PJ Seminar: A Master Class on Writing for a Reader with Rumaan Alam & Lynn Steger Strong

There is writing that is private, done to satisfy the self, and there is writing intended for an audience. As writers, we rely on one another—and other readers and editors—to help shape our work. This class will explore how working with an early reader (or two or three) can help prepare your work for its audience.

We’ll talk about the early reader as a key to the process of honing and revising, and how to push beyond questions of like/dislike and into analysis. We’ll use in-class exercises to help us establish a language for our work’s goals. This is of fundamental importance and can get lost in our profound emotional attachment to what we do and the time we spend doing it. But we’re not writing for ourselves, not professionally, anyway—a reader is who we always have most in mind.

This class will be co-taught by Rumaan and Lynn. Please support them by purchasing their books Leave the World Behind and Want from Bookshop.