Teaching Persuasive Writing with Frankenstories

In the emotional mode, a speaker tries to engage an audience’s feelings, emotions, and sensory experiences—either as an end in itself, as a way to support character, or as a way to motivate action. 

A speaker can engage the audience’s emotions through narrative and poetic devices (as well as through multimodal experiences).

Narrative devices

Narrative devices can take the form of a character portrait, brief scene, anecdote, or full-blown story—it depends on what’s needed to get the audience in the right emotional state.

Stories are powerful because they combine character, emotion, and cause & effect logic.

Generally, the further an audience is from where the speaker wants them to be, the more the speaker might need to walk them to the desired emotional position via story.

• For example, when trying to motivate donors in passing, charity marketers will often use emotional character portraits of humans or animals in pain. The goal is to make the passer-by feel the victim’s suffering and use that empathy to motivate a donation.
• However, in a brochure or website where the charity already has a prospective donor’s time & attention, charities will often provide longer stories showing the transformative effect of donations on individual victims.

If a speaker wants to tell a story to persuasive effect, they can do any or all of the following:

• Establish a character & ordinary world (platform)
• Tilt the platform & show how the character adapts
• Show the character changing & restoring the platform
• Evaluate & clarify the meaning of the story

Stories can be told at detail or summary scale.

Stories can double as evidence (within the logic mode).

Poetic devices

A story can be clinical and still have an emotional impact. However, speakers often use poetic devices to amplify emotional impact, including:

• Vivid language or imagery (including word choice and metaphor)
• Language chosen for musical effects (including rhythm, rhyme, and repetition)
• Language to modulate intensity (from subtle to strong)

Multimodal devices

While Writelike & Frankenstories focus on writing, it’s important to remember that there are many other modes & mediums of expression that carry persuasive messages:

• Sound (including sound effects and music)
• Vision (including static and moving)
• Smell (including natural and synthetic)
• Gesture (from subtle body language and micro-expressions to theatrical gestures)

Note that students can describe how a speaker might use these devices as part of their responses within Writelike & Frankenstories.