Before beginning this chapter I believed that I had a pretty good understanding of genres and that assumption was quickly shown to be somewhat untrue. As discussed in Chapter 1 genres are actually the broader concept that encompasses topics such as; purpose, audience and rhetorical appeals. I believe that with understanding genres it is extremely important to consider the audience as both purpose and rhetorical appeals can all shift as you are writing to accommodate an audience. For example, when your favorite artist is making music and writing songs they first have to think about what they want it to sound like but also most importantly they wonder will people listen. Will this song be a popular hit? Audiences’ mood when experiencing songs can greatly affect whether or not that artist becomes successful. If you understand your audience you will become a better writer and write more effective pieces. This can also shape an author’s writing style, a genre convention, as you try to conform to a certain audience. It is important to understand how flexible genres are and how easily they can overlap each other and be slightly different from one work to another. After reading this chapter my understanding of genres and all it encompasses has expanded as I have realized how complex it is and the way in which these complexities work in favor of one’s writing.
