Dear Anthropologists of the Future...

              When I was a child I addressed my diaries to scientists living hundreds of years in the future. My reasoning was that one day my diary entries could be one of the few remaining artifacts of human life in the early millennium and that it would be cool if I addressed these scientists directly. I was an incredibly strange child; but after reading Ong's "The Writer's Audience is Always Fiction" I began to consider if this strange practice was something that all writers do on some level. Ong describes that when writing the author must fictionalize the audience in order to create the intended experience for the reader. He describes how written communication will often provide a more intimate and excluded experience for the reader; rather than verbal communication which tends to be more communal in nature. Ong describes the most notable example of an author fictionalizing their audience would be the works of Hemingway. In his writings he speaks to the reader directly as if they are a close friend. This writing technique allows the writer to feel included in the storyline and more interconnected with the dialogue. While writing to future anthropologists might be an extreme example of fictionalizing an audience; at its core it shares the same characteristics of many of our writings today.

             Fictionalizing audiences can happen in creative writing or even in work emails. When we write we are not writing to an audience; we are writing to a fictionalized figure and this figure plays a large influence on the writing itself. If a piece is intended to be more academic a writer might create an idea of the intended audience as being a group of well educated individuals. He might make certain assumptions and not go into too much detail in explaining certain concepts. The words might be more complex and the wording might be less creative and more bare-boned. However if one is writing to a teen audience they might be more dramatic in their writings. They might try to incorporate humor and include dramatic plot twists to keep the writer interested. These adaptions do not express what the audience is truly looking for; it merely expresses what the writer thinks their fictionalized audience is looking for. The audience of a writing is just as well crafted and thought out as the characters in a fictionalized narrative. Sometimes these assumptions are not always correct. The teen writer might see their writings as superficial and their highly dramatic plot lines to be cheap attempts to win their 'short attention span'. This illustrates that there is a divide between the reader and the author's fictionalized audience. No one person can fit perfectly into one fictionalized concept and constructed demographic.
             The issue is that the larger the audience becomes; the more difficult it becomes to reach people directly. When writing an email it is relatively simple to make sure that our  fictionalized audience is looking for the same things as the person we are addressing it to. But when we are writing to huge groups. Distributing a book that will be read by thousands. We are more likely to be misunderstood by our readers or have difficulty in truly reaching our readers. We might offend some of our readers by the severity of the content or the blatant stereotyping we have incorporated in our process of fictionalizing them as an audience. When writing one should deeply consider their fictionalized audience and more importantly; understand that this concept is entirely fictionalized and seperate from their actual readership. Being mindful of these differences can allow your writing to be better conceived and allow for the writer to see the reader as a human and not a generalized concept they have configured in their mind.  Being mindful ones fictionalized audience is a great way to transform your writing into something that is more powerful and better received. Anthropologists never read my diary. My mom did; but the fact that I addressed it to them gave my writings an added sentiment and humor. So at the same time don't be fearful if you miss the mark. If your intended audience is different from your actual readership. Sometimes these mistakes can be what actually makes your writing stand out.