(subtitle) The vaporings of a shoddy aesthete without talent. Thomas Wolfe, You Can’t Go Home Again
General comments regarding writing fiction (scene, dialogue, narrative summary) • • Strong verbs and precise nouns • Head and heart • Plot • Characterization (complex, conflicted, colorful) • Commercial vs literary fiction • Dialogue • Scene and setting • Point of view • Literary devices • Read, read, read • Write, write, write
Version one—telling Alice was a timid young woman who looked like a mouse. She was short and skinny, with brown hair, small eyes, and a pointed face. She always peeked inside the doorway before entering a party, thus giving herself a chance to flee in case she saw no one she knew. Version two—showing Alice hovered at the door of Everett’s apartment, chin lifted, tiny feet balanced on their toes. She peered inside, shrinking at the loudness of Everett’s new stereo. She breathed quickly, her black eyes darting back and forth, as if keeping her face in motion might prevent her from toppling over. When she finally spotted the wide-grinning Everett approaching, she scurried to the punch bowl, her flat shoes making a scritching sound on the polished wood. From “Description” by Monica Wood in the “Elements of Fiction” series
General comments regarding writing fiction • Show, don’t tell (scene, dialogue, ) • Strong verbs and precise nouns • Head and heart • Plot • Characterization (complex, conflicted, colorful) • Commercial vs literary fiction • Dialogue • Scene and setting • Point of view • Literary devices • Read, read, read • Write, write, write
Narrative summary mixed into scene A spindle-legged stork stalked the shallows, hunting frogs or minnows. Some called the boy “Stork,” teasing him about his too long legs and pointed beak-nose. He wished they would call him by his name, Paulos, or “Saul” as old Eli the sage called him, using the Hebrew form of his Greek name. It was the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus; according to the Hebrew calendar, the year was 3783, the number of years since God had created the earth, 23 C.E. The night before, a thin slice of a new moon appeared: Rosh Kodesh, the start of a new month, the month of his fifteenth birthday. A shooting star had arced across the heavens before the crescent moon swallowed it—an omen, he was sure.
General comments regarding writing fiction • Show, don’t tell (scene, dialogue, narrative summary) • • Head and heart • Plot • Characterization (complex, conflicted, colorful) • Commercial vs literary fiction • Dialogue • Scene and setting • Point of view • Literary devices • Read, read, read • Write, write, write
The stooped elder into the spacious room that served as Sabbath meeting place. His willow cane the cadence for his ambling entrance. Steaming dishes filled the room with rich aromas of spiced , nutty in a vegetable stew, and green onions.
General comments regarding writing fiction • Show, don’t tell (scene, dialogue, narrative summary) • Strong verbs and precise nouns • • Plot • Characterization (complex, conflicted, colorful) • Commercial vs literary fiction • Dialogue • Scene and setting • Point of view • Literary devices • Read, read, read • Write, write, write
General comments regarding writing fiction • Show, don’t tell (scene, dialogue, narrative summary) • Strong verbs and precise nouns • Head and heart • • Characterization (complex, conflicted, colorful) • commercial vs literary fiction • Scene and setting • Point of view • Dialogue • Literary devices • Read, read, read • Write, write, write
What does a character want? What obstacles are faced? How are they overcome? How is the character changed?
General comments regarding writing fiction • Show, don’t tell (scene, dialogue, narrative summary) • Strong verbs and precise nouns • Head and heart • Plot • • commercial vs literary fiction • Dialogue • Scene and setting • Point of view • Literary devices • Read, read, read • Write, write, write
How to characterize: Through an action : First she curled her eyelashes, holding a mirror in her hand. Then, out of the blue, she picked up a lipstick, smeared it on, and kissed the mirror. Kissed it. She made little kiss marks and looked them over real close, studying them. Through a comparison, a metaphor, especially an exaggeration: On this night, Hal was Michael Jordan. Through dialogue (characterizing both speaker and the one spoken about): My father is still living, but less and less. Judge James Charles Endicott Jackson, his “appellations” as he called his full name, that tall, lean, hollow-cheeked man who made such a religion of the law, preached from the head of our dining-room table each evening of my young life. From The Best Revenge by Jane Riller Through objects: clothing, possessions, trinkets, especially when combined with a mannerism: Through posture, appearance, physical behavior:
General comments regarding writing fiction • Show, don’t tell (scene, dialogue, narrative summary) • Strong verbs and precise nouns • Head and heart • Plot • Characterization (complex, conflicted, colorful) • • Dialogue • Scene and setting • Point of view • Literary devices • Read, read, read • Write, write, write
General comments regarding writing fiction • Show, don’t tell (scene, dialogue, narrative summary) • Strong verbs and precise nouns • Head and heart • Plot • Characterization (complex, conflicted, colorful) • Commercial vs literary fiction • Dialogue • Scene and setting • Point of view • • Read, read, read • Write, write, write
Allegory - a symbolic representation i.e. The blindfolded figure with scales is an allegory of justice. Alliteration - the repetition of the initial consonant. There should be at least two repetitions in a row. i.e. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Allusion – A reference to a famous person or event in life or literature. i.e. She is as pretty as the Mona Lisa. Analogy - the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. i.e. shoe is to foot as tire is to wheel Assonance - the repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence. Climax - the turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story. The climax represents the point of greatest tension in the work. Foreshadowing - hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story Hyperbole - a figure of speech involving exaggeration. Metaphor - A comparison in which one thing is said to be another. i.e. The cat's eyes were jewels, gleaming in the darkness. Onomatopoeia - the use of words to imitate the sounds they describe. i.e. The burning wood crackled and hissed. Oxymoron - putting two contradictory words together. i.e. bittersweet, jumbo shrimp, and act naturally Personification - is giving human qualities to animals or objects. i.e. The daffodils nodded their yellow heads. Pun - A word is used which has two meanings at the same time, which results in humor. Simile - figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as, or as though.
Metaphor the comparison of two UNLIKE things. Simile, personification, anthropomorphism, hyperbole, parable, fable, animism, and analogy are metaphors. Metaphors are used to help us understand the unknown, because we use what we know in comparison with something we don't know to get a better understanding of the unknown. When Robert Burns wrote "My love is like a red, red rose" he used a simile. When Robert Herrick wrote "You are a tulip" he used a metaphor. She felt rudderless and directionless, like the dead sheep the November rains had carried down the river. Day after day it had drifted up and down, up and down, moving swiftly away with the pull of the sea's ebbing tide, pushing back again as it rose. Bloated, a perch for the gulls. Until it snagged on some drowned tree and left off its journeying. from “A WINTER MARRIAGE” By Kerry Hardie
General comments regarding writing fiction • Show, don’t tell (scene, dialogue, narrative summary) • Strong verbs and precise nouns • Head and heart • Plot • Characterization (complex, conflicted, colorful) • Commercial vs literary fiction • • Scene and setting • Point of view • Literary devices • Read, read, read • Write, write, write
What’s the difference between and ?
Writing exercise One: Write dialogue for the scene you just witnessed. Ten minutes.
General comments regarding writing fiction • Show, don’t tell (scene, dialogue, narrative summary) • Strong verbs and precise nouns • Head and heart • Plot • Characterization (complex, conflicted, colorful) • Commercial vs literary fiction • Dialogue • • Point of view • Literary devices • Read, read, read • Write, write, write
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