The Best Gift You Can Give a Reader

by Brad West

For years, I had a dream job. As an editor at Outside magazine in the 1990s, I sent great writers to exotic places. When they returned, I played midwife to their stories. Sometimes I had a reluctant storyteller and had to coax the story out. Sometimes the writer was too enthusiastic, and I had to help turn down the volume. Together, we had to get rid of the static.

In those days, I had great mentors. Early on, I learned an important lesson about narrative writing, and I call it the Paradox of Personal Narrative. Here it is: It’s about you … and it’s not about you.

Here’s what that means: To write for publication, a writer must do two things. At first glance, these things seem to be at cross purposes. First, you must serve yourself in a deep and authentic way. That is, to write something powerful and authentic, you have to connect with a deep part of yourself. You have to mine your soul. This is the part that gets emphasized in memoir classes. It’s called going deep. It’s hard to do this. It’s important to do this.

[caption id="attachment_7898" align="aligncenter" width="401"]ChickenOrEgg Classic paradox[/caption]

Second, you must serve your readers, too. You must serve them in a way that is just as deep and authentic. You see, unless you are journaling, you, as a writer, are in a relationship. You are communicating. Therefore, in addition to thinking about what’s true and important for you, you have to think of your readers and what they’re experiencing. You must make your writing about them.

Later, when I became a writer and traveled to exotic places for GQ, the New York Times Magazine, Men’s Journal, JFK Jr.’s George magazine, and National Geographic Adventure, I used this lesson in my own stories. After trips to places like Greenland, the Amazon, and Indonesia, I told my stories in a way that was true to what happened to me. I always remained true to the experience and how I felt about the experience. I was wise enough to know that if you don’t do that, you don’t have an interesting story.

But I never lost sight of the lesson I’d learned as an editor: I was also serving my readers. I knew that a million people, literally, were going to read my story. This meant that my story had better make sense. The readers must find things in my story they can relate to. They must get something out of their experience of reading about my experience.

Later still, when I became a freelance book editor and worked with memoirists and writers of narrative nonfiction, I made sure my clients understood the Paradox. I only wanted to work with writers who understood the Paradox. I wanted writers who understood that writing is about giving gifts to the person who’s spending their valuable time on reading your writing.

So what practical things can you do to serve your reader more? Simply be more aware. As you write and self-edit, ask yourself if the reader can follow what you’re doing with your writing. Are they getting what you’re trying to say? Do you need to slow down and make something clearer? Are you making too many assumptions about how much knowledge the reader has of a subject? Do you need to be more explicit? If so, do some explaining, some telling. Summarize. Extrapolate. Explain what the experience meant for you. Sometimes you might even want to translate and explain how your experience might be like the reader’s own experience.

Of course, every rule has exceptions. The Paradox of Narrative Writing does, too. Be aware that sometimes, many times, you want your reader to work harder! You don’t want to do everything for them. Sometimes being explicit isn’t what’s needed at all. Over-explaining can be a total turn-off to a reader. It can impede the story.

So how do you make sense of this rule? Sometimes you do it, and sometimes you don’t? Maybe this is what I’m wanting to say: Don’t let your default position be, “I don’t care about the reader.” Don’t be arrogant. Don’t think, “If the reader is smart, she will get what I’m trying to say.” Instead, set your default to serving your reader. Give gifts to your reader. It’s true; sometimes the best gift to your reader is no gift at all. Yes, you want to make your reader do some work. Say yes to subtlety. But just as often, a writer needs to do some things, craft things, to make sure the reader is getting the message.

Keep the Paradox in mind, anyway. It’s always cool to be more aware. It’s always cool to be of service to others.


Brad West (formerly Brad Wetzler) is a writer, editor, and teacher based in Boulder, Colorado. He’s at work on a travel memoir about the Holy Land, a book he describes, both warmly and sheepishly, as Eat, Pray, Love for dudes. At Lighthouse, Brad teaches Advanced Narrative Nonfiction and Memoir workshops and serves as a mentor in the Book Project.