Basics Of Foreshadowing With Techniques

At its core, storytelling has one ambition: to capture and sustain your reader’s attention and keep them reading your story. Foreshadowing, or slyly indicating a future event, is one technique a writer can use to create and buillding suspense. Its useful for creating suspense, a feeling of unease, a sense of curiosity, or a mark that things may not be as they seem.

Foreshadowing does not necessarily mean explicitly revealing what will happen later in your story. In fact, when it is used effectively, many readers may not even realize the significance of an author’s foreshadowing until the end of the story.

There are 2 types of foreshadowing:

1. Direct foreshadowing (or overt foreshadowing): In this type of foreshadowing, the story openly suggests an impending problem, event, or twist. Direct foreshadowing is usually accomplished through the characters’ dialogue, the narrator’s comments, a prophecy, or even a prologue.

2. Indirect foreshadowing (or covert foreshadowing): In this type of foreshadowing, the story hints at an outcome by leaving subtle clues throughout the story. With indirect foreshadowing, readers likely won’t realize the meaning of the clues until they witness the foreshadowed event.

TECHNIQUES TO USE IT:

1. Dialogue: You can use your characters’ dialogue to foreshadow future events or big reveals. This foreshadowing may take the form of a joke, an offhand comment, or even something unsaid that adds personality to your characters while planting the seed for later revelations.

2. Title: The title of a novel or short story can be used to foreshadow major events in the story as well.

3. Setting: The choices you make about the setting or atmosphere of your story can foreshadow events as well.

4. Metaphor or simile: Figurative language like similes and metaphors can be effective foreshadowing tools

5. Character traits: A character’s appearance, attire, or mannerisms can foreshadow that character’s true essence or later actions.

Hope It helps! Follow, Like And Share!

I'll put out a post on how to use foreshadowing next so stay tuned! :)

Why Writers Use Red Herrings

If a teacher has ever tried to explain an English reading assignment to you before, they’ve likely called something a red herring. Google that term and you’ll see a fish. It’s also a term for a literary device.

These are a few things you should know to use them in your stories.

What Is a Red Herring?

The term “red herring” first appeared only in conversations. People used it to describe a herring fish split lengthwise down the middle (kippered) because it smelled extra bad and looked red. They also called a fish a red herring if it was cooked a certain way because the final dish also had a strong smell while retaining some red coloring.

Literary experts note that it appeared in the written word first in an early 13th-century poem. It was just used to describe a red herring, which likely meant the herring was split lengthwise as well.

The first use of it being anything other than that was in 1981. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable recorded the phrase as drawing attention away from the main issue with a secondary issue. 

No one’s really sure exactly when it became a method of distraction, although there’s a long-running story that trainers teaching hunting dogs would use a literal kippered herring to draw dogs away from whatever scent they were chasing. Back in 1599, a writer mentioned this use of red herrings and praised its effectiveness.

People have generally used it as a literary term ever since.

A red herring is a plot device that distracts the reader from the actual rising action or mystery.

You don’t need one in every story. They’re mostly effective at making the reader think they’ve figured out something essential to your plot, so they’re best in mystery genres. However, there are a few times you can use them to trick and surprise your readers.

Moments to Use a Red Herring

When You Want Your Reader to “Figure Something Out”

Mystery writers have a common goal: reveal the answer to their plot’s primary mystery at the time of their choice. Readers who solve the mystery too early don’t get to savor the rest of the story as much because there’s less tension.

You can use a red herring to make the reader feel like they know where your plot is going, but it’s all a distraction. Don’t plan on writing a story no one will solve early—there will always be a few sharp readers who can put your clues together. However, you can delay the big reveal with a red herring.

Example: Your protagonist is trying to figure out who stole their bike. You introduce a side character who mentions being jealous of the bike and learns to ride after it gets stolen. The reader will think this side character is the thief, but your protagonist finds out it was their own best friend who knew the code to their garage.

When You Want the Reader to Feel Surrounded by Potential Answers

Consider your favorite mystery book, show, or movie. You probably tried to solve the mystery before it ended, but you had a handful of people that could potentially have caused the inciting incident.

That’s because the writer purposefully used multiple red herrings. It makes the reader spin in circles as they try to guess how your story will end.

You can use this option if you feel like your plot is too obvious. Multiple red herrings complicate things if your herrings have good enough reasons to potentially be the bad guy.

Example: Your protagonist’s great-grandfather is found murdered in his isolated cabin. They search for clues to find the murderer by talking with everyone who knew him. Some relatives would stand to gain from their inheritance, while others have reasons to seek revenge. Your protagonist isn’t sure who the murderer is until the last minute when the same person tries to kill them for getting too close to the truth.

When Red Herrings Don’t Work

When the Individuals Have No Motive

You wouldn’t suspect someone of a crime if they had no reason to commit it. Readers won’t try to pin a mystery on a character without a good motive. Make sure you know the specific potential motive for each red herring before writing them into your story.

When They Feel Too Obvious

The point of a red herring is to hint at a possibility. Your reader won’t guess an incorrect answer to the mystery if it’s too obvious.

Example: Your protagonist talks to their cousin to find out if they could be the one to have killed their great-grandfather. The cousin says, “Yeah, I hated his guts. I had a million reasons to kill him. Too bad it wasn’t me.”

This is too direct. The cousin is all but admitting potential guilt. In real life, the protagonist would get suspicious (encounter a literary red herring) if the cousin was shifting on their feet, not making eye contact, and responding, “We didn’t really get along much. There was some troubled history there, but I wouldn’t ever dream of hurting him.”

The words are less direct because they sound like something an innocent person would say. The body language and an indicated tone of voice make this character a red herring because it’s translating as guilt. If they continue doing things that make it seem like they feel guilty, the cousin will be a stronger red herring.

When You Don’t Know Your Overall Plot’s Direction

You won’t be able to mislead people if you can’t confidently lead them to your story’s ending. It’s crucial that you already know who your primary antagonist is before writing red-herring characters or elements. Try making a plot map or outlining your work in other genres to practice for your future mystery tales.

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Anyone can learn how to use red herrings by understanding what they do and when to weave them into your plot. As long as you know what your big reveal will be at the end of your story, you can use red herrings to keep your readers on their toes and help them enjoy your work more.

Weather Update: The First Danganronpa Game secretly had TWO rivals the entire time.

Lemme explain (spoilers, obviously, and this is gonna be a bit a rant whoops):

Usual Danganronpa Format as the fandom usually sees it: Students trapped in an unfamiliar location with no idea what's going on, plot driven partially by the mystery but mostly by the character interactions.

Trigger Happy Havoc: Students trapped in an altered but still familiar location with no idea what's going on, plot driven partially by the character interactions but mostly by the mystery.

In a setting like DR2, V3, or a vast majority of fangans, the participants in the killing game are given very little information about their circumstances aside from what Monokuma gives them, which is deliberately vague and designed to direct them towards killing each other. Additionally, the students are given very little ability to react to and retaliate against the Killing Game system in ways Monokuma won't expect. Weirdness aside DR2 basically went all according to plan until the final trial due to Monokuma's nigh-omniscience, and V3 was similar with the only debatable exception being Kokichi's elaborate scheme in Chapter 5. Since the students are dealing with such restricted conditions, the plot can't be fully driven by the students figuring out the setting, so instead the plot focuses on the conflict that derives from the various characters reacting to the game. In a story like this, it makes sense that the most antagonistic characters aside from the mastermind would be the ones with EXTREME personalities that shake things up a lot. Nagito, Kokichi and that character archetype that everyone expects to be in a fangan are necessary to make the plot more INTERESTING.

But THH is different. The students KNOW where they are (or at least they think they do, and turn out to be right). While they don't have any recollection of the Academy itself, they at least know what to EXPECT from Hope's Peak, and can from there point out nooks and crannies for delicious little clues that reveal more about the situation, putting together a narrative without Monokuma's handholding. Additionally, despite his blustering Monokuma is explicitly NOT omniscient here, or even practically omniscient, as methods to hide things from him are figured out early on. The students are able to DO something about their situation as the story progresses, and have figured out some aspects of the overarching mystery as it pertains to them long before the final trial (and NOT because the Mastermind deliberately put the info in their path). This greater information access and greater character agency in general means that while the character conflicts are still very much a part of the plot, the overarching theme is solving the mystery while adapting to the circumstances to avoid dying.

In a setting like this, extreme/bizarre personalities aren't really a boon to the plot. While the character reveals add layers and information in other settings, here it's a distraction. The students HAVE resources, and at least SOME of the tools they need. Engaging in over-the-top schemes and traps is a DETRIMENT to their current course of action even more than in later games, which is probably why Monokuma tries to encourage them to do such. Other characters in THH fit the bill of "stereotypical DR Rival" probably better than the supposed-rival Byakuya and THH's other Rival character actually do. Celestia Ludenberg comes to mind, in another DR setting she could be exactly the sort of mysterious and interesting rival the series is known for (and that she clearly wants to be), but in THH she's just another annoyance. Toko Fukawa and Genocider have the extreme personality down, but they only advance the plot in the students' favor when they approach things logically and in a less crazy manner. If Rivals in this game are supposed to fit the bill of "causes unexpected occurrences and advances the plot but still clashes with the rest of the cast in intense ways while doing so" like the other Rival characters in the series do, they have to play the role under a different ruleset. Rather than representing a philosophical extreme through their personality, these rivals have to represent a different extreme: their methods and rationale when it comes to SOLVING THE MYSTERY / ESCAPING THE GAME.

And in this regard, Byakuya Togami plays the role wonderfully. The vast majority of the students in the game are very passive when it comes to solving the mystery. Sure, they get very active when trying to escape by killing someone, but that's just dancing to Monokuma's tune. Rather than wondering what to do, Byakuya makes his actions clear from the start, and everything he does in the game that's antagonistic fits that same M.O., while not doing anything that would put him in an uncertain position. He learns how the trial system functions, then during Chapter 2 he performs an experiment to analyze the other students further. His antagonism largely stems from viewing the other students as opponents, so his pragmatic approach makes sense, but he doesn't JUST analyze the players. He also analyzes the metaphorical board, and it's clear he's trying to get every scrap of info he can on his situation before fully committing to action (exhibit A: him spending so much freaking time in the library). The only stereotypically "nuts" thing he really does is down that bottle of poison/protein in Chapter 4. He's proving a point. He'll do anything it takes to win, and knowledge is power. Hence his active role in acquiring info about the game, the setting, and the other students' behaviors.

But Byakuya can't be the only Rival here. While he might be solving some mysteries in the background, we don't get to see much of it because the whole point of his character early on is conflict: his active versus the other's passive. He won't share his findings or really work with others, which is not good when our precious baby protag Makoto is trying to solve the mystery himself. Byakuya can't move the plot forward like that until after Chapter 4. Chapter 5 onward, Byakuya's method to his madness is revealed, and he contributes a lot to solving the mystery and directing the other students to getting more of the info he needs (exhibit A, dismantling Monokuma). And... that doesn't really fit with the formula later games set. Chapter 5 is when conflicts with the rival comes to head, and shenanigans abound. Nagito does it. Kokichi does it. But Byakuya isn't particularly inclined. Shenanigans with his own life at stake aren't his methods, they're just complications. But... the stuff still comes to a head with THH's other rival. The other character that's been progressing the plot in active ways that contrast with the other students, and clashing with the rest of the cast AND the player. The character whose life IS on the line in Chapter 5.

You've probably guessed by now that I'm talking about Kyoko Kirigiri.

When we look at her in retrospect, Kyoko doesn't raise any alarms compared to the craziness of the rest of the franchise. She helps with the investigations and moves the trials forward, she's nowhere near the craziness brought by Nagito and Kokichi, and generally just really competent. We categorize her in the "Assistant" role, similar to Chiaki and Shuichi/Kaede/Kaito/Maki/whoever (hey wait a second where did we even come up with this archetype anyway, if V3 doesn't even really seem to have one character who properly fits it?) She definitely fits the Assistant bill in DR3, but this ain't DR3. She doesn't fit the bill for stereotypical Danganronpa Trial Rival... but as previously established, Byakuya doesn't either. So let's go deeper and look at things in context. Because from the start of the game, Kyoko is weird. Really weird.

We're introduced not knowing anything about her, and she keeps it that way for a LONG time. "Ultimate ???" just screams she's going to be important later but you just don't know how (remember, this was BEFORE Rantaro). She's really helpful during the trials and is three steps ahead of everyone, but... aside from that a lot of her actions are really, REALLY conflict inducing. She is happy to get info from other students, but it's clear there's a lot she isn't sharing. She says ominous things to Monokuma that make no sense ("What did you do to my body?" anyone?) and seems VERY focused on the mystery. Just like Byakuya, she's taking an active role in analyzing every detail about the circumstances. And interestingly enough, she's just as paranoid as he is, just in different ways. As Makoto spends more time around her she manipulates him (and others) in some really unnerving ways, and her dynamics with other characters outside of trials are always either generically placating to keep things calm or downright low-key hostile when things don't go according to plan. Just like with Byakuya, for the vast majority of the game she doesn't trust anybody. And in chapter 5, these aspects of her character are brought into full view. She spends the entire chapter hiding away, she mysteriously appears in Makoto's room (side note: Nagito and Kokichi both have "looking over the protag in an unnerving fashion" pics. Byakuya doesn't. Kyoko DOES). It becomes clear in the trial how much she's hiding and how much she's been manipulating things. Chapter 5 is an impossible trial designed as a trap for HER. Her seemingly innocuous actions have come in full domino effect. And only Makoto and the power of being a Man Literally To Unpredictable To Die can save her.

(Makoto obviously isn't a rival character, but it's interesting to see how by THH's requirements he very well could have fit the bill. Think of him from Hina's or Hiro's perspective: he's seemingly innocuous, yet survived way longer than anyone would expect him to, often figures out just the right thing to say, both Byakuya and Kyoko interact with him a lot when neither of them seem to care about anyone else, and ultimately seems to become a lot more actively involved in mystery solving despite not having any right too. Couple that with the fact that he spent a couple days "bedridden" when from an outsider's perspective he could have been doing anything, and ngl Makoto sus. He even survives an execution!)

Both Byakuya and Kyoko take turns providing conflict to the story in ways that develop the plot but COMPLETELY clash with the passive methods of everyone else. They practically take turns being the one doing whatever crazy crap needs to get done. Their character arcs parallel each other too. Byakuya has to learn about the value of human life and emotional connection. Kyoko knows perfectly well how important life and emotions are, but she needs to learn that it's a two-way street, that trust needs to be established and that she doesn't have to do everything important herself. Byakuya, while lacking in empathy, is fully willing to work with others and outsource important tasks. He just views it as a business transaction. BOTH of them are prideful frickers who think they're the only one with a brain cell, and it's up to Makoto to undergo his own character arc, become their friend, and prove them wrong. And then once Makoto DOES finally take control and prove he's the one with the audacity required to actually get everything working, he's able to redirect both Byakuya and Kyoko into finally teaming up with everyone and stopping chaos so much chaos. Without either of them, Makoto couldn't have made it to the final trial (we can see when Kyoko dies in the Bad Ending that it's basically game over, the mystery CAN'T be solved, and I fully believe that the circumstances would have ended similarly if Byakuya had died and they'd lost his pragmatic logical reasoning). But without Makoto, Kyoko and Byakuya couldn't have made it THROUGH the final trial. All three of them are literary foils of each other.

(This is another reason why seeing all three of them in the final trial of DR2 is so fun, because the Trial Point Getters are a well-oiled machine by that point and you get to see them play off each other as 100% allies, while once again getting to see through Hajime's eyes how 100% sus all three of them really are once they get going.)

So that's why I think THH has some really good Rivals, despite neither Byakuya nor Kyoko fitting what we've come to expect from the formula. They aren't insane or representing a philosophical extreme, they're representing clashing viewpoints in solving a mystery and escaping the killing game. In other entries in the series, Byakuya and Kyoko would be killing game fodder for twisty midgame chapters and otherwise not being able to contribute much of interest. But in Trigger Happy Havoc? They're exactly what the game needs to elevate it from simple mystery-solving to full-blown ART.

TL;DR Byakuya and Kyoko are awesome and I love them and a lot of people sleep on their status as Danganronpa Rivals because they grade them on a standard that I think is unfair and ignores their strengths as characters. Also Makoto suddenly becomes way more interesting when viewed through a perspective other than his own. The first Danganronpa game is a materpiece and more fangans need to realize that they don't have to play by the supposed "series formula". After all, this game didn't.

What’s your favorite literary device? I know mine.

Chekhov's Gun: Any seemingly unimportant element that becomes significant later on in the story.

Aight, a quick note for Trigun Volume 2, Chapter 1. Disclaimer: I'm not exactly a coin expert; I just got curious and hopped down the Google rabbit hole. But here's what I found.

This coin from the end of the chapter...

...is what's called a Morgan dollar or a Morgan silver dollar.

It's actually got a very unique design, as most of the eagles appearing on the backs of U.S. coins are either in a very different pose, or they have their feet spread wider and are far less concerned with anatomical accuracy.

Here's the front:

According to Wikipedia, the Morgan dollar was originally minted from 1878 to 1904, which would make it very fitting for Trigun's desert punk setting, since that point in time in the U.S. was the tail end of what we think of as the Wild Wild West. (It's actually recently been re-minted, but that's irrelevant to the discussion since Trigun was written well before any re-mints.)

So... the coins didn't come up in the '98 anime (as I doubt they intended to try and hash out everything with these twelve assassins at that time), and if they come up in Stampede, they're definitely Season 2 material. That means I, someone who is functionally a first-time reader of the Trigun manga, don't know all the details about the coins in the manga, such as whether everyone has the same type of coin or if each of the assassins has a different type of coin, or if Nightow even bothers to continue this particular plot device.

But I do know some of the imagery for this particular coin. (It's... not that complicated. I just wanted to sound dramatic.)

The front has an image of Lady Liberty (artist's rendition, not the statue in New York, which wouldn't become a thing and proceed to overwhelm U.S. imagery of Lady Liberty until this coin had been circulating for eight years), who of course represents liberty, and the back has a bald eagle, which I think we've impressed on the rest of the world enough for most people to know we use it as a symbol of freedom.

Freedom and liberty; not that different of concepts. Not that complicated.

But the coin in the manga panel is split. It's damaged beyond repair, no longer functional as legal tender and only really good as a novelty trinket or for melting down.

Which makes it a really interesting thing to give a man who's been caged in a cellar for 20 years and is forced into the service of any sort of master.

Two Stories: European Translating a Fictional Japanese Novel

yoakesan asked:

Hi!

The protagonist of my novel is Sicilian university student who's working on a translation of an imaginary Japanese novel, which I would like to present as a sub-plot (the main plot features the Sicilian guy attending a local festival near his hometown).

The Japanese novel is about a young woman who has strong feelings of nostalgia towards summer, partly because of a short-lived love story she had with another girl. She spends so much time longing for summer that she can't be happy in the present.

Now, in order to underline this concept, I was thinking that the Japanese novel could end with the protagonist dying before the arrival of summer, but I'm afraid that, since the main plot features a happy ending for the Sicilian protagonist, that might be unnecessarily tragic.

Also, do you have any tips on certain aspects of Japanese culture that I should avoid underlining? The Sicilian guy loves Japanese literature, both classic and contemporary, and likes listening to contemporary Japanese electronic music. I was thinking of mentioning some similarities between the two cultures (islands - sea - volcanoes - cherry blossoms/a typical festival that is celebrated in the protagonist's hometown in the occasion of the blossoming of another tree), but the point of the novel is not to draw a consistent parallel.

Finally, said festival features people from many different countries dancing and playing instruments in traditional clothes. How can I be careful about exoticization when describing that part of the story?

More info needed

I like this concept and have read Japanese novels utilizing similar plot devices. An outsider’s perspective would be interesting. This idea also reminds me a little of The Hours (1998) by Michael Cunningham which won the Pulitzer in 1999. However, I wish you had said something more about this festival in this town so we might look into similar parallels in a Japanese context. Similarly crucial would be information about your own familiarity with Japanese literature and which authors/ novels you intended to draw on for your own inspiration for this unnamed novel. After all, the unnamed novel being translated is key. Its themes, time period, place in the Japanese literary canon etc. would all influence your protagonist and his state of mind, wouldn't it? Having done my share of translation, I have more than once grappled with the struggle of not knowing which word to pick because I don't even know what meaning the original author is trying to convey. 

I think this is an interesting question, and I like the concept of cultures shaped by similar forces and motifs being exchanged through the act of translating a novel. Speaking as a person who lives in another part of the world with unpredictable weather, earthquakes, the sea, etc., I like rediscovering aspects of my current home that also evoke Japan and vice-versa. so I invite you to re-submit with greater detail via DM so that we may provide you with a more definitive answer. 

The other question you sent on whether domestic tourism for hanami in Japan is common and which sites are favored is easy to answer through research using most search engines, so we will not be answering it.

- Marika.

What’s your favorite literary device? I adore the abundant application of assonance and alliteration. Though, my love of oxymorons is old news.

I am melting away like a dream. I clenched so tight…so much so that still am in their depths.

A gentle breeze teasing through the silky strands making to a tuck behind the ear-the sight rolling to eyes…far away from her.

In the silence of the cold dark a warmth oozed out of her heart,wafting into his arms in the floweriness of a smile.

And then the ink dripped down to the ground through her skirt-blood pumping fast blushing her cheeks to a rosy pink -her breathes escaping into this dream when he saw her-

It met but it never does for she ever murmured in her thoughts which she wrote up in the stars and the moon-about an emotion perplexing her being, so it remains unheard,unseen.

And then the dream fell apart.

What did she write up there in the moonlit sky?

I don’t know because I’ve never been in love.

I love that in Oasis and in all of our hextech dreams there are these little lines of foreshadowing you slip in. It's just chef's kiss

😭 thank you so much! Since I write exclusively canon/canon adjacent stuff, I really do try to keep the character arcs in mind, and play with where their stories will go. And foreshadowing is such a fun way to engage in the fandom and with other fans, I can sneak it into my fics and my readers can go “ooooooo I see what you did there!”

It’s especially fun with Viktor in particular, considering how drastically he is going to change; I try to find those little moments that hint at emotion being an issue/challenge for him. Like the scene where he lets his anger get the better of him in Oasis ch8 and lashes out at Mortem mimics the scene in Arcane where he’s handling Jinx’s bomb and Jayce’s words upset him, and he lets his anger affect his caution, thereby setting off the bomb. Really, I have to hand it all to the makers of Arcane, as they did it so beautifully first, but it honestly makes me feel so good that I could come close to capturing what they created. Thank you again, you’ve made my day 🥰

How To Use Extended Metaphor

A metaphor is a literary device that figuratively compares and equates two things that are not alike. An extended metaphor is a version of metaphor that extends over the course of multiple lines, paragraphs, or stanzas of prose or poetry. Extended metaphors build upon simple metaphors with figurative language and more varied, descriptive comparisons.

The core structure of every metaphor consists of two parts called the tenor and the vehicle. The tenor is the root idea that the metaphor starts with and the vehicle is the second concept that the metaphor figuratively compares the first to.

Some metaphors occur naturally as you develop your piece and can easily be integrated into your work.

Tips To Write It:

1. Think about the central themes you’re exploring: Most extended metaphors highlight central symbols or themes. Regardless of whether you are writing a poem, novel, play, or essay, think about the major themes of your work and which you think would be best served through extended metaphor.

2. Brainstorm compelling images: Once you’ve settled on the starting tenor for your metaphor, free associate some compelling images and comparisons that the tenor evokes for you. Spend some time compiling a list of the possible vehicles that you’ve generated.

3. Find a clear comparison: Choose a metaphorical comparison that is both evocative and clear. It shouldn’t be a leap for your reader to follow the logic of your metaphor. A good metaphor draws a natural comparison but isn’t overly obvious or literal.

4. Overwrite: After you’ve settled on the tenor and vehicle of your metaphor, start to extend it over several lines or paragraphs. Allow yourself to overwrite, exploring the various ways you can illustrate the comparison and reveal different facets of your metaphor.

5. Edit: Once you feel like you’ve generated enough material, edit down your extended metaphor to its most evocative and effective parts. Even though extended metaphors are longer than simple metaphors, you still want to have concise and pithy prose. Choose the sections that are most necessary to your piece and edit out the rest.

Eg of this literary device:

Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken: In perhaps his most famous poem, Robert Frost extends the metaphor of a road twisting its way through a yellow wood being to a long life full of ups and downs. The central image is of a fork in the road which Frost equates to a pivotal life decision. The poem is one of the most popular in contemporary culture and is an iconic and accessible example of extended metaphor at play.

Using extended metaphor in your writing may seem difficult at first. The more you look for extended metaphors in books or poems you're reading and challenge yourself to employ them in your own work, the easier they will start to come.

Hope it helps! Like, Share and Follow For more!

Babylon 5 Characters as Literary Devices

BESTER: gallows humor, pejoratives BYRON: off-rhyme CARTAGIA: metonymy DELENN: stage directions, catharsis, paralipsis FRANKLIN: juxtaposition, truism GARIBALDI: allusion (to Looney Tunes specifically), limerick (namely the one he taught Delenn) G'KAR: hypophora, surrealism IVANOVA: non sequitur, nemesis, pun, sardonicism, satire, tragicomedy KOSH: foreshadowing (which therefore contributes situational irony) LENNIER: enthymeme, pastiche LOCHLEY: synecdoche, tautology LORIEN: deus ex machina LONDO: circumlocution, hamartia, hubris, volta LYTA: litotes, oxymoron MARCUS: idiom, verisimilitude MORDEN: cacophony, syllogism, utopia NA'TOTH: onomatopoeia, poetic justice NEROON: in media res SINCLAIR: enjambment, frame story SHERIDAN: suspension of disbelief TALIA: paradox, understatement VIR: epiphora, parrhesia ZACK: maxim, tmesis ZATHRAS: mise en scene, malapropism

Writing Tips: Poetry

Literary devices that may improve your poetry:

Subtext:

Subtext involves conveying deeper, unspoken meanings beneath the surface of your words.

Use metaphor, symbolism, or allusion to hint at underlying emotions or themes.

For example, in "The Great Gatsby", Jay Gatsby throws extravagant parties, hoping that his lost love, Daisy, will attend. On the surface, it's about social gatherings, but the subtext reveals Gatsby's desperate longing for a reunion, highlighting the theme of unattainable dreams.

Hendiadys:

It's a figure of speech where you express an idea with two nouns connected by "and" instead of an adjective and a noun. Add richness to your poetry by saying "fire and passion" instead of "fiery passion."

Example from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar": "O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!" Here, "meek and gentle" combines two nouns to emphasize the speaker's sorrow and gentleness in addressing the slain Caesar's corpse.

Epiplexis:

This is a rhetorical device involving a series of questions used for emotional impact. Ask thought-provoking questions that stir emotions and provoke reflection in your readers.

Example from Langston Hughes' "Harlem": "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" Epiplexis is used here to question the fate of deferred dreams, evoking a sense of urgency and frustration.

Subjectio:

Subjectio means turning a statement into a question, often used for emphasis. And often referred to as a “rhetorical question”.

Use this to make readers ponder, like turning "The sky is blue" into "Is the sky ever truly blue?"

Catachresis:

It's the use of an unconventional or strained metaphor to create unique and surprising imagery.

Example from Shakespeare's "Hamlet": "I will speak daggers to her." "Daggers" is used metaphorically for hurtful words, associating speech with a weapon, intensifying the impact of the line.

Prosopopoeia:

Prosopopoeia is personification, giving human attributes to non-human entities. Breathe life into your poems by making nature or objects seem human.

Example from Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death": "Death kindly stopped for me." Death is personified as a courteous and patient entity.

Synecdoche:

This involves using a part of something to represent the whole or vice versa.

For example, the word threads means clothing, heels means high-heeled shoes, and a suit is a businessperson who wears suits to work.

This is part of my Writing Tips series. Everyday I publish a writing tip to this blog.

I’m opening cans of worms and just gulping them down like there’s no tomorrow.

My Use of Alliteration in Writing Prose

When I returned to Tumblr last week I mentioned that I would really appreciate some suggested topics that people would be interested in hearing about, and was prompted by the excellent @fipindustries with several ideas. One of them was my relationship with alliteration in my fiction—something I had talked about in the past and which can perhaps be expanded upon today.

When I was in high school, senior year I believe, we read a good amount of Beowulf, which I found to be a very inspiring story because when I was young I loved old-timey Celtic mythology and folklore. Gregor, one of the Guards of Galavar in The Curious Tale, got his entire species name, heathodwarf, from the heathobards of Beowulf, and there were not one but two characters in ATH the RPG named Grendel.

Anyway, one of the things we were taught about Beowulf is that it makes extensive use of alliteration as a literary device. Together with some audio readings I heard a few years later of the legendary Seamus Haney reading Beowulf, I became convinced of the power and beauty of alliteration as a storytelling ornament. Ever since then, I have been both liberal and deliberate in my application of alliteration, as well as the related techniques of consonance and assonance, throughout ATH. I consider it aesthetically pleasing if the same sound occurs two or more times in close proximity together, especially if the rhythm of the spacing of these instances is thoughtful and itself pleasing of figure.

What makes alliteration (and its ilk) aesthetically pleasing? That's mostly subjective, but I like it because it creates structure out of structurelessness. In generic writing, there is no attention paid to the sounds of words. Indeed, the medium itself is meant to be as transparent as possible, coloring the substance of the words not at all. Alliteration draws a little bit of the reader's attention back into the artifice of the medium—the physical words. And I find I like this. That little bit of coloring...is just pleasant on its own.

In turn, this deliberate...let's call it an "opacity" (as distinguished from the transparency of generic prose)...this deliberate use of opacity in places also becomes able to be used for other literary purposes: namely, for drawing attention not just to individual words themselves but to certain ideas in the text through the focus on those words.

For instance, take the phrase "dithering dandelions." It sounds sort of like a Looney Tunes euphemism, doesn't it? But put that aside for the moment and consider the following passage:

The morning was sunny but cold as stone, and a biting wind crossed the field of dithering dandelions.

I made this up for demonstration purposes, but here the invocation of the alliterative term "dithering dandelions" is meant to make the coldness and windiness of the morning more visceral to the reader by virtue of drawing special attention to itself through alliteration and then leveraging that attention to emphasize and deepen the image of the dandelions shaking violently in the wind, as if they were trembling with cold (which is one of the meanings of the word "dither"). Odds are that you've been in such a morning at some point, cold and windy and buffeting the young spring flowers. And if you can remember that image, then you can feel it all the better here and now.

There is other consonance in that passage: The occurrence of the "s" sound in "sunny," "stone," and "crossed" can be selected, if desired, as focal points for one's enunciation when reading out loud (or when reading silently but imagining the sounds of the words). The word "crossed" in particular is the most powerful word in the sentence and deserves any and all attention you want to give it, and it also makes consonance with the word "cold."

If read thoughtfully, the alliteration (and consonance) present in this sentence can elevate the text, making the imagery come alive in the mind's eye.

So I like alliteration both as an aesthetic end in itself and also as a subtle tool of emphasis to reward readers who engage with the text using more of their own faculty.

I especially lean into this in The Curious Tale, whose fantasy world tonality lends itself more easily to romantic prose. In Galaxy Federal, with its more literal tonality, I still do employ alliteration more than most writers would use in their works, because that's just a hallmark of my voice at this point, but it is noticeably lesser than in The Curious Tale. In particular, the really heavy alliteration—with multiple instances of a single alliterative line, often interwoven with one more other lines simultaneously—is quite rare in my science fiction, while being merely uncommon in my fantasy.

I don't know if I lean into it so heavily that scholars would bother to mark it as a key characteristic of my writing, the way they do of Beowulf. Probably not; I probably have other esotericisms and eccentricities that stand out more baldly. But I should be very pleased indeed if I were noticed by readers for my use of alliteration, and all the more if they appreciated it.

"Turn over the leef and cheese another tale."

The Canterbury Tales (c.1387-1400), Geoffrey Chaucer from The Literature Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained, James Canton

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