"Tell It Slant"

Question 1

Developing Character

Answer 1

• gives details about characters to help the readers to learn more about who the character is or isn’t.
• sight, sound, and feel gives us a sense of essence
• write effectively with description

Question 2

Dialogue

Answer 2

• moves actions forward
• avoid excessive use of adverbs
• cue the reader on the degree of certainty or uncertainty
• accuracy is key
• search for voice
• avoid information dumping
• make sure to contain tone

Question 3

Image and Metaphor

Answer 3

• an IMAGE is a picture of an event while a METAPHOR is a symbol we associate with the event
• any literary element creating a sense of impression in the mind
• the use of comparison; at the basic level-an association

Question 4

Pact With the Reader: Creating Trust

Answer 4

• author must gain the reader’s attention
• author pledges to be honest and reader forms a sense of trust
• author reveals mistakes so the reader thinks they are in good hands

Question 5

Permutations of Truth

Answer 5

• fact vs. fiction: debate goes both ways
  1. Memory and Imagination
• imagination affects memory
  2. Emotional truth vs. factual truth
• there is a line, some facts can be emotional truths, some can’t
  3. The Whole Truth
• almost impossible to tell the whole truth

Question 6

Pitfalls to Avoid

Answer 6

Therapist couch: weighed down by emotion or self-pity
Revenge prose: intends to get back at someone (1 dimensional)
Perspective: defines the differences between literary works
Emotion: should only write a story when ready to give all characters attention

Question 7

Point of View

Answer 7

• the vantage point from which a story is told which is expressed pronouns.
• one of the many ways an author can use the structure of her story-telling to create meaning in the story

Question 8

Scene vs. Exposition

Answer 8

Scene: the building blocks of creative nonfiction that uses details and sensory to information to recreate experience.
Exposition: summarizes the author’s thoughts or experiences for the reader with little or no sensory detail.

Question 9

Specificity and Detail

Answer 9

• scene forces us to use specificity and detail, elements that get lost in a quick wash of exposition
• when writing a scene mimic the event, to recreate it for the reader
• William Strunk Jr.: “specific, concrete, definite”
• create fresh image, experiences not lectures, and enter the story and find meaning for oursleves

Question 10

The I and the Eye

Answer 10

*The inner I: the framed information the author displays
*The personal eye: includes all details; everything that happened
Sign of the real: you think what you’re reading is reality but it is framed by the author
-good essay will reflect the unique sensibility of the writer

Question 11

Cueing the Reader

Answer 11

-use tag lines to alert reader of possible “fiction”
-Cue more subtly by describing a different aspect of the scene rather than the whole thing
FULL DISCLOSURE: to alert the reader that what they are reading may not necessarily be true