“Do people really pay you to write this? It makes NO sense at all.”
With that, my teenage daughter smiled sweetly and handed my carefully crafted article back to me. When my kids were teenagers, they were not shy about sharing their opinions.
I’m not sure exactly how I figured out that my kids were perfect to tell me how clear my writing was. But it was a great discovery. My kids were bright, and they read well. As teenagers, they knew enough about the world to understand anything that I wrote, as long as I did my job and wrote the piece well. If I didn’t, the other benefit of using teenage readers kicked in.
My kids were fearless about letting me know when I missed the mark. It’s a natural thing. Teenagers are at that stage of life when they’re sure that they’re really smart. They’re equally sure that you don’t know much.
I learned that if my kids understood an article, my other readers would get it, too. And, if it wasn’t clear to my kids, it probably wouldn’t be clear to anybody else, either.
Things went well for a few years, but then, as is nature’s way, my kids grew up. They moved on to their own lives. And they developed manners. I’m proud of that as a parent, but the result was that their criticism wasn’t as candid as before and therefore, not as helpful.
I didn’t want to have more kids, so I could have fearless readers for a few years in their teens. I decided to find more teenagers. That was easy. I called a local high school and spoke with an English teacher. She knew plenty of intelligent 15-year-olds.
Intelligent 15-year-olds are great for testing your writing. They read as well as your regular readers and they know enough about the world to understand anything you have to say. Most of them won’t care about your subject, which is a good thing. And most of them will be fearless about telling you what they think you said and whether you made sense or not.
The only problem you may have is that some of them will present with “Right Answer Syndrome.” The school system teaches young people there’s always a right answer and that the adult seeking their feedback expects them to come up with it.
Alas, you won’t be able to do much to help them. No matter what you tell them, they will continue to come up with something they think you want. As a result, all their feedback is suspect. Fortunately, there are many more teenagers who are gleefully willing to tell you exactly what they think of your writing.
Intelligent 15-year-olds are great readers if you want to test your material for clarity. Give them a piece of writing. Ask them to tell you in their own words what it says. Then stand back and listen.
Takeaways
Intelligent 15-year-olds are great readers if you want to test your material for clarity
Intelligent 15-year-olds read as well as most adults.
Intelligent 15-year-olds can understand all but the most technical material.
Intelligent 15-year-olds can be fearless when telling you what they think.
Intelligent 15-year-olds can give you great feedback, just don’t expect it to be gentle.