Who Do You Write For?

Earlier today, I received a new comment from a lady in regards to the post Surprisingly Poetic, it read:

Why do you write in this peculiar, pretentious and pompous faux-Shakespearean prose? Eg ‘Thusly’ and ‘mine eye’? ‘It was a pleasure, nay an honour’? It is as if, verily, you are trying to convince people of how learned and erudite you are. The poem is terrible! Are you all serious?Awkward, clunking and derivative, it apes a style but can’t pull it off – it’s doggerel. All of the above reads like a Steve Coogan sketch – along the lines of “aha landlord, a flagon of your finest ale methinks”. If you are going to write, keep it spare and let your images paint the picture, don’t try and do it with this cringeworthy flowery language. I can’t get my toes to uncurl now, dammit.

It was an interesting comment, my response being, for those of you who haven’t already skipped back:

Hey Nadine, Appreciate you taking the time to read, criticism is always welcome, when positive. I do enjoy a good Steve Coogan sketch I must admit, but I am not trying to convince anyone of ‘how learned and erudite’ I am. I’m aware my writing is of a good standard but I don’t really prioritise or should I say compromise my writing to affect how I come across, as long as people like it, which quite a few seem too.

I enjoy throwing in some under used words that the English language is sadly lacking in these days, with its text and chav speak. Word play and old words have always been a source of enjoyment for many people. Of course you will no doubt have noticed that the post was written in the style of one of those old time tale tellers, hence all those types of words anyway. Adopting a certain style, enhances vocabulary and technique.

The poem, agreed, was not a technically skilled one, it was however, something of value, at some point between two people. That is what made it beautiful, technique can only carry a piece of writing so far, the point being that the words and their meaning become far more powerful to people when read in that spirit. Critical eye can become somewhat redundant in romantic cases.

As I said at the top of this email, I appreciate your reading, your comments, if nothing else, did make me think for a moment about how our blogs are read by people and what demographic our works should be aimed at, which is almost a post in itself. Anyways, hope you have managed to uncurl your toes by now, apologies for putting you into such discomfort.

So today I ask you, who do you write for?  I had not considered this before hand, I just wrote for the love of writing, I assumed that if anyone was to actually analyse our blogs or just a post, that it would be in a considered way, giving more understanding to the type of person and how their mind works and that would ultimately allow us writers to better ourselves.

Just like when you play a computer game, you don’t just play to win, you learn what the computer wants you to do to win and then tailor your approach to that. Okay rubbish analogy but the point stands, you read to comprehend how the blogger thinks, that way you perceive the nuances in their words and ultimately get more of a comprehension for the author out of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I am always happy to accept constructive criticism, if I wasn’t then I may as well give up writing now.  We can’t learn if we are not told how we are going wrong.  I appreciate, as well, that readers do not have a lot of time to spend reading blogs and getting down to our souls.  What I don’t think is fair though, to any of us writers, is sloppy criticism or misunderstood attacks on what we spend time lovingly preparing.

Have any of you come across commenters or other bloggers, who clearly misunderstand what you are trying to achieve, or what it is that drives us?  Or am I being to unfair myself on a commenter who, may have been trying to help me out and to be probably more than fair, I am writing this out as a direct response without sleeping on it first?