Through the Reader's Eyes

One of my readers put together a dreamcast video for characters from my Darkyn series and posted it on YouTube (for those of you at work, there's also a soundtrack, so watch your speakers.)

Things like this give me the rare opportunity to see my characters (and by extension, my work) through the eyes of a reader, which is always interesting and often surprising. Writers do wonder how our vision of the story translates in someone else's mind;, but mostly what we hear are opinions (which are fine but can't become part of the writing experience.) Once in a while, though, something like this video will come along to give us what is hardly ever described -- the reader's vision.

You can't buy something like this or even ask for it; your editor won't give it to you and neither will your agent. You can only hope that your stories will inspire a reader to share their vision with you. Which is why it all comes back to the work: give your readers your best, always, and with a little luck your vision will truly become a reciprocal experience.

(My thanks to crimsonfrosst for creating the lovely video, and L. for the heads-up.)