Last week, I pontificated on  Kurt Vonnegut’s famous list of 8 rules for creative writing. You can find them and last week's Newsletter over at my blog here.

Or rather, I concentrated on the one that bothered me the most.

Rule 8.  

"Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages."

 My takeaway? Well, the TLDR — is “as possible” means as much information as I can deliver while keeping the story both exciting and engaging.

 This week, now I’ve started in reverse order, let's look at rule 7.

 "Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia."

Rule 7. takes the adage ‘you can't please all of the people all of the time'—and marries it to the idea of a person.

Mash-ups are fun, but Pride and Prejudice and Zombies won’t appeal to everyone.

So, who is the person I should write for?

On one level, every writer is in it for themselves. Two weeks ago, I quoted this... “Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, then for a few close friends, and then for money.” — Molière (attributed).

A writer must write for the joy of it, but in doing so, they draw from themselves. Sometimes called “prostitution of the pen,”—even when crafting stories set in times and places impossible to know firsthand, I am still pouring out something of myself. 

Visceral lived personal experience is powerful, but writers also reveal themselves in the stories they choose to read. I consider myself lucky, as my tastes are eclectic: I read and enjoy a wide range of genres.

When making stuff up, how others have told their stories of derring-do or loves lost and found is part of my creative process as much as, and sometimes more than, my parochial existence.

So yes, in many ways I am writing for myself; if I didn’t enjoy the story, I wouldn’t immerse myself in the telling. I run different scenarios in my head to find the path that works for me. I slay a lot of casual affections, if not quite darlings, on the way.

However, Rule 7. addresses the world outside the writer’s imagination, and since I’m inviting you, dear reader, to engage with me, it talks about you.

Much like rule 8. rule 7. is hyperbolic in some respects. Vonnegut, by juxtaposing one person versus the world, and throwing in pneumonia as a chronic or even terminal condition, underlines in bold that we can fail by trying to please everyone. 

Sure, I can write for one person in a literal sense. However, I can also apply this idea to a community or collective. A legion of fans! But still keep it personal.

To do so, I am personifying “Science Fiction” buffs or “Detective Fiction followers ” by creating a fictional persona in my head that embodies, i.e., simulates, my target audience.

When I impose walls in my writing regarding explicit sex, violence, and language, I’m writing for that imagined person.

And here is the rub. Even my idea of self is imagined, drawing from memory. My idea of who you are, even if I know you, is also imagined. I take the things I remember and create, in effect, a simulation. 'If I ask Bob to do this this way, Bob will say yes!' What’s more, I can feel surprise and distress if my Sim of Bob falls foul of reality.

This Newsletter is a long-winded way of saying I really appreciate those of you who read my work, review it, and especially those precious few who are stalwart beta-readers, spotting my 'waterlemon' spelling and typo errors. Without you, I couldn’t be as effective as I am.

In other news... writing is going well.

I’ve made good progress in King in the Dark Part Two. Things are heating up, and all the parties are on a collision course on VJ Day. So 5/6ths complete. So the second half of the novel as an e-book is... coming soon.

At the same time, I’ll bundle the Prequel, Into Darkness, and King in the Dark, part one and part two, into a single print version for those who want a physical copy.

The Chimera Chronicles is going well, too, but not for Jack; that kid can only find himself in deep water... If you’re interested in beta-reading this SF tale of monsters and vampires in the 1600s, let me know.