Genre

Genre is a very powerful concept in writing that can completely overhaul the rhetoric style someone uses in terms of word choice, sentence length, layout, etc. I am ashamed to admit that as an adolescent the genre I deal with mostly are Facebook posts. The audience of this genre varies widely but is mostly concentrated with teenage users. Users have the ability to put a lengthy post on Facebook (as I am guilty of) but it is usually expected that a post be short and witty. On the contrary, users sometimes expect to see political cartoons, media and the like posted by someone who shares the ideology with those pieces. Furthermore, posts from icons and celebrities are also expected. I do find difficulty in relating a Facebook post with any other genres I am familiar with. The best relation to a Facebook post I could think of is a casual conversation where people try to keep interesting by being witty but not so deep so a three hour conversation results. My favorite "genre benders" are monologues, speeches, etc. where a person gives audible meaning and emotion to the words. It makes the writing extra-dimensional since the writer knows exactly what he is trying to express to his audience and has the opportunity to in his/her own voice with varying inflection and annunciation. Speeches and monologues themselves have a better chance of bringing an audience to action, in my experience, than any other genre. Speeches are generally very strong logically and emotionally. They appeal less to ethos since you have already established it; you have to have a certain degree of credibility to be asked to speak anywhere. Speech writers choose their words very carefully and start off with a very strong introduction and end with a very profound and inspiring ending.