Originally Posted by
Kilo11
This is something I think all writers need to keep in mind at all points. You need to know exactly why you are writing (for yourself, for some particular audience, to reach as many people as possible, etc). And using the knowledge of who your target is, you will then need to make some hard choices. For example, if I wanted this to be a young adults book, then I would almost certainly have to cut a couple things, and add a lot of other things. If I wanted this to be a more historical "historical fiction" book, then I'd need to add more details here and there. The main thing is that you need to know who you want to reach, and then think about what things that group may or may not want to see. For me, the differing opinions on Mubsamat's near-rape scene (Ch. 3, Part IV, I believe) were instructive to hear, because it made me realize such a thing might induce such an array of reactions from a generalist audience. The negative thoughts on it don't necessitate that I change anything, but they show ways in which people might be turned off of a piece, and also highlight ways I could avoid that (the main objection was not about rape, per se, but rather about our only female character being put in such a weak position, so I could meet the objection without changing the scene by just giving Mubsamat a bit more strong scenes before that one). So, all told, I think while we shouldn't ever try to please everyone (how could you even?), it is good to know why some people aren't pleased, as that might be reason for you to change things. And sometimes only small changes are needed to make someone happy, so why not.