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#HistFicThursdays - Art as Inspiration

 Last year, the Historical Writers Forum published an anthology of stories which had been inspired by pieces of artwork. I take a particular pride in this anthology - not only because it is a fabulous collection of stories which mine is included in, but also because I helped to come up with the theme. In amongst the pages of Masterworks , you will find stories inspired by painting and sculptures, and one which was inspired by a carving. I wrote a blog on this little carving when the book came out last November (which you can find here !), but it got me thinking about other examples of artwork as an inspiration... As historical fiction writers, art is not only an inspiration, it is also a valuable tool. Through art, we can get an idea of what people looked like (very handy if you are writing about a real figure from history) and it can also be very handy for events and settings. One of my favourite continuous portrayals of an event is the example of Frost Fairs. These start from their n
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NaNoWriMo - Your Target Audience

Day 5 - Your Target Audience

 It's Day 5 of NaNoWriMo, and I'm still keeping my word count on target. Ok, so I didn't do well yesterday, but I made up for it today so I'm still on track to finish on the 30th November.
So...your target audience...

From Pexels

You want people to like your writing, don't you? Everyone likes different types of writing but, fortunately for us authors, readers tend to fall into categories. These could be age related (middle grade or young adult) or genre related (fantasy or romance).

 Because readers tend to conform to one of many groups, it makes writing for them a lot easier. If you're writing a romance novel, you should know that people who enjoy reading romance books will be expecting a happy ending, at least for our star couple. If you don't give the reader what they are wanting, this could end in dissatisfied customers or bad reviews.

 When you're writing, think about who you'd like to read your book. I don't mean family and friends. I mean people that you don't know. Think about what they might be like, and what they like to read. You can do this by creating a reader profile, to help you understand what they're expecting from your book.
Create a Reader Profile - answer the questions you think are relevant.

  1. What is their job?
  2. Why do they like to read?
  3. Where do they read?
  4. What family do they have?
  5. How old are they?
  6. What are their hobbies?
  7. What is their socioeconomic status?
  8. What was their favourite subject in school?
Beta Readers

Photo by picjumbo.com from Pexels

Make sure that you get your target audience to be beta readers for your book. Beta readers are people who read the book pre-publication to give their opinion on it. They are a vital component of any book, but especially important for self-publishers.

It's important to make sure that your beta readers are picked from your target audience because those are the opinions that matter.

For more info on Beta Readers, wait for Day 15 "Choosing Your First Reader".


Knowing your target audience will, not only help your writing, but will also really help with marketing. You'll know where to advertise your book and your book launch.

Clemency Crow
www.crowvus.com
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