Journal 4-JLS

I think genre is an important factor to consider when creating a text. For instance, you wouldn͛t use words such as superfluous or braggadocios in a book meant for children under 5, just as you probably wouldn't describe a dog as ͚a cute puppers͛ in a college English essay. There are so many factors that go in to not just categorizing a genre, but trying to fit into it. Vocabulary, in my opinion, is one of the most important. When considering who you want to read your texts, you have to write for them. This leads me to my next point, that rhetoric is an important factor in genre. You can attempt to persuade many different types of groups of people, but to do so you must consider the setting. Would you start a rant about the difference between a repressive state apparatus and an ideological state apparatus to a group of 9 year olds? I know I wouldn't expect them to understand all of those words, let alone the political, economic, and cultural concepts they represent. I would instead stick to a more simple story of morals and the consequences of acting unethically. Design plays a factor in genre as well. Books written for children tend to have larger font, pictures or drawings, and bright color schemes; while adult books tend to have no pictures and only black text on white (or off-white) pages. Circulation is important to keep in mind when composing as well, because you want to make the first impression of your text be one that lasts. You also want to find the line between fitting in so it's obvious of your genre, while standing apart from other texts in your field. Take a Bible for example. We know that this is a text that will be circulated no matter what, but they type of Bible a person uses might vary depending on socioeconomic status or religious upbringing. An Amish text might be more simple while catholic texts are embossed with gold and bound with brightly colored leather. (I would like to say this example is simply for arguments sake and of my own opinions, not a factual representation of how Bibles are printed/distributed). Circulation is what you keep in mind most when considering your audience for your genre, as you want to make sure to appeal to them via the content of your text, but again, with the first impression of the view binding/cover of the text itself. So I wouldn't depict a giant cartoon cat on the cover of a romance novel nor a muscled half-naked man kissing an impossibly voluptuous woman on the front of a children's story-book. First impressions are important.