If you're writing a book, screenplay, or short story, you want to captivate your audience with your characters and settings, build suspense, and deliver strong emotional payoffs. Literary devices are tools that can help. Though plenty of literary devices exist, these 10 are particularly useful in fiction and narrative non-fiction. Check out these examples and tips for using them to tell an awesome story.

A literary device is a technique writers can use to make stories more engaging. These tactics can create suspense, evoke emotion, set up a plot twist, and more. Alliteration, symbolism, and foreshadowing are examples of literary devices.

Below are definitions of 10 powerful literary devices for your book, screenplay, or short story. Click the "Learn More" links to see examples of each literary device and tips for applying it to your story.  

​Symbolism is when an element of your story - like a character, setting, or object - represents an idea. The represented idea tends to play a significant role in the story's character development, plot, or theme. For instance, in a prison story, grass might be a symbol for freedom.

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​Tone is the attitude a writer takes toward the events in a story. Though characters may have distinct attitudes, the literary device tone just refers to the attitude of the writer. Some examples of tone are optimistic, comedic, and regretful.

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​Mood is the overall feeling of a scene. Chaotic, warm, and sad are examples of moods. One story can have many moods, since different scenes can create different emotional responses from an audience.

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​Imagery is a literary device writers use to connect with any of the audience's five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Imagery is often used in the descriptions of characters, settings, and plot events.

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​A metaphor falsely asserts that one thing is another while creating a true, symbolic comparison. "The office is an igloo" is an example of a metaphor.

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​Personification is the granting of human qualities to non-human elements in a story, like vehicles, houses, and even concepts, such as hope or doubt.

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​Foreshadowing is a literary device writers use to allude to future events in a story. Two kinds exist: (1) Direct foreshadowing states a story event is to come (2) Indirect foreshadowing gives evidence of an event the audience does not anticipate.

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​Dramatic irony is a literary device in which a writer gives information to the audience that a character, or multiple characters, is unaware of. The tactic can build suspense.

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A motif is a repeating element in a story that plays a strong role in the story's theme. Motifs can be abstract ideas, like triumph or deceit. They can also be parts of your story's physical world, such as buildings, objects, colors, and noises.

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​Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound at the start of two or more close-together words, as in "warm weather," with "w" the repeating sound.

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Here are just some storytelling components literary devices can help you with:

• Characterization
• Settings
• Reveals
• Conflict
• Action
• Twists
• Suspense
• Tension
• Mystery
• Anticipation
• Exposition
• Thematic development
• Dialogue
  
• Narration
• Emotional impact

Literary devices are used across fiction and narrative non-fiction. Some examples of genres that use literary devices:

• Thriller
• Mystery
• Crime
• ​Horror
• Action
• Adventure
• Romance
• Science fiction
• Memoir
• ​Comedy
• ​Fantasy

​Literary devices should serve the story you're telling. Once you have an idea of your characters and your plot, and you begin writing your first draft, you'll need to accomplish various tasks to make any scene work.

For instance, let's say your main character in a thriller is running from three gunmen in a scene. For this scene to work, a task of yours could be making the audience fear for your protagonist's life. A combination of literary devices can be applied to accomplish that task.

​You can use dramatic irony to make your protagonist unaware of the danger lurking around the corner. Once the protagonist sees the gunmen, you can leverage mood to create a feeling of desperation. You can also apply imagery to show the physical effects of panic, like sweat and an accelerating heartbeat.

Think of literary devices like specialized tools. Let your story tasks dictate when and how you apply these tools.

As stated, the writing tasks you need to accomplish to make a scene work should determine what literary devices you use - avoid the opposite approach, ie, deciding you want to use a certain literary device and then bending the purpose of a scene just so the device can fit. 

You also want to avoid literary devices drawing attention to themselves. They should help your scenes flow, not cause the audience to focus on the device.

Certain devices, like alliteration, can draw attention to themselves if used too often. Other devices, like tone, can draw attention to themselves if shifted through a story.

Once you gain a deeper understanding of the 10 literary devices outlined above (with the "Learn More" links), you should have a good idea of how to apply them to your story in a natural way.

​If you're writing a book, screenplay, or short story, you want to draw your readers deep into the world of your story. Imagery is a powerful literary device you can use to give your readers a vivid experience of your scenes. In this article, I provide the definition of imagery, examples, and tips for applying it in your story.

Imagery is a literary device in which writers engage readers via language that evokes any of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Imagery is often applied to the descriptions of characters, settings, and plot events.

Imagery is a literary device that creates a sensory connection between the reader and the physical world of the story. Scenes become more immersive because of this connection. After a reader finishes a scene, an effective use of imagery can make him say, "I felt like I was there."

The writing technique can also build empathy with characters, a key part of storytelling. If a reader is able to sense what a character is experiencing, the reader can better empathize with that character.

Below are two examples of a plot event, the first described without an emphasis on imagery, and the second with an emphasis on it. Which do you feel is stronger?

Example A

Becca walks through the woods to meet her friends at the campsite. She believes a killer is following her, so she takes off running. She runs for about a mile, reaches a street in a small town, and hides out in a diner.
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Example B

Becca walks through a dark forest toward the campsite. Footsteps thud behind her. She looks over her shoulder, but sees nothing but the gnarled barks of trees. She heard a rumor about some weirdo who lives out here, but figured it was just an urban legend.

She keeps walking, the November air cold on her neck. The footsteps behind her return. She takes off running through the close-together trees. Her heart pounds. The branch of a pine tree hits her in the face. She spits a few pine needles out of her mouth.

Up ahead, the lights of a small town glisten beyond the evergreens. She dashes onto the street and rushes into the first building she sees, a diner. The place smells like apple pie. However, Becca is too nervous to eat. Shaking and huffing, she sinks onto a stool at the counter.

Though the word imagery relates to sight, as a writing technique, imagery does not just apply to the visual - it relates to all five senses. Below are examples of the five types of imagery in writing:  

With visual imagery, a writer uses language that lets readers imagine specific images. For example:

Over the silhouette of the mountaintops, a bolt of lightning rips through the sky. The rain, coming down at a sideways angle, smashes the body of Bill's car.

​With sound imagery, a writer uses language that lets readers imagine specific sounds. For example:

Nick swings the crowbar into the department store's window. The glass shatters. Shards shower down on the pavement at his feet. He runs inside while the alarm wails. 

​With scent imagery, a writer uses language that lets readers imagine specific scents. For example:

Kayla looks away from the TV. She sniffs the air. It smells like burnt wood. She swings open her bedroom door. The scent grows stronger. She notices smoke.

​With taste imagery, a writer uses language that lets readers imagine specific tastes. For example:

Gary watches the waiter carry over the entrees at his favorite restaurant, Forge Steakhouse. He grabs his fork and knife and looks down at the twenty-four-ounce porterhouse set in front of him. He slices off a piece. It warms his entire mouth. He bites into it, the juice seeping out.

​With tactile imagery, a writer uses language that lets readers imagine specific sensations of touch. For example:

The bullet tears through Scott's thigh. The hot metal shreds his muscle. His entire leg flames with pain. 

Imagery can enhance almost any scene. However, you need to be careful about when and how to apply it. Here are some tips to follow:

Imagery is a type of descriptive writing. When trying to be descriptive, some writers make the mistake of loading their sentences with adjectives. Feel free to use adjectives in your imagery, but don't overdo it.

A combination of vivid nouns and verbs can often make a point stronger, and in fewer words, than a series of adjectives.

Important characters, settings, and plot events warrant more detailed descriptions - and thus, more imagery.

When you describe a setting that will go on to play a major role in your story, feel free to go into detail about it. For instance, let's say you're telling a crime story and the villain and his crew often hang out at his auto body. The place will later serve as the setting for the climactic shootout.

You should go into specifics about things like the sounds of the mechanics' machines, the splotches of grease on the floor, the taste of the candy in the vending machine out in the hallway.

In the same story, your protagonist happens to stop at a coffee shop. The shop is only in one scene, just briefly. Spending five paragraphs describing the coffee shop wouldn't be warranted - the setting isn't important enough to the overall story.

Giving the reader a visual sense of a scene is critical. Thus, you'll likely find yourself using visual imagery more than the other kinds. That's okay. However, be sure to work in the four other types.

That being said, you never want imagery to feel forced. Let's say you've used all the types of imagery in a certain scene except taste. If the scene doesn't call for a character to be tasting something, don't worry about getting in taste imagery.

You should never create additional imagery at the risk of your story events feeling unnatural.  

​Imagery is used across fiction and narrative non-fiction. Some examples of genres that use imagery:

• Thriller
• Mystery
• Crime
• ​Horror
• Action
• Adventure
• Romance
• Science fiction
• Memoir
• ​Comedy
• ​Fantasy

​You might also like my posts on symbols and metaphors.

​A unique writer voice can make your book or screenplay stand out. However, to create a compelling, consistent voice through your story, you need to understand the nuances of point of view (POV), particularly first person vs. third person. 

A writing voice is the tone a writer uses to tell a story. Though characters can have their own voices, the writing voice refers to the overall voice telling a story. With first-person POV, the voice is that of a specific character. In many other cases, it belongs to no character.

Voice is important because it plays a key factor in the style of a story. Is a story told in a sarcastic way that pokes fun at the characters? Or, is that story told in a matter-of-fact fashion that gives the reader information without any direct opinion?

​These are two drastically different examples that would drastically alter the story's style. If you're trying to capture a certain style, you need to be mindful of voice. And that means you need to be mindful of POV...  

​A POV is the perspective a story is told from. The two main options are first person and third. In first, the story unfolds from the perspective of a character, who speaks with "I." In third, various characters can be the subjects of specific scenes, yet they are referred to by name, not "I."

POV is important because it helps define voice and style, but also because it plays a major role in how information is delivered to your reader. When writing from the perspective of a subject character, you can only discuss information that character would be aware of - in a given scene, the reader can only know as much as this character.

​Because of the various nuances associated with POV - which we'll discuss later in this post - writers often make POV mistakes. Unfortunately, these can make you come off as an amateur.

As I went over in my post on dialogue writing, publishing-company employees, film producers, and consumers will often only read five or so pages of your story before making a decision to continue or not. If you have a POV error on those opening pages, you'd be giving someone a reason to stop reading.

As mentioned, the two major POV categories are first person and third. However, within third are various distinctions. The four key POVs:
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• First person
• Third person, limited, close
• Third person, limited, distant
• Third person, omniscient

If you're writing a book, you can choose any of these four POVs. Once you pick one, you need to stick with it through your story, though. Thus, be sure to select the one that'll let you tell your story in the most impactful way. 

If you're writing a screenplay, you don't have any choice about POV. Scripts tend to be written in third-person omniscient.

​Below, find a detailed breakdown of the four key POVs.

• The story is told in a direct way by a POV character (who tends to be the protagonist), referred to as “I” even outside of dialogue.

 

• Every chapter of the book tends to be told from the POV of this one character (though exceptions exist).

 

• The events of the story are limited to the POV character’s experiences and knowledge – this character must be present in every scene.

 

• The POV character can only describe things he is able to perceive – for instance, if he is 1,000 feet from two characters engaged in conversation, that conversation can’t be featured in dialogue since the POV character would not be able to hear it.

 

• Only the POV character’s direct thoughts or feelings can be expressed (ie, internal monologue), however, he can speculate on the direct thoughts or feelings of any other character.

 

• All descriptions, internal monologue, and even narration are conveyed in the voice of the POV character.
  

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• The POV character’s dialogue is in his own voice, however, the lines of other characters are spoken in their voices.

• Each scene of the story features a single POV character – unlike first person, however, this character is not referred to as “I” outside of dialogue, but rather, by name or third-person pronoun.

 

• Though the protagonist is often the POV character, unlike with first person, various other POV characters tend to appear through the book. 

 

• The details of a scene are limited to the POV character’s experiences and knowledge – this character must be present in the scene.

 

• The POV character can only describe things he is able to perceive – for instance, if he is 1,000 feet from two characters engaged in conversation, that conversation can’t be featured in dialogue since the POV character would not be able to hear it.

 

• The POV character is the only one in a scene whose direct thoughts or feelings can be expressed (ie, internal monologue), while those of other characters can be suggested, though not confirmed (ex, “Jane seems mad” is okay, while “Jane is mad” is not okay). 

 

• With close third person, all descriptions, internal monologue, and narration are told in the voice of the POV character, even though “I” is not used.

 

• The POV character’s dialogue is in his own voice, however, the lines of other characters are spoken in their voices.

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• Each scene of the story features a single POV character – unlike first person, however, this character does not speak with “I” outside of dialogue, but rather, is referred to by name or third-person pronoun.

 

• Though the protagonist is often the POV character, unlike with first person, various other POV characters tend to appear through the book.

 

• The details of a scene are limited to the POV character’s experiences and knowledge – this character must be present in the scene.

 

• The POV character can only describe things he is able to perceive – for instance, if he is 1,000 feet from two characters engaged in conversation, that conversation can’t be featured in dialogue since the POV character would not be able to hear it.

 

• The POV character is the only one in a scene whose direct thoughts or feelings can be expressed (ie, internal monologue), while those of other characters can be suggested, though not confirmed (ex, “Jane seems mad” is okay, while “Jane is mad” is not okay).

 

• With distant third person, descriptions, internal monologue, and narration are not told in the voice of the POV character, but instead a voice that does not belong to any character, rather, a third party.

 

• This third-party voice tends to have the tone of a neutral observer, telling the story in an objective, straightforward way, however, this tone is not required – the author can choose any tone, yet is encouraged to stay consistent with one throughout the book. 

 

• The POV character’s dialogue is in his own voice, however, the lines of other characters are spoken in their voices.

• The idea of a POV character doesn’t exist.

 

• Any character in a scene can have his direct thoughts or feelings expressed (ie, internal monologue).

 

• Scenes are not limited to any character’s experiences, knowledge, or perception – any character can be, or not be, in any scene.

 

• Descriptions, internal monologue, and narration are not told in the voice of a specific character, but instead a voice that does not belong to any character, rather, a third party.

 

• This third-party voice tends to have the tone of a neutral observer, telling the story in an objective, straightforward way (screenplays use this tone), however, for books, an author can choose any tone, yet is encouraged to stay consistent with one throughout book. 

 

• All dialogue is expressed in the voice of the speaking character.

As mentioned, with first-person POV, your story's overall voice becomes that of the protagonist. With third-person POV, however, the overall voice is fused together by various factor, such as:

• Are you using a close or distant POV?

 

• If you're using a close POV, is the main character the subject of the vast majority of scenes? Is another character - like your villain - the subject of many scenes too? In what way do the voices of these characters clash? 

 

• If you're using a non-close POV, is the outside voice that of a neutral observer or an opinionated one?

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You might also like my posts on descriptive writing and characterization.