Videos: How to develop “reader sensitivity”

In his 1985 book “How to Write Like a Pro,” magazine writer Barry Tarshis makes the following provocative statement about what it takes to be a good writer:

The most important attribute you can have as a writer is something I call “reader sensitivity.” I define reader sensitivity as an ongoing awareness of how your readers are processing and reacting to what you’ve written. It’s being able to put yourself in your reader’s shoes . . .

In accomplished writers, reader sensitivity appears to be intuitive, in the same way that some entertainers have an innate feel for how an audience is responding to their performance. But in the event this awareness is not an intuitive part of what you, as a writer, bring to writing, you are operating under an all but fatal handicap – and you will remain handicapped until you sensitize yourself to the likely response of your readers.

He goes on to describe reader sensitivity in extremely useful detail. I’d tell you to get the book and read it to learn more – but alas, it’s out of print. I say “alas” because I happen to agree with Tarshis: however odd the coinage “reader sensitivity,” and however seldom the skill in question is taught by any name in writing classes and workshops, it matters every bit as much as he claims it does. Writers who possess and make use of reader sensitivity have a mile-long head start over writers who don’t.

So maybe you can’t get hold of Tarshis’s book (although I suggest scavenging Amazon for used copies, just in case). You can still check out these 4 linked videos on YouTube in which I explain my expanded take on reader sensitivity, then demonstrate a way to practice and nurture it.

Part I – Introduction

Part II – Fiction example

Part III- Nonfiction example

Part IV – Wrap-up

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