Creative Writing Genres

Poetry: type of literature in which words are selected for their

beauty, sound, and power to express feelings. Traditionally, poems

had a specific rhythm and rhyme, but such modern poetry as free

verse does not have regular beat, rhyme, or line length. Most

poems are written in lines, which are arranged together in groups

called stanzas

Non-fiction: type of writing that deals with real people and events.

Examples include essays, biographies, autobiographies, and articles.

Fiction: Type of writing that tells about made-up events and

characters. Examples include novels and short stories.

Poetry Considerations

oStanza: unified group of linesoVerse: line of poetry

I was angry with my friend:I told my wrath, my wrath did end.I was angry with my foe:I told it not, my wrath did grow.

Sound TechniquesoAlliterationoAssonanceoOnomatopoeiaoRhymeoRhythm

Sound Techniques

Onomatopoeia (use of words that imitate the sounds they describe):

snap, crackle, hiss, buzz

Alliteration (repetition of initial consonant sounds in several words in a sentence or line of poetry): Sarah sat sadly on the street corner. Assonance (repetition of vowel sounds in lines of poetry) Italian immigrant

Sound Techniques

Rhythm (pattern of stressed and unstressed words that create a beat, as in music--use punctuation and line breaks to help your reader decide where to pause and what words to stress to make the rhythm clear) see above

Rhyme (repetition of sounds at the end of words in a sentence or line of poetry):I was angry with my friend:I told my wrath, my wrath did end.I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

Non-fiction ConsiderationsoAudience: intended readers (high school students, college professors, Republicans, Voters, etc.)

oPurpose: point of piece (to inform, to persuade, to entertain, etc.)

oVoice: sound of piece based on word choice (formal, informal, angry, sympathetic, sarcastic, etc.)

Dictionword choice selected by

writer for purposes of clarity and impact

Emerson: “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness.”

Twain: “I do wonder what in the nation that frog throw’d off for--I wonder if there ain’t something the matter with him--he ‘pers to look might baggy, somehow.”

Must Dos & Could Dos

oMagic 3oSpecific Details for EffectoExpanded MomentoRepetition for EffectoHumoroHyphenated ModifieroFull-circle Ending

Magic Threeseries of 3 actions (parallel form) included in one sentence

As the substitute waltzed into the room, he surveyed the students for trouble makers, placed his items on the teacher’s desk and then sighed when he heard some snickering as his books fell to the floor.

Specific Details for Effect

deliberate word choice that paints a visual picture for the reader

Maude tugged at the sterile, nursing home draperies and stared out the window at the statuesque oak tree which was swaying in the wind, shedding a few of its leaves.

Expanded Momentsnapshot in time lengthened with specific detail

Jared stared at the cards waiting for him on the table. He extended his right hand to meet them, looked peripherally to the right, then to the left. As he took a deep breath, he prayed for some royalty and then slowly peeked, along with the rest of the television viewers, at his two cards.

Repetition for Effect

phrase intentionally repeated in order to stress an idea

I thought that when I turned eighteen, I would move out of the house, or at least once I had graduated college, I would move out of the house; or, more realistically, once I landed a job, I would move out of the house.

HumorI lined up all six marbles and gave them their pep talk. I told them I was proud of them no matter what the outcome, but only one could win. I told my friends that they needed to put it all on the line.

Hyphenated Modifier

series of words connected that act as a modifier

He awoke with relief after having one of those did-not-go-to-class-all-semester-but-had-to-take-the-final-exam dreams.

Full-circle Endingpiece of writing that logically and purposefully begins and

concludes with the same line The world was coming to an end as far as he was concerned. He had failed his test after promising his mother he would pull up his grade. His mother had let up on him after his father had taken his side and had agreed that she was overreacting- it was just a test after all. He decided to tell his parents that the teacher had not returned the papers yet and then added that the test was not going to count too much after all. The phone rang, and he heard his mother saying hello to his teacher and then he heard , “The test is 20 percent of the grade? No I was not aware of that.” The world was coming to an end as far as he was concerned.

Figurative LanguageoPersonificationoHyperboleoMetaphoroSimileoPun

Figurative Language

Personification (giving human characteristics to inanimate objects/ideas): The mud hugged her feet and refused to budge from her heels.Hyperbole (exaggeration): He had stood by her every moment of her life.

Figurative Language

Metaphor (comparison of 2 unlike items not using like/as): This place remains an ice cube even in the summer.Simile (comparison of 2 unlike items using like or as): Her mother was as subtle as the lights on the Vegas strip.

Figurative Language

Pun (play on words): I could not focus as I had to dodge a caravan of jerks at the auto show.Allusion (A reference to a familiar literary or historical person or event, used to make an idea more easily understood): describing someone as a "Romeo" makes an allusion to William Shakespeare's famous young lover in Romeo and Juliet

Fiction ConsiderationsoPlotoThemeoCharacterizationoSymboloDialogueoPoint of ViewoIronyoForeshadowing

Plot: plan of action for the

story

risin

g act

ion: c

omplicatin

g

incidents

exposition: background info

climax: point of highest tension fa

lling a

ction:

resolving events

resolution: outcome

turning point: protagonist makes decision to cause climax

Thememain idea, central message, recurring idea

•Little actions can replace many words.

Direct Characterization

author directly states characteristics

“Rainsford’s first impression was that the man (General Zaroff) was singularly handsome: his second was that there was an original, almost bizarre quality about the general’s face. He was a tall man past middle age, for his hair was a vivid white; but his thick eyebrows and pointed military mustache were as black as the night from which Rainsford had come. His eyes, too, were black and very bright. He had high cheekbones, a sharp-cut nose, a spare, dark face, the face of a man used to giving orders.”

---The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell

Indirect Characterization

author shows characteristics through action, internal thoughts, appearance, dialogue,

relationships, name, etc. and allows reader to draw conclusions and make judgments

“He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.”

---The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald

Symbolism person, place, or object that represents an abstract idea

•His thoughts were locked away in the cabinet.

Dialoguedirect speech/words spoken by a character

She screamed at her sister, “Don’t ever come in this room again!” She slammed the door shut and threw herself on the bed.

Words in brown= stem

Point of Viewposition from which a story is told

First Person: narrator is one of the character’s in the narrative and explains the events through his or her own eyes, may use the pronouns I, me, my and mine.

Third Person Limited: narrator tells the story through the eyes of only one character, using the pronouns he, him, she, her they, and them -- narrator knows what one character thinks and feels but only what the others say and do

Third Person Omniscient: narrator looks through the eyes of all the characters and is not a character in the novel--narrator is all-knowing, using the

pronouns he, him, she, her they, and them .

Irony

Dramatic: occurs when an audience of a play know some crucial piece of information that the characters onstage do not know (readers know that Oedipus killed his father before Oedipus knows)

Situational: discrepancy between the expected result and actual results (rain on wedding day)

Verbal: when an author says one thing and means something else (Dad is finally out of patience with picking up after his son, who can't seem to be trained to put his dirty clothes in the hamper instead of letting them drop wherever he happens to be when he takes them off. "Would Milord please let me know when it pleases him to have his humble servant pick up after him?”)

(author provides clues or hints as to what is

going to happen later in the story)

example: She ran into the room as the bell was ringing and put her head down on the desk. As she raised her head, she placed a strand of hair over her eye.

Foreshadowing