Being an author in a family of non-readers

I've made no secret in my past blogs that I am NOT an avid reader despite writing multiple books. And the same is true for most of my family. Aside from some comics, my kids don't really read. My wife will listen to audiobooks, usually memoirs of celebrities, but she doesn't read them. My mother loves to read, just not the genres I write. Same is true for my brother. My mom loves romance novels like those written by famed author Danielle Steel. My brother prefers espionage type stories like those by Tom Clancy.

I write high fantasy and science fiction. I do things similar to Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Neither are franchises that my mother, brother, or wife care for. My kids like things along those veins but only if they're animated.

This puts me on something of an island of solitude among my family. I can write chapter after chapter, book after book, and not a single soul in my immediate family will read it. My kids and I share interests. My brother and I share interests. My wife and I do too as does my mother and I.

But none of those interests are my books.

They can inquire about how my writing is going or how sales are doing but beyond that, there is little care about what's between the covers of any of my books.

I don't take it personally. It doesn't hurt my feelings that pretty much nobody in my family has read a single book that I've produced. If its not their interest then its not their interest. Just like I'm not going to sit down and write a romance novel because I have no interest in doing so. I can't fault them for not reading my books if my books aren't their "cup of tea" but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like them to.

I know that I have their support in my writing adventures but I also know that if pressed on the subject that they wouldn't be able to answer any questions about it either. My mom knows I've written a series of books. She's seen the covers and might remember the name but beyond that she would know very little of its construction or plot without having to look it up or ask me. She might say, "it has elves or something in it," but that might be the extent of her knowledge about my works. My brother and wife might be more hip to the cultural references about it being similar to Tolkien's famous works but I doubt they'd know the overarching plot line of the series much less the plot of a single book.

But again, my stuff is in genres that aren't their particular interest. Why would they know these things about these books? The only reason any of them would care about these books is only because of my relationship with them and my relationship with the books. If any other author wrote these books then I wouldn't expect them to know specific details about them so why I should I expect them to know it simply because I wrote them?

But knowing and understanding the personalities and preferences of my family is only one aspect of things. I know that I write books that nobody in my immediate family would typically read. This leaves me with nobody to really leverage throughout my creative process to get feedback from. I have one son who I will bounce story ideas off of and we can chat about but he will never read what was put to paper. He only knows what he remembers from our conversations about what I've written or will write. That's better than nothing because he has some level of detailed knowledge about what I've created but man it'd be nice if I had an ally at home who I could do more with when comes to my writing.

I don't feel alone or stifled by this lack of shared enthusiasm for what I do with my writing. But I do wish that I could find some level of collaboration close to home. I am curious to know what it would mean for my creative process to have someone familiar with me and who I trust be able to give me constructive feedback.