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Category Archives: Literary devices
Did You Really Mean What You Said?
Dialogue in writing differs from real conversations. Fictional characters rarely ramble on for pages, circumventing what they really want to say with phrases that sound good but have hard to pinpoint meanings. Most of the uh’s, um’s and pauses in … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Literary devices, Style and voice, Writer's resource, Writing trends
Tagged catch phrases, conversation, descriptions in dialog tags, dialog, dialog tags, editing out style, filler words in dialog, quality dialog, removing personality from characters, voice in writing
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Adventures in Forbidden POVs
Currently I am reading a novella by Virginia Woolf called To the Lighthouse. It intrigues me because it broaches the problem of flat female characters found in many early twentieth century novels. Woolf reveals what’s going on in their heads. … Continue reading
Distorted POVs
It amuses me when people ask which point of view is best. But, I probably chuckled more when a new writer asked if it was okay to describe what a character was thinking when writing in the third-person POV. “Can’t … Continue reading
In My Head
As a child I made up stories in my head, mostly about people’s pets. The majority of them were entirely descriptions such as fur color, number of spots, eye color and size. When I bemoaned the fact that these just … Continue reading
Ending the Never Ending Story
When a new idea for a book grabs me, I dwell on it for a few days, or maybe a week or two in my spare time as work on the kind of writing that makes money (technical training). However, … Continue reading
The Villain’s Motive
There are multiple ways of uncovering how a person can become a villain. I can look at my own life and see what others did to harm me or what I have done to them by preventing them from accomplishing … Continue reading
A Likable Villain?
Authors sometimes seek villains that their audience can identify with because they want the readers invested in the villain. This helps to propel a person to finish a book if they really don’t know what is going to happen to … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Creativity, Literary devices, Literature, Trends in books, Writing trends
Tagged sympathetic villain
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The Lead-footed Writer
In movies when an event is crucial to survival (such as disarming a bomb) the clock keeps ticking away on until the last minute as the hero tries to figure out which wire to cut. He wipes the sweat off … Continue reading
The Fable of the Hook
Readers seeking excitement prefer a story starting with the main character fleeing down a dark alley, reeling from an initial enemy strike, or near the edge of Niagara Falls. This immediate danger creates an adrenaline rush. Even if the reader … Continue reading
The Most Memorable Kind of Hero
Is this true that a memorable hero of incredible wisdom and strength can only show full worth when pitted against an incredibly powerful villain?. The similarities between villains and heroes are often noted in fiction. So how does an author … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Creativity, Drama and movies, Literary devices, Writer's resource
Tagged hero, memorable, strength
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