Show, Don’t tell: Emotions and Expressions
From editors to fiction gurus we hear the same advice Show, Don’t Tell. Careful use of verbs instead of a truck-load of adjectives is what an experienced writer will say. I add that transforming emotions into expressions is one of the must-do jobs of every fiction writer. It is a simple trick if you know [...]
Paralanguage
What is paralanguage? Is it a distant relative of paragliding? Naaah. Paralanguage is the study of non verbal language that reveals itself through nonsensical sounds that make sense to us such as aaah, un-huh, huh, pooh, hmm, yuhoo, tich etc; body language; facial expressions and environmental factors.
Now we come to the point. How can we [...]
Interior monologue revealed
Using interior monologue is great fun, and reading it too! You can almost hear the author saying ‘oh, how stupid’ or ‘the world is too much for me’ or ‘I can burn the whole civilization’. Of course, you can also hear the voice of your POV character.
Your fiction is who you are; and interior monologue [...]
Imagery
You can imagine how much I love chocolates.
Imagery is the use of one or more senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch) to create a vivid picture of a place, person or a thing in the mind of the reader.
As I opened the garage door, the sound of a muffled voice alerted me [...]
Soliloquy
Soliloquy is a literary device used in plays in which a character talks to himself when alone for the benefit of the audience. Soliloquy is used to reveal the thoughts of a character.
The word originates from Latin soliloquium, where solus means alone and loqui to speak.
A soliloquy has many benefits. It can change the audience?s [...]
Similes
You might or might not know that a simile is a comparison between two things that are dissimilar in many ways, but are similar in a few, unobvious ways. Okay, now you know or re-know. Here comes the fire round –
How do you compare two objects in a simile?
Simple. With the use of ‘like’, ‘as’, [...]
Stream of consciousness
Stream of consciousness is a literary technique through which a fiction writer reveals the thoughts of a character randomly. “I want her I really do oh no! He can’t he just can’t stop it she’s mine!” is an example. Here the character is thinking these thoughts about a girl without uttering a word to the [...]
Interior Monologue
Interior monologue is a tool through which a writer can exhibit the thoughts of the characters to the readers. Shakespeare used interior monologue in the form of a soliloquy (where a character speaks to himself, thus revealing his thoughts). Many fiction writers use interior monologue to show the mental state of a character, his doubts, [...]
