S32E1 - The Mechanics of Reading

Part of becoming a successful author is knowing your target audience. You need to know what they like, the kinds of stories that will interest them, and the types of characters they will align with. Even more important is to know the psychology behind reading. It's more than simply enjoying a book and reading for fun. There are things that people subconsciously seek while they read. Throughout all of May, we will be exploring the psychology of the reader.

We begin by looking at the mechanics of reading. How people read changes depending on where they are in their journey of learning. Children and those learning a new language start by looking at individual letters. Eventually we begin to recognize groupings, until we grow into being able to recognize a word at a simple glance. Some even stop seeing words, but are picturing instead what the words are suggesting. This contributes to there being words invisible to the reader, but which are helpful in writing. Listen to this episode as we talk about the mechanics of reading and how it can help you as a writer.

First aired May 2, 2022.