I took a course in my first semester of undergrad that focused on rhetorical analysis. I didn’t know that was the subject matter for which I’d registered; it was one of many first-year seminar options with course descriptions written like TED Talk titles and it caught my eye. It’s turned out to be one of my most-used subjects in my daily life. Throughout that course I was taught about the importance of rhetoric—the art of speaking or writing effectively, and the compositional techniques and figures of speech used to do so—mainly regarding the way the writer’s narrative and word choices shape the tone of a piece.
When Writers Get Weary and Fans Feel Fatigued
