The Value of Writer-Reader Conversations

Good or bad, reader comments are gold. Not only do they push the writer to hone her skills and produce a better story; they tell her whether or not elements of her work have touched readers' lives in a noteworthy way.

I had an email conversation this week with a friend who just finished reading R.J.'s Story. Since he has known me personally for many years and knew that R.J.'s character was based on my own father, he asked several questions concerning the facts behind many of my references to R.J.'s history, beyond those detailed on the R.J.'s Real Story page of Heaven's Wait website. Did my dad really have his own plane? Did he really build tiny windmills in his backyard garden? I found it interesting that on similar occasions, other readers who had no connection to my family's history also asked those questions.

My friend took the time to write two pages of thoughts and questions. His first point told of the trouble he had connecting with the new otherworldly characters I introduced, a fact that hampered his progress through the first half of the book. He said it would have been helpful if I had included pictures of the individual Vowellans so he could see them as they appeared to me in my head. I must admit that I threw a whole community of alien characters at readers in a very short amount of time. But I also withheld such pictures from this initial eBook because I understood that many readers prefer to conjure up their own pictures of such characters. One of my other readers found an instant connection with not only one of the Vowellan children but also the wistas, the most mystical creatures of the land of Heaven's Wait. She did, however, jump at the chance to see my library of illustrations when I offered to show them to her.

My friend really seemed to relate to several of the subtle messages that were woven into the story—those pertaining to purpose, materialism and the passing of loved ones. Because they were significant to him, he was prompted to express his views on those concepts. In contrast, those messages slipped by other readers who picked up on details of characters, action and scenes and used them as the focus of their commentary.

All of my reader-writer conversations have told me that I raised my readers' curiosities beyond the written page, some in a good way and some in a not-so-good way. If I can at least get the readers thinking and talking about the subject matter, then I think I'm headed down the right path with my written expression.

P.S. So far, the people who have commented on R.J.'s Story are looking forward to reading the next book. You are welcome to weigh in with your thoughts. Write to me at barbara@heavenswait.com or comment at the bottom of this blog post. Thanks for your interest.