Chapter 4. New Chapter Title

4.1 Section Title

The horoscope that appears in your local newspaper or online news source is a prediction about what will happen to you based on your zodiac sign, which is in turn based on the position of the stars on the day you were born. Some people believe in astrology and some don’t; for many people, however, horoscopes are fun to read because they are vague and subject to multiple interpretations. This is because they tend to be written in a way that will appeal to a wide audience.

Horoscope writers are particularly good at audience analysis and psychology, as they often successfully anticipate the hopes and fears of the average person. The principle behind the horoscope is the same as that underlying this section: people want to be loved. For this activity, write a horoscope for a friend or family member based on the principles of audience analysis. Follow these steps:

• Think of a person whom you regularly have conversations with as your “target audience” or your “mark.” Consulting this and the previous section on audience analysis, list as many of the person’s characteristics as you can, as well as a number of his or her core beliefs and values.
• Find out this person’s birthday so that you can determine his or her astrological sign. Then, based on your analysis, write a five-sentence horoscope that includes the following: (a) a vague statement addressing this person’s workplace or school demands, (b) a statement addressing whether or not this person traveled or will travel, (c) a statement addressing this person’s health or age, (d) a statement addressing this person’s love life (don’t name any names!), and (e) a random lucky number.
• Once you have composed your horoscope, share it with the person you wrote it for and note how he or she responds. Take careful notice of how this person’s response to your horoscope was an indirect result of your background analysis.