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Kevin Zhang
Roberta Wolfson
Writing 2
6 June 2016
Written Conventions are Doorways to Options
In the daily routines that people follow each day, the methods that are used to present
information vary across a broad spectrum of genres. These methods are becoming increasingly
familiar to the people who occasionally read any given genre. A person reading a newspaper
everyday expects to see a headline, whereas a person reading a magazine expects to see a lot of
captions on the cover page. The differences that separate the two genres are categorized as the
conventions. In this paper, I will be analyzing the conventions of blogs and synopses. When
someone reads a blog, he or she may infer that it is a text written to illustrate the authors
personal thoughts. On the contrary, a synopsis expresses no opinion from the author, which is the
underlying distinction between the two genres. The two pieces of writing that will be used to
compare the written conventions of each genre are the blog Deadpool Review by Cassidy
Robinson from Salad Fork Reviews and the synopsis of Deadpool (2016) from the Internet
Media Database. By contrasting the personal and informative-based writing strategies of blogs
with the narrative and straight-forward writing strategies of synopses, we can see that blogs
strive to express the writers thoughts in a serious but also witty demeanor, while synopses are
written to provide the major key points with no opinions, demonstrating that genre conventions
are developed to conform to different expectations of each genre because the audience of a blog
wants to know what the author thinks of a topic in order to relate to the writer, whereas the
audience of a synopsis is reading it specifically for condensed information of a topic.

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A written convention of synopses is the usage of descriptive details to advance the
audiences expectation of seeking for the main key points of a topic. In the case of the synopsis
of the Deadpool film, a reader does not effectively receive information if the reader does not
have a clear understanding of the context of the plot. Descriptive details put emphasis on context
so an audience knows for certain that the particular information is a main point. For instance,
when describing a transition in time and plot, the writer says, Flashback to one year earlier
Wade Wilson was a mercenary-for-hire living in New York City (Synopsis). The writer says that
the flashback is specifically a year prior; thus, the audience takes this into consideration when
reading the following sentence stating who Wilson was before the transformation into Deadpool.
The emphasis on time and character development is evident in this particular excerpt. Reading
the excerpt provides enough contexts for the audience to know that the flashback is a main point.
Conversely, a blog may use descriptive details but not in the same way a synopsis would use it.
Blogs do not focus on purely delivering information on a topic; therefore, blogs may often use
descriptive detail to reinforce an opinion. For example, when Robinson is discussing the cast,
she says, I guess I like the supporting cast. T.J. Miller does some nice, snarky dialogue sparing
with Reynolds (Robinson). Robinsons opinion is her uncertain liking of supporting cast. The
reinforcement of this opinion is strengthened by the descriptive detail that illustrates Robinsons
particular delight in the dialogue between T.J. Miller and Reynolds. In essence, descriptive
details provide support for the narrative nature of synopses because the audience expects to find
information at ease, while descriptive details are a pivotal role in reinforcing the writers opinion
in a blog post so the audience can connect to the writer in either agreement or disagreement.
Although both genres share conventions, a blog uses rhetorical questions as a form of
depicting a personal point of view, which is a distinctive convention of the genre. This

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convention not only allows the writer to be more emotionally expressive from his or her point of
view, but also helps introduce the ideas that he or she wants to illustrate. Being emotionally
expressive is important to the audience because it can be a gauge of how genuine the writer is
with an opinion. Additionally, rhetorical questions can also act as a hook to capture the
audiences attention. For example, the blog Deadpool Review by Cassidy Robinson illustrates
usage of rhetorical questions to captivate the reader with her potential opinions. She introduces
her blog with, How should I frame my Deadpool review? Do I continue to talk about the
legacy of superhero movies and its oversaturation in pop culture? (Robinson). These two
questions are not necessarily intended to be answered by the writer; instead it elicits a response
from the audience by piquing their interest. It makes the audience wonder what the writers
opinion is on Deadpool. Furthermore, it gives the audience an idea of what Robinson may want
to talk about, such as the legacy of superhero movies. In creating an atmosphere where ideas are
written out like thoughts, Robins emotions are clearly presented to the readers as not only
uncertainty but also wittiness. The uncertainty falls upon her lack of direction in framing her
review of the Deadpool film and the wittiness is found as a brief remark of how pop culture is
full of superhero movies. These statements add to the credibility of Robinsons point of view as
genuine opinions. Overall, the expectation from the audience for a blog is that the writer should
represent his or her thought by alluding to possible topics. Rhetorical questions accomplish this
in a fashion that is reflective of connecting the audience to the writers opinions.
A distinctive convention of a synopsis utilizes structure successfully to provide clarity for
the reader because the audience wants to easily identify the main points and clarity is the
underpinnings of providing quick identification. Each paragraph in a synopsis is used to describe
a point or scene chronologically such as within the synopsis of Deadpool. For example, the first

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paragraph of the Deadpool synopsis is about the films first scene, The opening scene shows
Wade Wilson, the superhero (Ryan Reynolds) in a cab, bored in the backseat. (Synopsis), while
the last paragraph describes the very last scene, After the end credits, Deadpool appears in his
bathrobe telling the audience to leave for the movie is over (Synopsis). To provide information
concisely to an audience, it is crucial to present the events in the order of the original progression
of events. Synopses utilize chronological ordering to clearly showcase each key point of an
event. Condensed information can lose a lot of context, but maintaining the original progression
of events allows the audience to receive good information as oppose to bad information, which
has no context.
Blogs, on the other hand, do not need to follow events in chronological order because the
writer tends to deliver ideas in the order that best represents his or her thoughts; thus, blogs use
extreme word choices to strengthen the effect of the writers opinion and thoughts on the
audience. Extreme words, in this case, are words or phrases that carry strong emotional tones.
Since everyone has an opinion, extreme words give more of an impactful validation to the
genuineness of opinions in a blog because the reader wants to know what the writer is truly
expressing in order to relate to it in one way or another. For example, Cassidy Robinson in
Deadpool Reviews chooses to use words such as hate instead of dislike and shocking
instead of surprising. The words hate and shocking carry more emotional undertone; thus,
extreme words invoke interest in what makes the writer so angry or excited as well as incite the
readers own emotions. Uncovering the subtleties of both blogs and synopses, it is revealed that
synopses are easy to comprehend. However, blogs are much more complex because a single
word can add meaning that is both emotional and direct. Extreme word choices aid in fulfilling
the audiences expectation for bloggers to formulate an opinion that is relatable in some way.

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Impersonal and personal writing styles are at the essence of what makes blogs and
synopses distinct. Impersonal writing tends to be in the third person, while personal writing is in
the first person. Synopses are written in the third person because it is a narration of an event.
Third person writing is accomplished through paraphrasing quotes, actions, or scenes as a whole.
This written convention aims at telling the audience the conversations that occur between people
in an event, but direct quotes from people or characters appear as paraphrases. An example of the
writer using paraphrasing in Deadpools synopsis is shown when describing two characters
conversation, Wade undergoes torture techniques until Ajax tells him that they are making him
into a super slave to be auctioned off somewhere. Wade makes fun of Ajax after learning his real
name is Francis (Synopsis). Someone reading the quote will understand that a conversation took
place and the main ideas of the conversation are summarized through the paraphrase. Impersonal
writing style is particularly useful for synopses due to the simplicity of relaying conversations
and verbal exchanges. The reader of synopsis would expect a quick outline of verbal exchanges
because one can just read a script or another source if he or she wants verbatim of verbal
exchanges; thus, impersonal writing style fulfills the readers expectation.
In contrast to impersonal writing, the personal writing style of blogs is encompassed by
the idea of conversational tones. This is when the writer incorporates sentences that start with I
and but, as well as other verbs that indicate the writer is addressing offhandedly to the reader.
These make up a reasonable portion of a blogs sentence structures. Deadpool Reviews blog
demonstrates the usage of conversational tone when the writer addresses people who enjoy
Deadpool, *sigh* I wont begrudge anyone who wants to like Deadpool its dumb-fun and
weirdly harmless for what it wants to be (Robinson). Robinson uses I as an indicator that she
is using a personal writing style. Also the word begrudge is used to address the reader,

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specifically those who wants to like Deadpool. Conversational tone is the crux of what makes a
blog serious but also expressing element of humor and wittiness. Readers want to connect to a
blogger and the blogger wants to connect to an intended audience. In this case, Robinson wants
to connect to those who have already watched Deadpool and being humorous and witty eases the
audience into liking her. When an audience likes the author, they are more likely to stick around
to hear the writers thoughts; thus, conversational tone bridges the audience with writer. The
seriousness in the quote from the text is that the writer does not quite literally express disdain for
people who have a different opinion than her own and the wittiness lies in her gesture of teasing
towards those who believe in wanting to like Deadpool. An audience has an expectation and
each written genre has its own audience in which it is defined by the distinctive written
conventions in each genre. Both first and third person point of views elevate each genre to their
respective levels of personality; thus, audiences of a synopsis receive lots of information with
less text to read and audiences of blogs can feel connected to the writer.
Audiences have expectations and they seek for certain information in a synopsis and a
blog. Written conventions are important in defining a genre because they conform to the
audiences desire for content. Someone who becomes interested in possibly watching the
Deadpool may consider reading a synopsis because the reader receives information in
chronological order, concisely, and contextually. However, another person who feels a certain
way about the film or has an idea relating to the film may seek out a blog to read because the
combination of conversational tone, extreme word choices, and rhetorical questions allows one
to immerse him or herself in another persons opinion. Genres provide people with options on
how information is presented to them and each genre serves their own purpose. For blogs, the
audience can connect to the writer through the methods the writer uses to present his or her

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opinions. On the other hand, synopses grant easy access to a full story or event with methods that
provide simplicity for the reader. The next time you plan to watch a film, consider your options
because a synopsis of the movie can tell you all you need to know about the movie, but a blog
can go beyond the surface of delivering the plot.

Works Cited
Robinson, Cassidy. Deadpool Review. Salad Fork Reviews.

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Blogger, 21 February 2016. Web. 6 April 2016.
Synopsis for Deadpool (2016). Internet Media Database. IMDb.com, Inc. 3 April 2016.
Web. 6 April 2016.