The Ideal Reader and workshop worries

Later into his book, Stephen King mentions something he calls the "ideal reader" which feels rather counter-intuitive to me. The no-plotting rule and the character-driven story also felt a little hard to swallow, nowhere as easily at the mostly commonsense and write honestly rule that ran through previous chapters; but even those are can be easily accepted after a little pondering and giving King some wiggle room as all writers do not write and do not compose their writing the same way. Concerning the IR, it seems to me that writers want to appeal universally, not to just a single person. I find the concept of the IR a strange one (never heard of this, at least not put in such terms) and hard to wrap my head around because in my own writing, I know I'm not writing it for or to a specific person, more for the general audience. What King might be saying is the IR is not a person who has invested a lot of time in a writer's works and so doesn't have the background story, details, and the general feeling the author meant to pen down, but sometimes, doesn't. So, things that seem obvious to the author, doesn't read the same way to the IR and to combat this, writers should make sure to have that distance from their writing, so they can read it as if it was something fresh. I think that's what King means, but my impression is also that if you don't have an IR, a specific person in mind, then you're doing something wrong and that doesn't sit well with me.

I do agree with his dislike for workshops, for while it is a very encouraging thing to have "write anything" as your assignment, the atmosphere can also muddle your writing. Sometimes, your peers are trying so hard help each and not hurt each others' feelings over criticizing someone's writing (which is admittedly, a private thing for me) that they end up not citing the weak points in pieces, which is more damaging than a better-worded "I didn't like this piece." In workshops writers sometimes act so cautiously, tip-toeing around each others' work (especially in the beginning), that we don't hear the straightforward and sometimes, harsh criticism that we need to hear. "Yes, this piece was horrible." Or, "please, check your grammar and your verb tenses!" Don't get me wrong, I loved the workshops I was in. I got some really great suggestions but at the same time, it felt like my work was being coddled and not getting the serious cut and edit workout I believe it needs. (And I may have just defined my role for editor.)