Write for Only One Person
Published by The Spirit-Led Writer

Not long ago, I talked to a woman who shared an extraordinary story. A missionary for many years to China, she had sacrificed a lot. When she learned I was a writer, she said what every writer invariably hears from wannabes, “I should write a book.”

And she probably should. But if she does, she might make the mistake that many people make. She might write her story. This can be a bad thing.
While her story might be enriching, helpful and even inspiring, if she doesn’t bring her writing into her reader’s lives, she might as well not have written her story at all.

Real writers understand that writing isn’t about the writer. No matter how exciting or unusual our personal experience, nothing matters if we can’t broaden that incident and make it universally appealing and practical.

Not far from my husband’s childhood home is the Caddo River. Sometimes the water is a trickling stream and I only have to jump from rock to rock to get across. Other times I have to wade. But when the spring rains come, I have to travel a few hundred feet to the bridge. When it comes to writing, we have to bridge our personal experience with the broader human experience. Unsure of how to do that? Here are three ways to cross the stream.

Step by Step
Sometimes you need to put in a few stepping stones to make your writing relevant. If you write specifically for mothers and you are a mother yourself, it wouldn’t take much to bring your writing to all mothers.

If you only had one child, you would put in a few lines about mothers who have two or more children. Include a story about a mother who adopted and the mother who has a child later in life. Then any mother could read your story and feel like you are speaking to her.

Perhaps you write mainly to new Christians because you didn’t receive adequate nurturing when you were a new believer and want people to have a better experience than you did. I would definitely share from your experience; otherwise the writing will seem stilted and uninteresting. But don’t stop there.

Include some examples of people who came to the Lord later in life or some lines about the kid who grew up in a Christian home but never really got it. Remember that some of your readers may not go to church regularly or don’t know how to find a good church and others might have gone to church their whole lives but still consider themselves new believers. Talk to as many new Christians as you can scare up and your examples will have a more relevant feel.

Rolling Up the Pant Legs
Sometimes the river is more than a trickling stream. Perhaps your experience is something that other people might have gone through but perhaps they experienced it in a different way. Or they know someone who went through a similar thing and they want to help that person. Stepping stones won’t work for this one. You have to wade across.

Let’s say you wrote an article on grief because your father died of an extended illness. Those who read your article are likely to have gone through something comparable. Maybe their father died. But also mother could have died. Or a sister or a friend. If you don’t put in some occasional examples and lines about people in different walks and stations of life but who are dealing the death of a loved one, then your reader will quickly put it down. Or worse, they won’t buy it after they read the promotional copy and see that you write only about yourself.

In an article like this, first share what you went through as your father passed away, then add a paragraph about someone of a different gender going through a loved one’s death. Add a few lines about someone of a different nationality.

Include a story about an older or younger friend whose mother or father died. This brings universality to the article.

Call in the Engineers
When your book is geared for women age 18-80, you need to start building the Golden Gate. When an article is geared for men of all ages, you need a serious bridge. When your book is written for teenagers, you need a lot of bridges! Now the river is raging. The gap between you and your readers is greater than ever.

The magazine I write for is read mainly by women in their late thirties on up. But we get letters from men, children, and teenagers. Every article and devotional must touch on the universal human experience. I include my personal experiences but then I must consider my readers and touch on their happenings as well.

One writer told me that she keeps pictures of typical teenagers taped to her computer. Doing this forces her to write specifically to them. All of us might think we can talk the teenager lingo until we actually talk to a teenager. Our lives are millions of miles apart from their concerns. If we don’t talk to teenagers and try to put ourselves in their flip flops for awhile, our writing won’t reach them.

The same is true when you write for women, men, senior citizens, anyone. Any person from any walk of life might read your writing and if you don’t touch on a myriad of experiences, you will alienate them.

Ask yourself the following questions.

1. Do I include the experiences of others?
2. Do I talk to people in other walks of life about how they feel, what they think, and how they respond to difficulties?
3. Do I try to include their observations in my writing?
4. Do all of my illustrations seem to be about the same type of person?
5. Do I try to universalize my experiences so that other people can identify with my feelings even if they haven’t had the exact same encounter?
6. Do I invite the reader to make some type of decision even if it is as simple as asking them to think about the point I made?
   

If you couldn’t answer yes to all these questions, then probably your writing isn’t reaching as many people as it could. When Jesus used parables, he talked about people in all walks of life, rulers, farmers, housewives, and children. He didn’t exclude anyone but made every person feel as though He were talking directly to them.

We need to do the same thing. Our writing isn’t about us or about our experiences. It should be about the reader and what he or she takes away from our writing. Reach more people by writing only for one person, your reader.