Question

A writer must always identify his/her audience before writing. true or false

Answer 1

If you want to be a good writer, it is important to know the audience you are writing to. A letter to the local editor will be different than one to a college professor. Does a writer have to actually identify the audience in the piece, no, but it is true that they should know who is their audience.

Answer 2

FALSE

I honestly think that is a modern conception, that only applies to comercial writing. It has nothing to do with how good you are as a writer, or how good os your book, essay, poem, etc...

I'm pretty sure that James Joyce didn't think in any kind of audience when he wrote Ulysses (which is, in my opinion, th best novel of the XX century). I also dont think that authors such as Virginia Wolf, Tolstoi, Herman Hesse, etc... cared about which audience was theit books directed to, they cared about the ppl, they had a story and a message, but not in the modern marketing way as to say: "this book is for female audience between the ages of 18 to 30"

Authors that i'm sure do this are best sellers, modern best sellers, such as Neil Gaiman and John Grisham. But they make mony and i don't think they will be rememberd in 300 hundred years.

So i think it depends on what kind of writer you want to be, one who makes books for specific audiences, or one whos ideas, stories and messages are so good and universal that evryone can, and should, read them.

Answer 3

It completely depends. When your are writing history, it really doesn't matter. Just get the facts straight. When your writing a short story.. well, are you writing to three yr olds or teens, there is a really big difference.