A double-shot of Mrs. Rice today. Not long after posting an older quote from her earlier today regarding being a writer, I stumbled across this quote from her on her Facebook page today.

“For me the reader is all important. I’m really a popular writer; I believe in being for the people — that’s what popular means. I want an eight-year-old to be able to understand my book completely. If I use a four syllable word, I want that eight-year-old to be able to understand it in context. So I’m always aware of the reader. You know, somebody gave me a wonderful piece of advise 35 years ago, and it was: make things easy for the reader; don’t make it difficult. I’m always trying to make it easy for the reader to get what I’m trying to say. I’m always inviting the reader into my world.” — Anne Rice

It fits pretty much in line with how I approach my writing as well. I write with an audience in mind.

As I always say, writing is a performance art. Like the visual arts, writing is created to be received by an audience, whether that’s the masses or an audience of one. Rarely is it ever created for an audience of none, at least not if it’s put into a public forum or venue of some sort.