The Key to Writing? Make Fiction Your Reality

When you picture an audience, several images come to mind; are you at a concert, a play, a speech? Are you listening to a song, reading a book, or watching a movie? Because the definition of audience can vary so widely, it is important to discern what exactly constitutes as an audience, and how this affects what information or media is delivered to that audience.

Ong differentiates between the types of rhetoric and how they have evolved over time. The original definition of rhetoric applied only to spoken word, and grew over time to also include written word, although many rhetoricians opposed this inclusion. Both of these versions of rhetoric include an audience. As Ong states, "For the speaker, the audience is in front of him. For the writer, the audience is simply further away, in time or space or both." (Ong 10). Ong then goes on to explain why the audience for a writer experiences many complications that a speaker will not have with his or her audience. When you are writing, there is no audience there for you to deliver your words, so you are meant to fictionalize this audience in your head, allowing you to imagine who you are trying to reach in your audience. The meaning of words that are spoken are meant to be apparent to the audience as they are being spoken, while written words usually require a higher form of understanding and context to truly grasp the concept the writer is trying to get across. This allows us to draw a comparison between Barthes's argument about authors and their work. Barthes would likely argue that rhetors who use written word are authors, while those who use spoken word are Authors. Authors have more of a set meaning for their words, while authors also need the reader of their work to understand it in their own terms.

When writers begin their writing, they have some sort of an audience in mind, but not specific persons within that audience. They may, for example, be writing a romantic novel aimed at teens and young adults, but they are not imagining the exact teenage girls who will read their books and catering to each specific one, as audience is a broad subject. The audience must be based upon certain factors that will make them want to buy the author's book, so they must consider their audience's age bracket, socioeconomic background, race, etc. But, Ong states that writers are not writing for their audience, they are writing for their readers. This makes it easier to draw a comparison between an audience listening to a speech, as each listener, comparable to a reader, will form their own opinion based on what they are hearing or reading. An audience will determine and influence the way an author or writer creates their work, based on their own ideas that were being put into its creation as they fictionalized their audience.

The content of a piece can be the same, but if it is presented in a different manner, then a different audience will be drawn to it. For example, the case study of the original Mary Poppins theatrical trailer and the remixed version that made it appear to be a horror movie were both created with a certain audience in mind. The original trailer, created by Disney Studios, was made to appeal to children and families, so they chose parts of the movie that reflected this. The portions of the movie included in the trailer include whimsical songs, word choices that make you curious about the movie, and features the main parts of the movie centered around Mary Poppins and the Banks children. Disney knew their audience, and kept that in mind as they were creating this trailer, imagining the children who would go see this movie in theaters. The remixed trailer, however, was created by an account on YouTube that was trying to get views on their video by making it seem as different as possible. When creating their trailer, this person was trying to mimic other trailers for horror movies, so they were not so much directing it a certain audience, but were attempting to copy previous styles of the same genre. The audience fictionalized in their minds was more likely the directors and creators of horror movie makers of the past, rather than those who will actually view the trailer. The music choice in this trailer is the main difference, as well the word choice that greatly alters the effect the trailer has on its viewers, even if some of the same shots were taken from the original trailer advertising a children's film.

This follows Ong's key point of his argument, that you must establish intimacy with your audience. By realizing what or who you are trying to create for, you are more able to do so successfully. If an author projects on their audience, they are more likely to resonate with what it is the author was attempting to say. Both audiences are supposed to have prior knowledge of Mary Poppins, as the book series the film is based on is referenced in the trailer. Without the prior knowledge of the original Mary Poppins trailer, then the stark contrast of the remixed trailer is lost.

An audience is arguably one of the most important parts of rhetoric, in both the spoken and the written aspects. While the author or speakers words are important, it is the impact they will make on their audience that is more important. To fully embrace this impact, the rhetor must know their audience and speak or write to them accordingly.