"Readership" = Author

To be honest, most of the texts that we have encountered thus far have been hard to fully digest.  After reading Walter Ong's "The Writer's Audience Is Always a Fiction", some important questions came to my mind that I previously had never thought of.  What makes a novel popular?  Does the author's reputation overshadow their work?  Can a writer compose a piece without having an audience in mind?  Why do readers connect more to certain texts?  These are the questions that came to mind after reading Ong.  Going forward, I will try my best to tackle these difficult questions while analyzing quotes from Ong's text. 

Walter Ong writes, "More properly, a writer address readers-only, he does not quite "address" them either:  he writes to or for them." (Ong 10-11).  He says this in regard to his comparison of public speakers to writers/authors.  This is true because a writer is not directly addressing a crowd in front of him.  Rather, he is speaking imaginatively to a perceived group of readers that will read the written text in different settings.  While a writer can compose a letter intended for one specific reader, the recipient is not in direct contact with the writer.  I may be stating the obvious but this it is crucial that we understand that there is a distinct difference between addressing an audience in public and writing privately to readers.  Ong's text was written in a time where rhetoric's definition and place of use were transforming to the page.  So what does this mean?  It means composers of a text, whether public or private, will be influenced on what they write depending on who is receiving the message.  For example, there is a higher chance of someone writing a radically, strongly opinionated message on paper rather than a person giving a speech in the same manner.  A speaker feeds off audience reactions.  This is why a lot of successful speeches have a charismatic tone.    

Another insightful quote from Walter Ong is, "A reader has to play the role in which the author has cast him, which seldom coincides with his role in the rest of actual life." (Ong 12).  Coincidentally, Ong uses an example to reinforce this quote by using Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, which is one of my favorite book series.  Ong talks about the writer having to "fictionalize" an audience (Ong 12).  This means that the author has to create a reader audience that steps out of their normal lives to fill this needed role.  Tolkien does a great job of this "fictionalization" especially since his work is based on folklore and fantasy.  When reading Lord of the Rings, the reader knows that this is not reality and therefore allows himself to move into the created role of the perceived reader.  If done successfully, the reader walks away with a fulfilling experience regardless of the absence of practicality or a learning experience.  The use of "fictionalization"is the heartbeat of many of the questions I will be asking in this post.

What makes a novel popular?  There are many possible answers to this broad question.  Relating to Ong's text, I believe that the success of a piece can be directly related to the author's ability to create or "fictionalize" his audience.  By saying this, I do not mean the reader has to be able to relate in some way to what he or she is reading.  Just look at fantasy novels or the sci-fi genre.  The Hunger Games is not popular because we can relate to killing other people for survival.  It is popular because the author puts the recipient in an expected role that ultimately engages them in the content of the story.  Obviously, not everyone enjoys reading The Hunger Games.  A writer cannot satisfy everyone.  It just is not going to happen because people have various interests, beliefs, and backgrounds.  Going off of this point, the author has to pick and choose what he or she wants their audience to be.

Does the author's reputation overshadow their work?  This is an important question to think about because it can affect the author's readership.  Personally, I am not going to read a writer's work if I do not agree with their actions or attitudes or motivations for writing.  A writer should hold themselves to specific standards that are upstanding in the general public's eye.  If I respect an individual, then I am more likely to listen to/carefully read what they have to say.  Some people might value an author solely on their writing style/craft and that is fine.  In some cases, an author's reputation can very well influence who reads their material.

One of my most challenging questions is, "Can a writer compose a piece without having an audience in mind?".  My answer is no.  The writer should allow his perceived audience to influence his writing only to a certain extent.  If he writes solely to please his audience then his goal is to appease the readers rather than say what he really wants to.  And this is a problem.  The value of writing is being able to have a special freedom of expression.  By doing this, the writer has to be willing to form a niche or opinion that will automatically exclude certain people.  Appeasing everyone is an impossibility.  After realizing this truth, the author can more effectively create or "fictionalize" his readership.

The last question I will tackle is, "Why do readers connect more to certain texts?".  While a big part of the connection can be related back to "fictionalization", it also includes the reader's personal interests and likes.  Female novelists oftentimes appeal to a female readership because the novelists' role correlates to a female.  Or more specifically romance novels are written towards females because they enjoy reading about it even if they cannot relate specifically to that experience.  That's the beauty of reading.  An individual has the option to decide what pieces interest them most.  An author plays a huge role in deciding who will connect with their writings.

After trying my best to answer these difficult questions, my takeaway from my post is the fact that an audience or readership is just as important if not more important than the writer/author.  Both play their specific roles that complement each other.  Without a writer, there is no reader.  Walter Ong does an excellent job of analyzing how readers have to be created by the writer to be successful in their composing process.

Works Cited:

Ong, Walter J. "The Writer's Audience Is Always a Fiction." PMLA 90 (1975): 9-21. JSTOR.
            http://www.jstor.org/stable/461344.