Audience and Thesis

Imagine an embarrassing situation in which you found yourself. Now imagine that you are writing a narrative about the incident to Pastor Dan Stoneback or your own spiritual advisor. Next imagine that you are writing to Alex Scott Berg or one of your friends. It is unlikely that the two narratives will be the same. In this case, you are adjusting your story to fit the audience.

Even telling the story to the same person at different times, we might emphasize different details depending on our reason for telling the story. For example, you might tell a niece about a soccer game your team lost in order to make her feel better after her team lost a game. Later, you might tell her about the same game. But this time, you will emphasize the excitement you felt after making a goal. In this case, you are adjusting your story to fit the thesis (or main point) you want to make.

After you decide on the incident around which you want to base your narrative paper, you might complete the following diagram. Describe your audience in the first column. Then, in the second column list two reasons you might tell the person listed in the first column the story. Then, for each thesis listed in the second column, come up with three details you can include in your paper.

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Story Summary


Audience/Reason for Telling Story
(Thesis #1)


Audience/Reason for Telling Story
(Thesis #2)


First Specific Detail
(Thesis #1)


Second Specific Detail
(Thesis #1)


Third Specific Detail
(Thesis #1)


First Specific Detail
(Thesis #2)


Second Specific Detail
(Thesis #2)


Third Specific Detail
(Thesis #12)



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Pastor Dan Stoneback and my nephew Alex
at Alex's high school graduation.