The Role of the Audience

What role should the audience play in one's own writing? Why should we consider the audience?



As I was reading,  Toby Fulweiler's,  "The Role of the Audience,"  I was reminded of the character of Howard Roark in Ayn Rand's novel, The Fountain Head. He was an architect who did not bend to the whims of his clients, but instead designed buildings the way that he envisioned them to be. His opinion about this work mattered more to him than the views of his audience. Of course, as we see in the novel, he does pay a price for his opinions.



How then, do we acknowledge that the role of the audience is important when it comes to reading a piece of writing, while at the same time acknowledging that the writer should have a sense of his or her own views; and dare I say, consider them more highly that his or her potential audience?

How can a writer be original, authentic, and true to his or her vision, if at the back of the writer's mind, he or she is always considering his or her audience? Or in a perverted sense, pandering to his or her audience?



As I am writing these thoughts, I keep thinking of the old adage,  "To thine oneself, be true."