Writing Addresses, Invokes, and or Creates Audiences” by Andrea Lunsford tells of how an author uses words to connect his message to his audience. A writer always is using specific words for his rhetorical audience. He sees his words or text in a specific setting. He caters his words to this rhetorical audience. This imaginary audience in his mind caters to every question he asks himself as he writes. With each question, he thinks of the audience and what they would expect or want next. The way he writes is decided by that audience- whether it is a group of children, a women’s book club, or an audience listing to his speech. He writes seeing an audience there in front of him, changing his words to better fit his audience. But audiences have changed over time, now an author picking his words for the audience straight in front of him may have to pick words for an audience presented through the internet. Words change based on the audience the author imagines.
I learned from “Writing Addresses, Invokes, and or Creates Audiences” the way audiences change over time. It is especially important locking at the world now with COVId-19. Lectures, concerts, speeches, book readings, and most forms of spoken words are now done through internet communication. The words we would normally use for a public audience are now changed knowing our audience is sitting at home in their sweat pants instead of in an auditorium dressed formally. Lunsford writes “The digital age has brought with it the need for even close consideration of audiences.”. We as authors need to think about the way audiences are unlimited.
“The digital age has brought with it the need for even close consideration of audiences.”
We are not always used to thinking of the endless ways work is shared, but COVID-19 has brought those ways to the public eye. With the change in the world due to the virus, we see more and more audiences that authors need to be considering. With the virus, it has been common for book releases to be pushed back. Due to the struggle for authors to release books the way they planned and the concern for our nation- many are finding new ways to share their work. Authors have been working with online audiences, whether they are presenting or releasing online-only books. They have to consider an audience that is a true mystery.
Who is on the other side of your screen? It is a question that I haven’t even thought of. Who is reading this? I sit here in my sweat pants imagining who is on the other side of my laptop. I’m clearly writing this for an assignment, a grade. But that doesn’t just mean my professor and peers are reading this- anyone can. An audience I haven’t even thought of- the ones who aren’t being graded or doing the grading. Anyone can read this, an audience I struggle to see. There is a fear of what is on the other side, in a way sharing work through the internet is far more intimidating than what is normal for writing. With normal ways of sharing work, there is a comfort, your audience wants something you are offering. Whether they bought your book, a ticket to your speech, maybe it was all free but they have an interest in your words. Here and now, anyone can stumble across this- it is a scary thought. The audience in my head is not just anyone, it is a group of people like myself- those involved in my education. Are you on the other side wearing your sweatpants as you read my thoughts for entertainment, or are you dressed to the nines reading my thoughts with careful consideration? However you read my work or whether you are the audience I picture in my mind- you are the proof that audiences change.
