Guide Questions for "The Writer's Audience is
Always a Fiction" by Walter J. Ong, S. J.

1. In the first couple of pages, Ong sets forth the problem he wishes to analyze and explains that no literary theory or research has adequately examined this question. What is the problem that Ong wishes to analyze in this article?
2. What is wrong with the "simplistic mechanistic model" of verbal communication that Ong describes on page 57?
3. What difference is there between audience, readers, and readership?
4. Examine closely the example of the student writing the essay on "How I Spent My Summer Vacation." In what ways does the explanation about how the student solves the problem of how to write this essay foretell the argument of the rest of the article?
5. What two things does it mean to say that a writer's audience is a fiction? What does it meant to "fictionalize" oneself or some other entity?
6. Is the way Hemingway fictionalizes his audience unique to him? Can you think of other examples or do you think Hemingway showed the way for this technique?
7. What would have happened if Hemingway wrote as he did, but in another time?
8. What is the difference between the way Hemingway conceived of his audience and the way, say, Sidney did so?
9. What have been some of the methods that authors have resorted to in order to fictionalize their audiences?
10. In Part V, Ong claims that ALL writers fictionalize their audiences, not just fiction writers. After considering his argument, does this seem plausible to you? Why?
11. How do historians "fictionalize" their audiences?
12. How does the (fictional) audience of earlier academic writing differ from those audiences today?
13. How do we fictionalize the audience of a letter? Have you ever received letters in which the author did not fictionalize the audience in the expected fashion?
14. Does Ong's claim that even a diarist fictionalizes his or her audience make sense for you?