How to Develop a Relationship (#4)

To Foster, a reader will in time develop a relationship with the given writer of a story, stating “a reader’s imagination is the act of one creative intelligence engaging another (the writer’s)”. The relationship doesn’t have to be on an emotional level per say, but it can be if certain conditions have been breached into the mind of the reader. This “breach” can be done depending on the reader and their background (i.e. a positive or negative experience in one’s life) and this could lead to a good or bad relationship as to how the reader views the author and their work. An example could be Foster’s segment on journeys (or adventures) where it could vary from a knight on a quest to save a princess and her kingdom or just an average kid heading to the store to buy groceries. On these journeys the main character is met with a beginning, a main objective, the trek the character takes, an obstacle, and the resolution. Every part of this segment could automatically set the starting point for this “reader-author relationship” as basically anyone will know what it’s like to be given a task whether easy or hard.

  Setting a base for this kind of emotional work is a long process all in itself as the writer has to really think hard on what little things they say, because regardless of the work in the end the author needs a clear point to get across to the readers or they will end up with a confused audience. So, when it comes down to it, all the author really needs to get into a good relationship with any reader is personal preference, which isn’t hard to come by.

Andrew Ryder

Comments

  1. Mrs. MacJuly 17, 2017 at 4:00 AM

    Good points. But I do think that we should always honor the writer/text in some way. Here is someone/something reaching out to the world to express something, work something out, bring something into existence. I feel I owe it to this writer/text to try to enter that positive relationship. I would also like to move beyond personal preference. After all, I already know what I like. I would like to learn more--what else might I love that I don't even know yet. That's the beauty of learning and of experiencing things (texts, ideas, etc.) that I don't know or may not have a personal preference for. You just never know what you're going to love until you really know it! One facet of this course is to develop an appreciation for things we may not personally like. I think this can be one mark of an enlightened and educated person.
    Mrs. Mac

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