Knowing Your Audience

by Linda Patton- June 27, 2015   

             As a nontraditional student going back to school after 29 years, I was quite nervous and insecure. Being the older adult in a class with students who, in my mind, have their lives in control and their feet on the right path, was quite intimidating. That wouldn’t matter until fall, because for the summer I would take online classes. Or so I thought!

               

                I was nervously excited when I realized we were going to get a chance to get to know each other.  This has been a very pleasant assignment. I feel as if I have had a few minutes with each of my classmates to get to know them; and Ms. A too. Since we have been assigned group discussions, as well as class discussions, it seems almost as if we are a team.

               

                Besides just getting to know everyone, I realized that I had a lot of preconceived notions. I learned many things from this assignment. The questions were amazing. I don’t know how many times I said, “Oh man! These questions are difficult to answer.”

                From these questions, I learned that many of us are alike, yet very different.  For example, almost every one of us spoke of how much we love our families, though each of us are at different stages.  Some of us spoke of our connection with parents and siblings, others talked of their spouses and children. There are some who are just starting their lives on their own, some who have new spouses and children. There are also a few of us who have older children. No matter where we are in our walks of life, we all cherish our families and friends. For writing purposes, this means that we can connect with our audiences on the family level. We almost all have a common bond.

                There are some things that only a few of us have in common, yet there seems to almost always be a group of one or more perspectives. Some of us told of the importance of our faith. There were other common threads that overlapped such as an interest in politics, or whether we most enjoy the small town or country life. It was only last week that I thought about how I would like to learn to include more interests in my writings that others would connect with. Besides helping the reader to connect to my writing better, I believe it would allow me to connect better with others and learn things that I may never learn elsewhere, and boy do I love to learn.

                I found that not all college students have their lives together. I think I knew this, but fear and insecurity clouded my judgement. I was relieved to find that others had come back to get their education at different points in their journeys. I am so very proud of those who feel that they have made a wrong turn in the past, yet they have had the courage to overcome the obstacles and doubts and press in to further their education. I have already learned from many of my classmates.

                Speaking of courage, I enjoyed hearing about the careers we are all seeking. Doctors, lawyers, welders, firemen, and teachers. I will think through each of these professions as I write. It will help me to expand my thinking and put more perspectives into my stories.  

What I found most intriguing was that some of us enjoyed one aspect of life, while others didn’t enjoy it at all. I want to learn how to incorporate more than one of these aspects in my writings so that it will reach a broader audience. 

My, what imaginations we have. I can tell we all are in the same walk as far as classes are concerned, because our superpowers mostly pointed to a need for more time. Ah! The elusive time factor. Maybe soon we will achieve those superpowers and slow down time for the greater good of mankind. The Avengers will have nothing on us. Ms. A’s Class! I feel that it would be wrong to even attempt to come up with a name for a group such as that all on my own. But enough of my silliness.  Can you tell that this was one of my favorite questions?

And Ms. Anthony, I think you might actually like to have fun as much as I do. My family is never bored. A little annoyed sometimes, but never bored. It seems we all like different adventures as well. Since I would like to captivate my audience, I want to learn of these adventures. I may never be brave enough to travel to some of the places that our class spoke of, but I am anxious to read more about them. In my writings I will try to use more of the different experiences that I have had so that others might relate well to what they are reading.

From this assignment I learned that we all have something in common, and we all have unique experiences, likes, and dislikes. It has encouraged me to think outside of my personal bubble, and not to be afraid that I won’t connect with my audience. It has also left me with a desire to read more, and explore the thoughts of other writers. I can’t wait to get started.