How these enhance your story.

What are they?

Ethos establishes credibility. Why we should care what they have to say. For example, say your protagonist is a detective on a particularly difficult case. The Chief wants him to drop it and leave it unsolved or wants him to accept the obvious answer, say that it was a suicide, but your protagonist knows it was murder. Why should the Chief or the audience get on board with the detective pursuing the case further? What experiences does he have that would make anyone believe him or back him?

Or say instead, your detective is on the witness stand in that murder case. Why moral characteristics make him a credible witness even if his reputation or judgment is called into question?

Finaly scenario to consider for our dear detective is a missing person’s case. Say he locates the missing person—a five-year-old girl. What about him makes him trustworthy for her to accept his help, to take his hand, and trust that he is there to save her?

Pathos is an emotional appeal that plays on our own deeply felt beliefs. What can your character do to elicit sympathy or empathy from the reader? What is your shared pain? Draw your readers into the story through eliciting concern for or shared pain with the character in a way that makes them identify with the circumstances of your character and advocate their eventual triumph/rescue. This hooks your reader and keeps them invested in your story’s outcome.

But how can you demonstrate this? Let’s go back to our detective. Maybe he lost a child and is still grieving the loss, so when the missing persons’ case comes across his desk, he has personal stakes in finding the little girl. Or maybe he had an unsolved murder case from his early days on the force that still haunts him, and he can’t let this one go until it’s solved.

An appeal to pain that is deeply felt—loss, grief, depravation, dehumanization, etc.—or belief—patriotism, honor, duty, etc.—can elicit pathos.

Logos is the facts behind the emotions. This draws your audience into the story through logic. These can be different facts in our detective’s case that are setting up the final reveal. The whodunnit. Make sure that the facts you present are legitimate and do not lead the readers astray. There may be red haring’s that led your detective off track temporarily, but like anything else in a story, these must serve a purpose as well in furthering the plot and/or moral character or character arc of your protagonist. Otherwise, your reader will feel duped or cheated.

The Greeks used all three together in rhetoric to persuade, but authors can use them in fiction to address a social ill or advocate for a better way to live—to point our failings or give us a glimpse of a better tomorrow. Story is how we see ourselves today, and where we see ourselves tomorrow.

¹Sources:

1. My notes are taken in part from: StudioBinder ” Ethos, Pathos, Logos–The Art of Persuasion Explained.” See full video on YouTube. ↩︎