Month: January 2026

How to Connect with Readers in Four Simple Steps

~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

It’s often said that to be a successful writer, it’s important to connect with readers. That’s true, whether you’re writing nonfiction, memoir or fiction. Connecting with readers through social media and marketing newsletters is one thing, but connecting with them through story telling requires a different mindset and skills set.

Think of this connection another way, more like a partnership or collaboration. Each party brings certain skills and experiences to the table. That collaborative experience occurs during the actual reading of the book when the reader is consuming the author’s words. The two partners create the story together: readers with their imagination, and writers with their pen.

You can’t have the story without the reader in mind. Readers are always looking for good stories to consume. They want to love the stories you write, and they can’t wait to be your partner.

Think about your own reading experience. Which authors resonated with you? Which ones drew you into their stories, made you follow along on the protagonist’s journey, to feel their pain and joy? That is the value of the writer-reader connection. That is what it looks like and feels like, and that is what we, as writers, should strive to achieve.

In this collaborative relationship, writers contribute the following:

* Creativity and imagination, a spark of an idea for the story in the first place.
* Sweat equity and perseverance to get the story done
* Their heart to provide the emotional depth
* Life experience to tap into to make the story relatable for their readers

Readers provide the following:

* Time away from their daily tasks to immerse themselves in the author’s work
* A desire to be educated or entertained or to simply escape into a different world.
* Life experience that contributes, and sometimes enhances, their understanding of the stories they’re reading.

Fantasy author K.M. Weiland describes this partnership this way:

“Our job is to guide the readers’ imagination, but it’s their job to put their imagination to work in the first place. The story that their minds project will never be exactly the one we, not to mention their fellow readers, see.”

As writers, how do you connect with readers? There are four steps to achieve this.

1. Understand readers’ expectations of your genre. Each genre has certain required elements and story structure. Without them, most stories fail to appeal to readers. For example, in contemporary rom-coms, readers expect a light-hearted tone, playful banter between the love interests and a happy ending. Without those elements, you can’t truly call it a romance and readers will be disappointed. To connect with readers, make sure you live up to their expectations and give them what they want.

2. Create relatable characters. Or more specifically, a protagonist they can believe in and relate to, one they are willing to follow on their journey. Give characters a flaw or two, make them face problems on the way to achieving their goals, and give them talents that will help them overcome those obstacles. Make readers care about your characters.

Book coach Karyn Fischer suggests giving your protagonist a quirk or unique personality feature to make them stand out, such as an odd-looking tattoo that has a personal meaning to them or an ability to do magic tricks. Those features or talents make them memorable. 

3. Create emotional tension. Stories laden with emotion can leave a lasting impression on readers. That emotion can be created with conflict, opposing goals, secrets, danger, high stakes, even romantic tension. For example, the depth of emotion in The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is what makes that novel so memorable and why many readers name it as one of their favorites.

4. Consider readers’ life experience. As part of the collaboration between writers and readers, life experience plays a big role. Writers tap into their own life experience to create their stories, but so do readers, who use their life experience to acknowledge the experiences of the characters. Writers may not know what their readers have gone through in their personal lives, but they can create stories with common themes that most people have experienced, such as grief and loss, career achievement, friendship, self-doubt, community and hopefulness. It is this shared experience that can create the best connections with readers. 

Writing might be a solo endeavor, but readers are also part of the journey. When you think of story telling as a shared experience between writer and reader, you won’t feel so alone when you write your next story.

Eight Ways to Reconnect with Your Writing

~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment
Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

As much as I loved the holidays, I’m glad they’re over because I’m ready to get back to the business of writing. I haven’t looked at my current work-in-progress or completed any meaningful projects since October, and I have felt disinterested in any form of writing.

Now that 2026 is here, I’m ready for a fresh start but at the same time, I dread tackling the massive revision I’ve been putting off the past few months. Since then, I have felt disconnected with my writer self. Between the holidays, illness and a sore foot, I’ve had little interest in writing, not even a short story or essay. My only consolation is that several other writers I know have expressed similar experiences.

What does that disconnection look like? For me, it was staring at blank pages and having a calendar with no interviews scheduled. It also was a series of avoidance tactics and excuses for not writing. Anything to get out of my commitment to write or work on my novel. Everything felt like an effort. Disconnection affected my physical body too, such as brain fog and a general emptiness inside.

The good news is that there are numerous ways to climb out of this lull in writing activity and reconnect with your writer self. All it really takes is 15 minutes a day and a little ingenuity. Below are some of the tactics I’ve used to reconnect with my writing and jump back into a creative mindset.

1. Start your day with a warm-up writing exercise or brainstorming session. On a blank sheet of paper and pen (or your computer screen if you prefer) jot down whatever topics come to mind. It could be a bullet list of story ideas, a description of something you see out your window, or a description of the last thing you ate. You could write about your pet, your best friend, your spouse or your boss. Maybe write a quickie review of the last movie you watched or the last book you read. You don’t even have to keep what you write. The point of the exercise is to simply put words down on the page, so your creative juices start flowing again.

2. Write in your journal. If you already write in a journal, congratulations. If not, a journal can serve as a useful starting point to get back into a writing routine. While the exercise above is more about taking stock of your surroundings, the journal is meant to help you explore your internal landscape–your thoughts and feelings. Again, start writing for 15 minutes and see where it takes you.

3. Take a walk in nature. One of my writer friends swears by this technique. Whenever she feels stuck when writing a scene, she walks in nature, usually with her dog. By the end of an hour or so, her mind has cleared and she’s resolved her writing problem. The next time you feel stuck in your writing or need to reconnect with your writer self, go for a walk. Then when you feel refreshed, sit down at your desk and start writing, even all you write about is what you saw on your walk.

4. Use a writing prompt. If you’re still staring at a blank page, try using a writing prompt to get the words flowing. One common prompt is “I remember…” Fill in the blank with any number of situations you remember from your life. Other possibilities include: “What if…” and “I believe…”  There are plenty of other sources for writing prompts you can find online, such as Reedsy and Writers Digest.

5. Re-read something you wrote and published previously. It will remind you of the success you’ve had in the past. Would you do anything differently? Perhaps rewrite paragraphs differently, or give it a different ending? By re-reading something you wrote, you might feel encouraged to try something new.

6. Find a writing buddy or join a group write-in. As writers, we tend to spend a lot of time alone in our own imaginations. But spending time around other like-minded souls can motivate you to write again. You can bounce ideas off each other, swap writing tips and review each other’s work. Besides, it’s comforting to know that you’re not alone, and that can be enough motivation to keep writing. Group write-ins are similar but in a group setting, like a library or classroom. Everyone is writing. There is a feeling of community when you’re all working alone, but together (if that makes any sense).

7. Skim through a book (or two) about writing. One way to reconnect with writing is to read about writing technique. Learning something new can inspire you to experiment with it in your own writing.

8. Sign up for a workshop or webinar. Much like reading about writing, taking a workshop or webinar can inspire you to try out a new technique, or to look at your own work with a fresh perspective. Or check out some videos on YouTube to get into the spirit of creative writing again.

No matter which strategy you try, remember to start slow and ease into your writing routine, one day at a time. You don’t need to spend hours either. Sometimes all it takes is 15 minutes. Before you know it, you’ll be reconnected with your writer self in no time.