Perception. There can be ten people who read the same exact story and you will have ten differing opinions on whether the story is any good and what they liked and disliked about it.

A great example for me is the “The Shack.” Personally, I loved this book. It was recommended to me by a friend shortly after my daughter died. It took me a long time to finally sit down and read it.

I loved how the author was able to show God in such a way that the main character of the book could finally understand that God is good and that He really did care about him. However, some readers either felt the portrayal of God was inappropriate or even racist. I don’t see that at all. Again, it’s all in our own perception that makes us think of a book the way we do.

As writers, we have to know that the stories we write will not be for everyone no matter how much we would like them to be. When we write we need to remember to stay true to who we are and to keep the audience we are writing for in mind. It’ll be those people who will hopefully, keeping our fingers crossed, like or even love our book. And in return tell others about it.