h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This links in with my thoughts about Charlotte Yonge etc here A87905730 as well as with the Dorothy M Richardson Entry here A87909448

I enjoyed the excerpt from Proust, but that was because he did communicate to me as his thoughts resonated with my thoughts about my childhood bedroom... However, I presume that would be quite sufficient, and a whole book about such of Proust's thoughts would soon diverge from my experience...

"If you're inviting the reader in, you're halfway home. Now, just tell the story. Make the reader feel included. Give them reasons to care."

Yes indeed that is a key thing, that a writer gives the reader reasons to care, otherwise they will stop reading

Sure. Your mileage may vary, along with your technique - different audiences need different kinds of invitations, after all...

But as long as we're remembering to take the reader along with us, we're halfway there.

I notice that the second series of '13 Reasons Why' is out on Netflix. Not sure if I'll watch it, though I might, because I'm concerned about teenagers. But I also notice that the disapproving crowd is already out in full criticism of this series about teen suicide. (I thought the first series was very good.)

The grownups need to shut up here. We need to find out if the series is speaking to its intended audience - teenagers. They don't think the same as other audiences. Are they being spoken to? Is it helping? I hope so, because we had another school shooting yesterday, and I had some interesting discussions with teachers - one retired, one working - about the problems these kids are facing today. They have different needs from other times, and we need to do what we can.

Yes, that is true, that the audience you are writing for has an effect on what you write (as you have said eloquently in previous Writing Right columns).

I can't imagine what the teenagers of today are facing indeed but good writing that they could relate to could help in at least a small way in such difficult circumstances... They certainly do have different needs from other times...