Wattpad 101: Your guide to the world of Wattpad

Target Audience and Niche Writing

Who is your target audience? That question is one most of us hold in the back of our minds, but never spend more than a passing thought on. It seems so self-evident when you write a story. This story is being written for... who?

However, when you stop to think about it, you might realize something shocking. The young adult writers and the fan fiction writers may come to a horrifying realization. You're writing this story because you wanted this story to exist. The target audience... is you...

That is not always the case, but I'm betting a lot of you here are writing stories because there is a story you want to tell. You don't make a scene romantic and fuzzy because you think other people will find it romantic and fuzzy, you write that scene because it makes you feel romantic and fuzzy. You don't describe Dr. McSexyPants (yes, he's gotten a doctorate since we last met him) as a rugged man with rippling muscles because that's what others find sexy... you're probably doing it because that's what YOU find sexy.

Even if you're the same sex, at some point, you have an idea of what a sexy man/woman is supposed to look like, and you superimpose that idea over your character. That character is "your" idea of sexy. That next character is "your" idea of annoying. That last character is "your" idea of charming. In reality, your story may not reflect you as a person, but there is a good chance it reflects how you see other people.

However, this habit is something we all need to grow out of as we become better writers. The easiest way to do it is to understand your own demographic. If you're a teenage girl who likes romance novels, chances are your target audience can be teenage girls who like romance novels. That's honestly fine. Who would know how to write romance for teenage girls better than a teenage girl who enjoys romance? However, you won't always be a teenage/20-something girl/boy forever, so either your demographic is going to change, or you are going to have to.

However, this isn't really the subject of today's chapter. Today's chapter is talking about target audiences, and the subtle ways you need to change your writing to cater to them. Even if you are your target audience, at some point, you're going to change. Therein lies the trick to writing good stories. You need to know who your target audience is, and what they want from you.

Through the course of writing this blog/book, I'm often asked about how large a story should be, or how to make a story better, or more generally what is the story missing. Is my 800 word chapter too short? Do I need more descriptions? Hey, this person on wattpad did something you said not to do, and they're really popular, what gives? The ultimate answer to all of those questions is simple... it depends.

What your story should be is ultimately dependent on who you're writing your story for. If you're writing it for a very young audience, you might not need that much description. If you're writing it for adults, you might need a little more grit. A point I made before, if you write a mystery, how obvious the clues are depends a lot on the age of your audience.

And it isn't just age. You also need to think about the culture. A poor person's concept of money is radically different than a rich persons. An American will radically see the world differently than an Asian. We grew up in different cultures with different family dynamics, and while something may seem obvious to one culture, it is strange to another.

For example, in America, we worry about a child's ability to talk. We talk in baby babble. We practice speech. We're constantly trying to get our children to talk sooner and better. That's simple common sense. Many cultures in the Mideast don't think that way. To them, a baby learning to talk is an inevitability of growing up. They don't take the time to practice words with a baby who can't speak. That's pointless. Do you know what they care about? Sitting up. They obsess to make sure a baby is able to handle upright positions, something most American's consider an inevitability of growing up.