The Reader Expectation Trap

A discussion about stepping out of the algorithm and just... writing.

There’s so much pressure about writing these days. More than I remember there being when I started. We have metrics and conversations about tropes and how we have to meet reader expectations before people even write a word. The number of people I’ve spoken to who tie themselves up in knots of “should” before they even start writing is massive.

You can see it in writing posts that start with, “am I allowed to…” and writing advice that tells authors that they “must…”

Photo by Simran Sood on Unsplash

To be clear here, I’m not arguing that you cannot or should not consider your audience and that there aren’t very real genre expectations that you need to be careful of, but defining your book before you’ve written it is a mistake. Sometimes we start writing a book we think is one genre only to discover partway through that it’s actually another. That’s part of the process.

We live in a world dominated by algorithms designed to (ostensibly) serve people exactly what they want in a curated, personal, and specific way. I say “ostensibly” because that’s not entirely accurate, but you don’t need to hear me rant for ages about algorithms and social media and the way they are eating people’s brains for corporate profit. However, that serving of what people want or crave means that we often end up with kind of this concentrated syrup version of what readers enjoy when we look at what’s going on, on social media. While that’s a good thing, there’s some nuance there.

The thing about concentrated syrups is that they are, by nature, meant to be diluted. I’ll explain what I mean, don’t worry. I know I’m metaphor-heavy, and that’s just how I vibe. I’m autistic. Comes with my brand of it.

As authors, we are told we need to stay on the ball with trends and what’s going on in the industry, and this is legitimate truth. We do need to do those things. However, when we are doing it, that isn’t intended to limit us to writing exclusively whatever is the hottest thing in the zeitgeist right now. There are individuals who find profit that way and hammer out books hard and fast that chase the current trends, and they are able to make careers out of it. I know people, personally, who have done that.

However, not everyone needs to go about it that way.

I bring that up because a lot of my audience is neurodivergent, and a lot of us fall into the “black and white” thinking trap of seeking the One True Way (tm) that often ends up in pain and tears because with many things there is no singular “one true way.” It doesn’t exist.

With that mindset, we work ourselves into knots trying to chase the “correct” answer, and boom. Existential crisis, no book, anxiety, sorrow, meltdowns. /jazz hands Neurodivergent people aren’t the only people who experience this, but as with so many things, we are the canary in the coal mine, so if we’re suffering that pressure, other people are too.

When we look at trends on social media, we come back to the concentrated syrup. We see the most specific, intense, undiluted version of “what people are enjoying right now” that doesn’t include the whole picture. The tropes people are enjoying are legitimate. The genres that are hot right now are valid, but much like anything in the world, books can be guilty of too much of a “good thing.”

We have now reached the “old man yells at clouds” portion of the article.

This good thing is actually good and very real, but trying to distill your entire book down into just those tropes is going to make something wonderful into something awful. There’s a reason we only use a small amount of vanilla extract in a recipe and don’t drink the stuff straight. There’s a reason why when we ask our barista to put vanilla into our coffee, they add a couple squirts and don’t just fill it with vanilla syrup.

You do not need to chase every trend, include every trope, and limit yourself only to that one, tiny, hyper-concentrated view of the situation. Adding a shot of vanilla is great. Sometimes we mix flavor syrups. Maybe it’s vanilla and caramel. Maybe it’s vanilla and mint. Maybe it’s…

You get my point. but you add too many flavors, and the cup is awful. I remember using the soda fountain to make godawful concoctions as a kid just to see how Dr. Pepper, Coke, Crush, Sprite, and Iced Tea all tasted together. Let me tell you, the flavor was not good. It sure had a flavor. And it’s one that will haunt my nightmares, but it’s not good.

Writing is the same way. If you try and match the expectations of every reader out there, you end up losing all the possibility for anything else and wind up with a book that is so hyper-concentrated it has lost everything about it that makes people enjoy it. In order to enjoy the vanilla, we need other flavors. In order to give readers what they want, we cannot just mainline them the syrup. Some people might be developing a taste for the syrup, but most of us just don’t want that.

There’s also something to be said for the fact that too much of the concentrate destroys anything else. No matter how well you mix the ingredients and how balanced everything is, if you just deluge it in concentrate, you can taste nothing else. What I mean by this is your voice, your author self, your story, can end up lost under the crush of you trying to please the reader because you know they like vanilla, so… they must want a whole bottle of extract in the cake.

This is not the case.

Instead of trying to forever chase reader expectations and meet them, instead focus on learning how to make something fantastic. Learn to use reader expectations as a facet of your story rather than the entire piece. They can have layers, dimensions, and richness, and people will want them not in spite of that but because of it.

Now go make your cake. Or your book. Or wherever this metaphor was going. It’s 88 degrees, humid, and I don’t have AC, so the metaphor is a little melted right now, much like my brain. You get what I mean. Stop chasing approval and write your book. Add things you know folks want, but don’t crush yourself doing it. And have an ice cream or something. Yikes.

I’ve also written two books on craft: How to Write the Damn Book and How to Publish the Damn Book. You can find them both wherever books are sold. It’s most of the craft advice I have distilled down into those two volumes. I say most because I’m working on adding to that series, and I’ve got others forthcoming.

If AUTHORiTEA is useful to you, please consider sharing it with others. I try and share industry insider advice with humor, honesty, and humanity. Not to mention an eye on current trends and technology. I’ve been in the business for almost 20 years (started in 2008) and want to use my knowledge to help others’ in their careers.