Writing techniques Flashcards
What is personification?
Describing objects as if they are people is a way of making sentences more exciting.
This is called personification. For example, Jess’s heart is racing at 100 miles per hour. A heart can’t literally race, but it helps us to feel more involved in the story. Try using personification in your own writing and speech.
What is a metaphor?
A metaphor is a word or a phrase used to describe something as if it were something else:
For example, “A wave of terror washed over him.”
The terror isn’t actually a wave, but a wave is a good way of describing the feeling.
“Jess is dynamite.”
She’s not made of dynamite, but it’s a way to explain how exciting she is.
What is a simile?
A simile describes something by comparing it to something else, using like or as:
The snake moved like a ripple on a pond.
It was as slippery as an eel.
Jess is as graceful as a gazelle.
Try using metaphors and similes to make your own poetry or other writing more descriptive and interesting.
Metaphor or simile?
I’m as bright as a button
Simile
Metaphor or simile?
Jamie is a firecracker.
Metaphor
What is repetition
Repetition is when a single word, or a groups of words, is repeated for effect.
The soup was stirred and stirred until it was cooked.
Suggests a lot of effort.
What is pathetic fallacy?
How is it often used?
Pathetic fallacy is giving human feelings to something non-human.
Pathetic fallacy is often used to describe the environment. The weather and season can be described with human emotions to reflect the mood of a character or create a tone.
‘The raindrops wept around him.’
‘A friendly sun shone down brightly on the party guests as they arrived in the garden.’
‘The weather is miserable outside.’
What is the difference between pathetic fallacy and personification?
Pathetic fallacy is always about giving emotions to something something non-human.
Personification is giving any human attribute to an object. For example, ‘The wind whispered through the trees.’ or ‘The flowers danced in the breeze.’
What is foreshadowing?
What effect does it have for readers?
Foreshadowing is a literary device that writers utilize as a means to indicate or hint to readers something that is to follow or appear later in a story.
It can create suspense and dramatic tension for readers.
It can set up emotional expectations of character behaviors and/or plot outcomes.
This can heighten a reader’s enjoyment of a literary work, enhance the work’s meaning, and help the reader make connections with other literature and literary themes.
Name 4 ways can foreshadowing be done?
Dialogue, such as “I have a bad feeling about this”
Symbols, such as blood, certain colors, types of birds, weapons
Weather motifs, such as storm clouds, wind, rain, clearing skies
Omens, such as prophecies or broken mirror
Character reactions, such as apprehension, curiosity, secrecy
Time and/or season, such as midnight, dawn, spring, winter
Settings, such as graveyard, battlefield, isolated path, river
Tone and style
Tone and style are about how you relate to others. Think about your audience and write in the style they expect.
Sibilance
Sibilance is the repetition of letter sounds that have a hushing or hissing quality. Think of the “s” sound that recurs in “uncertain rustling,” or the “sh” in “luscious shores.”
Withholding information
a way of structuring writing to withholding information until a later point to create suspsense, or shock or interest the reader
triplet
a set or succession of three similar things.
Triples - three points to support an argument. Safer streets means comfort, reassurance and peace of mind for you, your family and your friends.
