Writing for an audience of one

[ClintMemo]

I've often heard it said that you should know your audience, so instead of writing to write a book for mass consumption, I have decided to write a book for one person - my nine-year-old daughter.

I've written anything longer than about 4000 words (published? lol).
I have a general idea for a setting, the main character (someone I hope my daughter can relate to), several minor characters and several plot points. 
I haven't written an outline, but I do have a vague notion of where I'm going with the story. 
I'm keeping a separate document of notes where I have details that I write down as they appear.
I've already written a 1st draft of chapter one and started on chapter two.  I plan on going back later and re-writing them later after I have been away from them.

wish me luck!

[SFEley]

I've often heard it said that you should know your audience, so instead of writing to write a book for mass consumption, I have decided to write a book for one person - my nine-year-old daughter.

I think that's awesome. 

Kids make great critiquers, too, as a rule.  They don't nitpick the unimportant things, but they won't hesitate to tell you what they like and don't like.  >8->

[Rachel Swirsky]

wish me luck!

Good luck!

[ClintMemo]

I've often heard it said that you should know your audience, so instead of writing to write a book for mass consumption, I have decided to write a book for one person - my nine-year-old daughter.

I think that's awesome. 

Kids make great critiquers, too, as a rule.  They don't nitpick the unimportant things, but they won't hesitate to tell you what they like and don't like.  >8->

and she doesn't limit that to what she's reading. 

"...it smells bad, like...mold and lipstick"

[Jim]

Now whenever anyone talks about writing a novel, I can't help thinking of Stewie ribbing Brian for two minutes about the novel he's been working on for three years.

"How you, uh, how you comin' on that novel you're workin' on? Huh? Got a big, uh, big stack o' papers there?"

[jrderego]

Now whenever anyone talks about writing a novel, I can't help thinking of Stewie ribbing Brian for two minutes about the novel he's been working on for three years.

"How you, uh, how you comin' on that novel you're workin' on? Huh? Got a big, uh, big stack o' papers there?"

Oh man that was funny. I remember cracking up when I saw that one on TV. And I've written a couple of novels which made it even funnier for me.

[ClintMemo]

I got completely stuck trying to write chapter two - so I had to get away from it for a bit. (Life conspired to assist me in that.)  Chapter three is writing itself in my head.  I just need to figure out how to get from chapter one. 

[jrderego]

I got completely stuck trying to write chapter two - so I had to get away from it for a bit. (Life conspired to assist me in that.)  Chapter three is writing itself in my head.  I just need to figure out how to get from chapter one. 

write chapter 3 first then write chapter 2 to bridge them. That's what I do if need be. Another way is to jot down a quick note about what happens in Chapter 3 and write Chapter 2 until you get to it. Either way works.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

Sounds like you got off to a false start with Chapter 1, then.  Ditch chapters 1 and 2, and see if you can open with Chapter "3" via masked exposition.

[ClintMemo]

I got completely stuck trying to write chapter two - so I had to get away from it for a bit. (Life conspired to assist me in that.)  Chapter three is writing itself in my head.  I just need to figure out how to get from chapter one. 

write chapter 3 first then write chapter 2 to bridge them. That's what I do if need be. Another way is to jot down a quick note about what happens in Chapter 3 and write Chapter 2 until you get to it. Either way works.

Thanks for the advice.
I'd kind of resigned myself to writing chapter 3 first, but was sort of feeling guilty about it. It almost seemed like cheating.  Thinking about that, it seems kind of silly.  Why does it matter the order I assemble the puzzle as long as the picture is clear when I'm done?
Now if I could only make life stop interfering with my plans. 

[ClintMemo]

Sounds like you got off to a false start with Chapter 1, then.  Ditch chapters 1 and 2, and see if you can open with Chapter "3" via masked exposition.

I'm not sure I could do that.  Chapter 1 is a scene with just enough exposition to make it work.  Chapter 3 is another scene that happens later, with some of the same characters (the two main ones),  that happens as a result of the events in chapter 1.  Chapter 2 was becoming scenes that were just badly disguised exposition dumps to have something between chapters 1 and 3.  I could write chapter 3 and have chapter 1 as a flashback, but it would make the scene in chapter 1 loose it's sense of tension since the reader would already know the outcome.  Hmmm... Maybe I don't need to have chapter 2 at all.


Again, thanks for the advice.

[wherethewild]

Well if J.K. Rowling started her stories for her kids, I really don´t see it as a bad idea!

[ClintMemo]

Arg!!
After doing lots of procrastinating (much of it on the message boards ), I finally get back to it and discover that due to a chair-to-keyboard interface failure (probably an ID10T error), my electronic versions of chapters one and two are corrupted.

Oh well, I guess it's good that I hadn't gotten very far then