Kids Corner: Writing for an audience

So, you are a smart kid. You can probably write stories already. You may have written many stories. Do you ever think about who you are writing for though? Who is your audience? What would they want?

You might be wondering why that’s important. If you can see when someone else is writing for an audience, you can see who that story is written for. This can help you understand what the author (writer) wants to do, or say with this story. If you can write for an audience you can learn to make your stories extra fun and interesting for children, very serious and educational for a business, dark, creepy, and horrible for people who love horror stories, or outrageously funny!

• Lots of short sentences, words like “whoosh!” or “bang!” and lots of use of the exclamation mark (!) – This story is probably written for children.

• Lots of descriptions of places and people, and not much dialog (people talking). The story develops slowly, and the sentences are long and complicated – This is probably for adults.

• Lots of technical language and diagrams – This might be a textbook or instructions on how to do something.

• Lots of words like “should” or “must” and “wouldn’t you?” that are used to try and make you feel a certain way – This is written to try and change your mind.

• People and objects are often compared to silly things, people do strange things and get in lots of trouble, but no one is ever really hurt, and everything ends OK – This is a comedy, it is written to make you laugh.

So, if you want to write a horror story for children, first of all it better not be too scary right? Short sentences and easier words are good. If you need to write instructions for adults, you can use technical words and helpful diagrams to show people how to do things! Writing for an audience just makes sense, and helps people understand and enjoy your writing even more.