Should you write specifically for your audience or write what you want?

Oscar-winning composer of the score for The Lion King and a series of superhero blockbusters including Batman v Superman, Hans Zimmer, put it this way in an interview with the BBC:

“It might sound a bit strange but I compose for just one person. This lady is a single mum with a hard life. After a long, week looking after children and working hard, she has just two hours to herself to relax and unwind. She enters that cinema and sits down, so I’d better entertain her.”

I think that’s the most wonderful summary of the way it is. When faced with this reality, how can we write for ourselves? Hans is saying with this simple statement that there’s probably a million more “literary” things he’d rather write, but he doesn’t because he has a job to do. A job to save people from their drudgery.

After years of writing and encouraging other new authors to write, I don’t think I can write “what I want” any more. Everything always starts with “who is this for?”, and then “How can I meet their need?”.

I feel I must write everything specifically for the reader. Without that I feel my words are empty.