Lots of writers and authors and well-educated people like to offer advice on the best way to write a book, create a setting, define your characters, etc. I’m no different: aside from self-publishing my books I offer my own two cents here and there. One piece of advice I’ve heard over the years is to write for your audience. Have your audience in mind as you weave your story. While it may sound like solid advice, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t follow it, I am going to say I don’t completely agree with it.

You’re the first person who will ever read your book. You read it as you work on it; going back and forth and tweaking and editing the dialogue and the scenes and descriptions. When your first draft is complete you read it for typos and syntax. So, just saying: you are your first audience. You’re the first judge of your book, so it’s important for you to like it. Your opinion matters first. This is why I think you need to write for yourself first. If you don’t like your book, why would anyone else?

Keep writing, everyone.