by Beau Peters
At times, there are clear age-related delineations in writing. Young Adult Fiction, for instance, literally has the intended audience right in the genre title. No matter what audience you start with, sooner or later, you’re likely to aspire to superseding these boundaries and rising to a level of composition that appeals to all generations.
If you’ve found yourself struggling with writing to a multi-generational audience, here are a few suggestions for different ways to make your writing more appealing to different ages at the same time.
Tell the Story from Different Character’s Perspectives
One of the simplest ways to appeal to different generations within your writing style is by creating multiple characters who approach your story from different perspectives. Now, that’s not to say that you should develop characters purely with the mind of appealing to a larger audience. This can quickly lead to common character-development pitfalls such as creating 2-dimensional characters without any purpose in your larger story.
Instead, as you write, look for natural characters who emerge from the subtext of your story. When these come from different age groups, it can present a natural opportunity to present a piece of the story from their unique perspective. Robert Jordan has done this remarkably well with his “The Wheel of Time” novels by sharing the story through multiple characters who were deeply involved, yet varied in age and gender.
Having multi-generational characters in your story is an excellent way to provide connecting points for various readers to experience the narrative vicariously through a persona that they can relate to.
Appeal to Universal Truths and Experiences
Different ages typically have varying things that they prioritize and focus on. Nevertheless, there are many truths that, while presented in different formats, contexts, and experiences, can still be appealed to in a universal manner. For example, a few of these more comprehensive aspects that can make your writing more multi-generational include:
● Fleshing out characters with depth and relatability regardless of the specifics.
● Staying family-friendly in your writing style unless the situation clearly calls for an adult- or child-focused angle.
● Avoiding open and shameless pandering or favoritism — such as espousing a current political platform — when it clouds or confuses the story being told.
● Generally writing to help the reader genuinely suspend their disbelief.
Develop Your Emotional and Cultural Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is a powerful writing tool. The ability to be aware of, control, and express your emotions — not to mention empathize with others — as you write can imbue your manuscripts with realism and relatability, regardless of age.
Now, it’s important to understand that emotional intelligence doesn’t appear with the flip of a switch. It takes time to develop. However, if you have the patience to do so, you’ll be able to gain a better sense of awareness both for yourself and those around you.
Additionally, cultural intelligence equips you with the ability to relate to and communicate with a culturally diverse audience. This is critical if you’re hoping to appeal to a larger, multi-generational crowd.
If you can tap into and develop empathetic and cultural intelligence as you write, it can quickly turn a plot-driven narrative into a deeply emotional, relatable experience that transcends age and generation.
Hob Nob with Different Generations
One of the best ways to relate to various age levels better is to spend time with them. Simply taking the time to talk to different age demographics — especially within your existing readership, if you already have a following — is an amazing way to gain a broader perspective.
As you dig into the treasure trove of different thoughts and opinions, you’ll likely begin to find commonalities between different age groups that can be woven into your writing. Things like cultural, geographic, or faith-based similarities will stand out and can become more intimately important to your story.
A quick aside: as you gather these gold nuggets of information, make sure to be ready to collect them into an organizational space. List them out on paper, create an idea board online, or cobble together a mind map to help you sort through and categorize all of the facts and opinions.
Developing Your Writing For a Larger Audience
Whether you’re cultivating deep characters, appealing to universal truths, tapping into emotional and cultural intelligence, or having face-to-face discussions, there are plenty of ways to develop a multi-generational style of writing.
This approach can be applied to more than simply age. Differences in culture, demographics, gender, and life experience, in general, can be overcome as well. Interacting with your target audience and working to expand your knowledge of their thoughts and desires can help to expand your writing style and make it relatable to more readers.
At the end of the day, whether you’re trying to bridge an age gap or any other differential amongst your readers, the crucial part of the process begins when you, the author, take it upon yourself to speak to your readers in their native tongue. When you can learn to use words and phrases that communicate to different groups at the same time, you will truly be able to set your sites on an audience as large as humankind itself.
