Never press "backspace" without saving these things first.

After mulling over the idea of writing about my father and his parents for an entire essay for the past few days, I’ve decided to retract my original topic idea and design plan. The incident was too recent and the wounds from that day have yet to heal, so until they do I don’t think I can write about the emotions I felt with much validity. Instead I’m choosing a topic which is much closer to my heart, but one that might seem odd at first glance. The essay I will write is about “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” It will not be on a superficial level about how much I love the show, but instead focus on how a simple television show shaped my youth, gave me a positive (at times) female role model, taught me life lessons on a weekly basis, and brought my once wavering family closer together. I had an entire two paragraphs devoted to how this essay is going to be meaningful and deep, but the evil backspace button on my computer decided to delete everything without me saving it. The essay will be relatable to all ages, as anyone can relate to having watched a television show and grown up with the characters, practically having them as a second family. We all grew up with “the Tanners” of Full House and secretly wished we were best friends with Cory Matthews of Boy Meets World. The media does magical things like that. It makes us feel as though our lives exist in two realities; the reality of watching something from an observers point of view, and the reality, or rather fantasy, that the characters which we have grown close to have simultaneously grown close to us as well. Perhaps females more than males will be able to relate to my essay more because I will be discussing how the character of Buffy Summers acted as a strong female role model for me in my youth, but males will be able to understand as well. The background information I will give won’t be extremely detailed, as that would bore most people. Instead I will give a brief synopsis of the plot and main characters when necessary. I will also have to include a short history of my family dynamic at the time of the show’s premiere, as it did bring us all closer together, as well as our dynamic at other crucial times during the run of the show. Hopefully in the end the reader will come away with an understanding that this show has helped me through bad times, has literally been my comfort during sad times, made me stronger, taught me life lessons, made me fall in love, and even given me my first real heartbreak.

A rough edit of my design plan

The purpose of this essay, or what i'm wishing to convey to my audience is that this past Christmas was not only the worst holiday i've ever experienced, but one of the worst days of my life. I was motivated to write this piece to release all my anger about the subject because I haven't really delt with it at all since it happened. I hope that the reader can come away with an understanding of why this day was horrible for me, and understands all the emotions I was feeling. To achieve this I will have to give some background about my father, his parents, and my sister and my relationship with them. I also need to emphasize how much Christmas is my favorite holiday, is perfect in my eyes, and spending the entirety of Christmas morning last year crying was a crushing blow to my perception of Christmas always being perfect.
I feel that my audience would be anyone who can relate to being in a family which isn't quite normal, or one that is big and blended. Anyone who is a child of divorce or has a poor relationship with one of their parents can also relate to my essay. Because people who will be reading my essay will be able to hopefully relate to how i'm feeling, it will be easier on my part to convey my emotions.
I think that the people who read my essay will not be surprised as to what i'm writing about. They will most likely have the assumption that my essay will have something to do with having a bad holiday experience, but not until they read more into the essay will they realize that it has more to do with a bad experience with my family.
In my essay I will have to tell the story of last Christmas, from morning until evening, because without telling of the day in its entirety I will not get my full point across to the reader. I also will have to include flashbacks of some kind to show my audience how my father behaved towards me and my sister, because without the understanding of my father's relationship with myself, my essay won't have a clear focus and will be hard to understand.