"You must write to the people's expertise"
About this Quote
Sturgeon’s line is a quiet rebuke to the laziest habit in mass culture: assuming “the people” are a soft target. “You must write to the people’s expertise” flips the usual hierarchy. Instead of the author lecturing down from a pedestal, the reader is treated as someone who already knows things - not trivia, but lived knowledge: how grief feels, how power lies, how love curdles, how institutions fail, how hope returns anyway. The command isn’t populist flattery. It’s craft advice with teeth.
Coming from a mid-century science fiction writer who spent his career being underestimated by “serious” literary gatekeepers, the context matters. Sturgeon worked in genres often dismissed as juvenile, yet his best stories are built on moral nuance and emotional precision. He understood that audiences who read outside the prestige lanes aren’t less sophisticated; they’re often more practiced at decoding implication, pacing, and the ethics buried in plot. In that ecosystem, writing “down” doesn’t broaden your reach - it insults the very people who keep reading.
The subtext is also political: expertise isn’t owned by institutions. It’s distributed, messy, informal. The phrase “the people’s expertise” suggests a democratic epistemology, one that anticipates today’s fights over who gets to be called an expert. Sturgeon’s warning to writers is clear: if you want credibility, don’t simplify the world; clarify it. Respect the reader’s competence, and they’ll follow you anywhere.
Coming from a mid-century science fiction writer who spent his career being underestimated by “serious” literary gatekeepers, the context matters. Sturgeon worked in genres often dismissed as juvenile, yet his best stories are built on moral nuance and emotional precision. He understood that audiences who read outside the prestige lanes aren’t less sophisticated; they’re often more practiced at decoding implication, pacing, and the ethics buried in plot. In that ecosystem, writing “down” doesn’t broaden your reach - it insults the very people who keep reading.
The subtext is also political: expertise isn’t owned by institutions. It’s distributed, messy, informal. The phrase “the people’s expertise” suggests a democratic epistemology, one that anticipates today’s fights over who gets to be called an expert. Sturgeon’s warning to writers is clear: if you want credibility, don’t simplify the world; clarify it. Respect the reader’s competence, and they’ll follow you anywhere.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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