Writing with rhetorical shape

I’m writing my next newsletter post which comes after a three-month hiatus. The process is slow because I’m still figuring out what I want the articles to be. One thing I’m testing is writing an outline with rhetorical shape. This idea is based on my previous analysis of the video explainers I was making with AI. I could tell the videos were made from segments that each had a specific rhetorical job. Those segment came together to form about five sections. And those sections determined the shape of the whole video.

With my articles I’m using the following 20 patterns for each passage. There are theoretically an infinite number of possible patterns, but these are the ones I’m using.

20 Passages in Five Categories:

• Framing: Title, Overview, Header, Ending
• Declarative: Statement, Quote, Definition, Source
• Reflection: Question, Equation, Exercise, Call-to-Action
• Sequence: Comparison, List, Process, Timeline
• Evidence: Number, Trendline, Table, Chart

These can be mixed an matched and dropped into the five-section template.

Article Template:

1. Introduce Tension: Introduce some instability or conflict
2. Cost or Benefit: Explore the cost of not acting, or the benefit of acting
3. Action or System: Describe the action, process, behavior, or systemic change
4. Proof or Change: Show proof or some form of result the reader can expect
5. Reflect or Execute: Ask the reader to reflect or encourage them to act.

And this is the rhetorical shape of the whole article, making it a catalyst for change. The problem pulls in the reader, the solution is offered, and the proof seals the deal.

Going Deeper

I’m still figuring out what the different rhetorical passages mean. For example, does a Table mean a literal table?

🚸 SCHOOL WRITING	✅ REAL WRITING
Purpose: To display knowledge to teacher.	Purpose: To join a conversation.
Success: Correctness and compliance.	Success: Changing the reader.
Result: A grade in a book.	Result: A book in the world.

Does Table mean something more list-like?

🚸 SCHOOL WRITING vs. ✅ REAL WRITING

• Our Purpose is:
  🚸 To display knowledge to teacher.
  ✅ To join a conversation.
• Success is:
  🚸 Correctness and compliance.
  ✅ Changing the reader.
• The Result is:
  🚸 A grade in a book.
  ✅ A book in the world.

Or does it mean a passage that follows the logic of a table? There are various ways one could move through the table, and that would shape the prose. Here are some examples I had Gemini write.

Point-by-Point Comparison:

While school writing exists primarily to display knowledge to a teacher, real writing seeks to join an ongoing conversation. In the former, success is measured by correctness and compliance—resulting in nothing more than a grade. In the latter, however, success is defined by how much you change the reader, eventually resulting in a book that exists out in the world.

From Thesis to Synthesis:

Most of us were trained in the vacuum of the classroom, where the goal was simply to prove we had done the reading to an audience of one. We chased the grade and the checkmark of compliance. But to move into the real world, we must shed that skin. Real writing isn’t about proving what you know; it’s about entering a room, changing a mind, and leaving behind a permanent artifact in the world’s library.

Start with the Destination:

If you want your writing to result in a book in the world rather than a grade in a ledger, you have to change your definition of success. You are no longer performing for a teacher’s compliance; you are engineering a change in your reader. You aren’t displaying knowledge; you are contributing to a conversation.