Well, you know I'm not a vidder, nor do I play one on TV, but this whole discussion sounds very, very familiar. You made the connection yourself with the mention of PWP versus long and angsty epics. This is a question every writer faces, too.
Thing is, if both your PWP and your long, angsty epic are the same pairing in the same fandom, you'll get some overlap of your audience. Or if they're different pairings, different fandoms, but both deal with a similar relationship dynamic, you might get overlap. Or different pairings, different fandoms, different relationship dynamic, but same writing style. All the comments on multiple and overlapping audiences are so true, as are the comments about how audience changes, and how what works for someone in one moment in one venue might not work for them again. Or what doesn't work, might on a later reading. And really, with so many variables, it's no surprise to me that most authors end up saying "I write for myself," even if it's not the literal truth.
I write for myself, but I also find myself adding touches or twists I know a particular person will like (usually one of my betas, the only really "reliable audience" I can be said to have). Usually, if I manage to reach a particular audience, it is by accident. By which I mean, I might have meant to reach them, and I might have grabbed betas who could give me an "in" into the way to write for that audience, but I still think it's largely serendipity that I manage to pull it off. And that's just too uncertain for me, so I've gotten more and more zen in my approach to thinking about my audience. I'm still attempting to communicate, and I'm still happy to know I've managed it, but I've reached the conclusion that, for me, actively trying to steer a story for a particular audience is asking for a meltdown.
It sounds to me like this is also a problem a lot of vidders face, and I have to admire those vidders and writers both who are willing to take the kind of stress involved in tailoring to an audience. Of course, I recognize the stress is likely an individual quirk and not everyone is going to freak themselves out trying both to serve the story/vision and to reach out to a certain segment of the fandom.
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Thing is, if both your PWP and your long, angsty epic are the same pairing in the same fandom, you'll get some overlap of your audience. Or if they're different pairings, different fandoms, but both deal with a similar relationship dynamic, you might get overlap. Or different pairings, different fandoms, different relationship dynamic, but same writing style. All the comments on multiple and overlapping audiences are so true, as are the comments about how audience changes, and how what works for someone in one moment in one venue might not work for them again. Or what doesn't work, might on a later reading. And really, with so many variables, it's no surprise to me that most authors end up saying "I write for myself," even if it's not the literal truth.
I write for myself, but I also find myself adding touches or twists I know a particular person will like (usually one of my betas, the only really "reliable audience" I can be said to have). Usually, if I manage to reach a particular audience, it is by accident. By which I mean, I might have meant to reach them, and I might have grabbed betas who could give me an "in" into the way to write for that audience, but I still think it's largely serendipity that I manage to pull it off. And that's just too uncertain for me, so I've gotten more and more zen in my approach to thinking about my audience. I'm still attempting to communicate, and I'm still happy to know I've managed it, but I've reached the conclusion that, for me, actively trying to steer a story for a particular audience is asking for a meltdown.
It sounds to me like this is also a problem a lot of vidders face, and I have to admire those vidders and writers both who are willing to take the kind of stress involved in tailoring to an audience. Of course, I recognize the stress is likely an individual quirk and not everyone is going to freak themselves out trying both to serve the story/vision and to reach out to a certain segment of the fandom.