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Think about TV ads. Analyze. Ask questions. |
Consider these ideas for your own compositions. |
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| WHAT
ARE THE SPACE LIMITS?
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HOW
MUCH SPACE DO YOU HAVE?
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Space limits and measurements
often determine the overall structure, layout, and design of ads.
Standard dimensions of magazines, billboards, matchbooks, or any print media determine type size and image size of ads, thus the amount of information. Some limits are fixed, rigid, and absolute, others are loose, flexible, and relative. For example, the amount of advertising space in newspapers and magazines is very flexible; more pages can always be added, without getting complaints if the newspapers get more ads. (In contrast, radio and TV time has absolute time limits: you can't add 5 more minutes to an hour. When stations do try to cram in more ads, by using 10 and 15 second spots, both viewers and other advertisers complain about "clutter.") All writers for the print media are very concerned with length. Newspaper reporters, for example, have severe space constraints because they never know how much space their editor will make available. Thus, journalistic style uses the "inverted pyramid" to load up the opening paragraphs with all the key details (who, what, when, where, why, how) and to put the lesser items in the later paragraphs, which the editor may cut off from the bottom. Brevity and information-rich openings are appropriate in such reporting. In contrast, this structure is not common in rational arguments, expository writing which accumulate facts, examples, narratives, explanations and qualifications, building from premises to conclusions. Magazine editors, for example, usually specify length limits to their writers, then "save" such space. Book publishers also pay much attention to space limits because the most cost-effective way to print a book is in multiples of 32 pages. Online viewers do not like to read long pages
crammed with text because it's so hard on the eyes.
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Length often determines your overall structure. Once you know your space limits, the length, you can start outlining and structuring. For example, if you know the size of your "typical" paragraph (and know that a paragraph is a cluster of sentences related to one idea), then you have a ballpark feeling for how many ideas you can treat. If you have to write a 750 word essay (and know that your paragraphs usually run 150-200 words), then you'll realize this means, roughly, 5 to 7 paragraphs. You could allow one paragraph for an opener. Then, using an appropriate pattern (e.g. comparison, contrast, classification), you could organize the rest as 3 sets of 2 paragraphs, or 2 sets of 3. Thus, a most important question for the writer to ask the editor, or the teacher, Is "How long?" or "How many words?" or "How many pages?" Once you know these outside length limits (and your own paragraphing habits), then you can start outlining because you know how many paragraphs (ideas, or major chunks) you can handle. You may not have worked this way in the past. But, try it now. It's a useful organizer and time-saver. However, there is a danger if you just write choppy, undeveloped 25 word "paragraphs" of 1 or 2 short sentences: you first need to learn how to develop adequate paragraphs. How precise should a word count be? Usually a close approximation or estimate is adequate and appropriate. Remember the kids in grade school who would stop mid-sentence if they were told to write a 100 word essay? Some people are absolutists or literalists, seeking certitudes, rigid rules, and fixed limits. Such people are very difficult for most rhetoric teachers accustomed to giving "suggestions," "hints," and "guidelines." Don't be a literal word counter: estimate by "chunks" of ideas.
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| | Welcome | Purpose | Audience | Limits | Structure | Attention | Confidence | Explicit | Implicit | Response| Omission | |
