Blog Post #1

Within the first chapter of The Bedford Book of Genres, the author further clarifies significant topics, such as genre, audience, and purpose. One aspect of the chapter that I found particularly helpful was the checklist for Composing for an Audience. I feel that it is very important to remember the audience for who you are addressing. With technological advances, it is more common to abbreviate and use “text lingo”. If not careful, you may accidently forget your audience and use this informal jargon with someone who will not appreciate it. A crucial point in this checklist also includes using the right language to reach an audience. For example, if you are addressing different countries, you may want to use their native language, or a language used by both parties. However, I also feel that this point includes using the correct form of language to suite an audience. For example, a young group of children may not understand complicated dialogue that consists of large words and fast paced speech. Another aspect of chapter one that I found interesting was genre conventions. I had never considered that fact that in order to be clarified as the same genre, there must be agreed-upon qualities. The text uses an example involving cartoon comics. All comics have visual images, text balloons to convey that there is dialogue, and simple drawings. I feel that this is the same for genres of any piece of art or literature. The paragraph on genre conventions also emphasize the fact that anyone can tell a story, regardless of artist or writing abilities. I feel that this is an important point to make because it shows that anyone can express themselves. People who may not be talented at creating art or drawing could still create cartoons in order to display their ideas. Overall, the text also shows that there are also multiple ways to tell a story. Comics, pieces of art, or even different genres of movies and texts can all tell the same story. A third aspect of the chapter that I enjoyed was the emphasis on purpose. The text describes how everything someone writes or creates is for a purpose. Despite creating it for yourself, or for an audience, everything is created for a reason.