Klok Tips: Writing for different audiences, all at once.

Note that there will be minor/major spoilers for Route A in Cryopod. Only read this if you've completed the route already.

One of the biggest things I set out to do when I first started writing Cryopod was something that I am proud to say I have accomplished. I still have much to learn, but this is something I believe I have an effective grasp on... and it all started years ago when I first started watching LOST.

LOST was a show for smart people. It featured conspiracies, time travel, philosophy about what it meant to 'be alive', and many other things I won't get into for fear of spoiling it.

Also, it was terribly written.

You see, the thing about LOST is that its creators, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, lost touch of what made the show special part of the way through. They became too full of themselves and thought that they could do no wrong, and became desperate to pull out plot twists, no matter how contrived. I love a good plot twist, and so do many of my readers, if not all of them. However, a show based on plot twists loses its special status if you get used to them happening and soon realize there's no point predicting anything.

This post today is about writing for different 'levels' of audiences, and how to do it well. That is, how to do it in a way that will put the writers of LOST to shame. Let's look at how this works, practically speaking.

First, you have to understand the different levels your readers could be reading/watching at.

Level 0: This reader is a dullard. He/she is not particularly smart, and this might even be their first experience with a book. They are either easily amazed, or never care. These are the people who watch anime just to look at cutely rendered girls, and pay barely any attention to the plot. These are the readers who just want to see sexy succubus-on-angel action and they like reading about things going boom.

Level 1: These people have definitely read a book or two, or maybe watched a few series of the genre they are currently interested in. They may have some small capability to remember character names, and you might even be able to inspire a spark of mental aptitude in them with a particularly dramatic plot twist. (Hint: They were MINDBLOWN by 'Luke, I am your father.")

Level 2: These people are fairly smart. They've read several books. They remember most major character names, can clearly follow plot threads, and will probably have some fun trying to predict where the story is going. These are the people who will ask questions about worldbuilding, usually, and will use their perception of character motivations to guess at where the plot will go. Their predictions are correct sometimes, wrong on others. These readers will get a special thrill out of finding out their predictions were correct. (Hint: This Cryopod reader probably felt pretty special when the 360's arrived...)

Level 3: This reader is a genre buff. They have read so many time travel and etc stories that they can predict major plot points or figure out how the world works by noticing even the smallest hints dropped. As a Cryopod reader, he or she will be the one to realize there's something odd about focusing on those two little shadow-walkers in Route A, or that maybe Satan is WAY too cocky about his chances at winning against Jason.

However, this is not the final level for a readerbase.

Level 4: This level can sprout from level 2 or 3, and is tailored to specific authors and writers. This person may or may not be genre-savvy, but they are author-savvy. This is the person who has read so much Asimov that they can figure out what's going to happen in an Asimov novel before it actually happens. This is someone who pays so much attention to little details in Cryopod that they can spot the Red Herrings and Chekhov's Guns and tell them apart. Nothing surprises this reader, but above all others, they get the most thrill from "being right" about their predictions. These people are also the most mindblown if their predictions are not correct, but only if the manner in which they are proven wrong makes sense and isn't... bullshitty.

Okay, so there are effectively five levels of readers. How does this play out in a practical situation, though? Let's take a look at Route A and focus on the reveal of Refuge as the final arbiter of Earth's demise.

It's worth pointing out firstly that this was predicted by many people in the comment sections, but since those were just predictions, plenty of people had their minds blown that weren't paying attention. Refuge's destruction of Earth was one of those things that I put a lot of effort slowly cluing people into, yet also keeping a secret.

Level 0 readers: These people paid no attention. When Earth's destruction happened, they didn't see it coming at all, and were either mindblown or didn't care. I didn't really write this plot thread for them, but if they enjoyed it, nice.

Level 1 readers: These people probably noticed the massive space station, Refuge, in Part 229, and maybe even said "Oh lol it's a Death Star, that's funny" and thought it was a reference to Star Wars, but due to the time it took between parts and etc, they slowly forgot about Refuge's existence over time, even when I explicitly mentioned its flight away from Volgarius in Part 301. They got their minds blown for reals when it reappeared in Part 369.

Level 2 Readers: These people did not forget about Volgarius for a long time, and may have even noticed the Part 301 allusion to it, but they missed the much more subtle references I made to it in other parts, like in 305(Yes, this was deliberate), 339, and 357. These people were less likely to be stunned by its appearance in 369 and subsequent destruction of Earth, but they may have been surprised at how it destroyed the planet. (Dropping the Moon on it.)

Level 3 readers: These people were not surprised by its appearance, definitely noticed Refuge being mentioned throughout all these parts, and might have noticed the subtler references in the aforementioned parts. However, it still likely made them feel smart for predicting this plot point in their heads over a hundred parts early.

Level 4 readers: These people had similar experiences and feelings to those in the third level, but due to their Klok-savviness, they may have even been able to notice the most subtle reveal of all, back during this innocuous post I made eight months before. Do you see it yet? If they did, these people may have had a chance to realize that the moon would be dropped on Earth, though I honestly believe nobody was Klok-savvy enough to predict such a thing.

I'm not going to pretend I'm a genius or anything, but I do believe that when it comes to writing for multiple reader levels, I am doing a good job. If you compare my plot reveals with those given by shows like LOST, you will see a huge schism emerge.

-LOST has flashbacks of dead characters appear every so often to guide other characters where they need to go. Neat, right? Except this is undermined in the show's final episode that "Everyone is actually dead and the island is purgatory", ruining literally every piece of emotional impact every scene in the series had afterward. I can't even rewatch the show anymore, because this is the canon ending and it sucks.

-LOST reveals the hatch, and the bright light that blasts out of it implies there's something AMAZING inside, before making you wait several months for the next season. When you finally get to see what's inside, it's... some guy? Pushing buttons to stop the world from ending? Okay.. so what was with the stupidly bright light? This reveal insulted the viewers and killed their cool predictions. It was a cliffhanger, for cliffhanger's sake.

However, there was ONE plot thread where the show truly shined.

-Charlie keeps having these weird flashbacks, where Desmond saves his life. "No matter what you do, you're going to die" says Desmond. "I can't save you forever."

-In the biggest tear jerking moment of any TV show ever, Charlie decides he can't keep running from his imminent death forever, and sacrifices his life to save the lives of those he loves. Because LOST had so many terrible cliffhangers before it, this straight and honest plot thread was one of the biggest twists of the entire show, and since we 'LOST' a character we loved deeply, it made the emotional impact so much more profound.

So you're an aspiring writer, and you want to apply this to yourself, right? Well, how do you do it?

1. Decide a major plot point in advance. Think of how it will emotionally impact your audience.

2. How will the narrative shape the big reveal? Is this supposed to be a horrifying ending, a happy reveal, tragic, or even just something that ultimately confirms the audience's (And other major character's) worst fears?

3. I say you should write in a major Chekhov's Gun very early on, something someone in the level two bracket is sure to notice. Anyone more advanced than them will notice it as well, and it will light their imaginations on fire.

4. You can now safely bury it for a while. I was lucky in that I had around 140 parts of other things going on to hide the Refuge reveal, but it would have worked just as well with less parts.

5. Even though it's buried, feel free to allude to it subtly. Subtle is the key word here. If it's too blatant, it cheapens the reveal for everyone.

6. Unleash it all at once. Don't hold back. If you try a less subtle mention just before said big reveal, it loses its impact. As an example, we didn't get a throwaway line of "Darth Vader lost a son, once." before the big "I am your father" reveal. Well, the Father reveal wasn't alluded to at all and was kinda an asspull in some ways, but you get the point.

Hopefully, this will give the aspiring writer who reads my blog some ideas. Feel free to ask questions below if you want to pull this off in your writing, and I'll see if I can help!