What is the purpose, audience and tone for a short story? I have to fill out a prewriting sheet, but I don't know what these are.

Each of
these three literary devices will be different depending upon the short story in
question.

AUDIENCE. The audience is the actual person or persons who will be
reading the story. A writer may aim his story at a specific age group (adolescents or the
retired, for example) or for a more limited group (such as an English class or an Internet
blog), but he should always anticipate their needs or expectations.

PURPOSE.
The writer's purpose may be to inform, convince, learn something new, shock, draw a
conclusion or create sympathy, to name a few. It may be simply to mystify and then surprise with
an unexpected ending, which is a major element of all good short stories.

TONE. The author's tone is an emphasis of the attitude that he wishes to express for
each story. An author's tone can be "characterized as serious or ironic, sad or happyy,
private or public, angry or affectionate, bitter or nostalgic, or any other attitudes and
feelings that human beings experience." (The Bedford Introduction to , Sixth Edition, p.
2213.)