In ” Navigating Genres”, Kerry Dirk goes into great detail about the importance of genres when it comes to writing and explaining how understanding genres and your audience is vital to getting you message across. Each genre is unique in style and in the way you read it– a romance novel has a different tone than that of an adventure piece.  Dirk discusses how genres go farther beyond  just a superficial category, but go deeper into the story and background of the work. As I read Dirk’s work I realized the passion it takes to explain literature and explain the commitment and effort it takes to reach an audience–but even when writing on a small scale audience and genre must still be taken into consideration.  As Dirk pointed out, “you would probably not share a risqué joke with your mom or send a ‘Hey Buddy’ email to your professor”, because that would simply be unacceptable–you need to know your audience in order to please them. Dirk continues to go into detail and even says, “Imagine the chaos that would ensue if news broadcasts were done in raps, if all legal briefs were written in couplets, or if your teacher handed you a syllabus and told you that it must first be decoded.”

My biggest take away from this reading was realizing that you don’t have to be amazing at every single style of writing but just understanding the difference between genres can allow you to become a better writer and audience.