then becoming close friends with a young man with AIDS. I gave him joint authorship because he was running the conference where the interviews took place - sadly, he died before the book came out.
I do recommend the book if you like that sort of thing - it was initially published in 1992 by HarperCollins, but I took it back and self-published it to get it a better airing. It doesn't sell hugely, but it gets rave reviews.
I can add that Ian McKellen wrote the Foreword, in which he said it was 'as powerful as any great classic of fiction'. You don't get much better than that!
Teaching offered perennial challenges in reaching audience. I still remain mystified by how unpredictable my students could be, how the same lesson plan and jokes that worked the hour before fell flat in the next hour. There was always a sweet spot between adequate preparation and over-preparedness. There had to be a plan, but there had to be enough space between each step of that plan for freshness, spontaneity. Sometimes the best classes had no preparation at all, just a few notes dashed off minutes before the top of the hour, and almost straight intuition.
As a writer, I made the most strides while working with a mentor who later became the Poet Laureate of the U.S. We met once a week for 30 minutes. He'd read my new pages, we'd talk about them, then he'd take them home for a closer look and bring them back the next week with comments. I learned how to anticipate his irritation, his delight, when the magic happened for him and when my prose jangled to his ear. I often think that audience works best when we focus on a single discerning reader who is a reliable stand-in for other discerning readers. We can't very well connect with an abstract demographic. But we can make a human connection, and if that connection is with someone with a refined sensibility, they will represent a cohort.
This, at least, is what I tell my coaching clients. My greatest asset is being that discerning reader, that stand-in for other readers, for them.
I agree that audiences differ in their responses. I have never been a regular teacher, but cam see in my book talks how very differently they go down on different days. As you say, sometimes even the same light-hearted remark gets a different response. And no, we don't know how our books are received in the quiet corners of readers' minds, although we do get a lot of reader reviews on Amazon (et al) these days which can bring some insights.
I was just recalling in my own post this week, what it was like being a teenager in the late 80s/early 90s and discovering sexuality for the first time in the context of so much fear around HIV and AIDS. I think it was drilled into us that if we didn't use a condom we were going to die. So much fear. Your experiences in this area sound fascinating Ann and I love that the retirement village residents were so open to it.
It WAS fascinating. I knew nothing about AIDS or about dying until I got involved first professionally writing up a WHO workshop on the subject and then becoming close friends with a young man with AIDS. I gave him joint authorship because he was running the conference where the interviews took place - sadly, he died before the book came out.
I do recommend the book if you like that sort of thing - it was initially published in 1992 by HarperCollins, but I took it back and self-published it to get it a better airing. It doesn't sell hugely, but it gets rave reviews.
Yes, I'd love to read it. Will add it to my (rather extensive) list 😊
I can add that Ian McKellen wrote the Foreword, in which he said it was 'as powerful as any great classic of fiction'. You don't get much better than that!
That's awesome Ann 😃