The Key to Descriptive Writing - Words and MoreYes, word choice is important in descriptive writing. However, simply inserting a bunch of adjectives into your sentences won't cut it. Check out these 5 tips expert writers use to create vivid descriptions in books, short stories, screenplays, and articles. Want to write an awesome story? Download my FREE outlining guide. What is descriptive writing?Descriptive writing is a storytelling technique that vividly conveys the setting and character behavior within a scene. It is found in fiction and narrative non-fiction. It often relies on visual imagery to capture a scene, however, evokes the four non-sight senses as well. A common descriptive writing mistakeNewer writers often make the mistake of loading adjectives into their sentences, thinking it'll make their writing more descriptive. Though adjectives do describe, alone, they don't pull your reader into your scene. You want your audience to be immersed in the world of your story, to the point where they shut the real world out while reading. A tactic for accomplishing this is the "show don't tell" method. Essentially, instead of "telling" your reader something in your story has a certain characteristic, "show" that characteristic in action and allow the reader to come to the conclusion it exists. Excessive adjective use is associated with telling. Showing, on the other hand, draws your reader in the story world because it activates the part of the mind that makes observations. Your reader will begin to feel like an active participant in your story, not someone hearing about it from a distance. Let's look at two examples and see which you think is better... Examples of descriptive writing - show vs. tellLet's assume I want to convey to a reader that a big bowl of soup is hot. Here are two ways I can do that: Example A Kelly left a big, hot bowl of soup on the kitchen counter. Example B James walks into the kitchen. A bowl of soup takes up a chunk of the counter. Kelly must've forgotten to clean up after she ate. James grabs it, then yanks his hand away. The tips of his fingers burn. I feel example B is more descriptive. Notice how the adjectives "big" and "hot" aren't even used? Notice how no adjectives are used at all? Instead, the reader is pulled into the scene and uncovers the intended characteristics through sensory observation. Check out 5 tips below for leading your reader into the world of your story. For even more advice on creating immersive scenes, check out my online scene writing course. #1 - Leverage nouns and verbs in descriptive writingNouns and verbs are the main ingredients in the "show" method of storytelling. Because they capture physical entities and movement, they lend themselves to visualizations. Examples: The pitcher hurls the baseball. The criminal shatters the window. The hail whacks the pavement. Opt for words that create specific, concrete images in readers' minds. For instance, John travels down the street isn't as strong as John sprints down the street. Nouns and verbs can also appeal to the non-sight senses: smell, sound, taste, and touch. For instance, The music booms in her ears or The bullet rips through his flesh. #2 - Use character reactions in descriptive writingCharacter reactions add a human element to your scenes, which helps deepen the connection between a reader and your story. Let's say I want to get across the idea that a cliff is steep. I can show the reaction of a character observing the steepness to associate it with a feeling - in this case, fear. This human feeling provides depth to the physical description of the cliff. For instance: Fred inches his head over the cliff for a peek down. If he fell, sudden death. His heart pounding, he takes a step back. #3 - Use dialogue in descriptive writingLike character reactions, dialogue features humans. Because of this, it can express feeling, which pumps life into your story. Do you want to get across the point a character is funny? Don't tell your audience. Show the character saying something funny. Do you want to convey that a necklace in your story is beautiful? Don't tell your audience. Show a pair of characters discussing the lengths they'd go to just to wear it for a night. #4 - Avoid adverbs in descriptive writingThough you should try to phrase descriptive sentences with nouns and verbs, an occasional adjective is okay. For instance, if a car being red plays a role in the plot of your story, feel free to state that the car is red, versus trying to come up with some roundabout way of expressing the color without its name. Adverbs, on the other hand, should be eliminated from your sentences in the vast majority of cases. Adverbs tend to be extra words that don't add meaning to your writing. You should be able to cut almost all of them without losing the point you're trying to make. Below, I've made some descriptive points, with an adverb version to the left and a non-adverb version to the right. The non-adverb variations use fewer words, which helps keep your writing lean, while retaining the meaning of the point. Plus, they're more vivid.
#5 - Avoid data dumps in descriptive writingA data dump occurs when a writer piles a bunch of information about a topic onto the reader at once. These can slow your story, cause the reader to get bored, and pull them out of the world you've created. Even if you follow the tips above and your descriptive writing is quality, you should avoid going into too much depth on a topic at once. For example, let's say your main character is from a big city and she just arrives in a small rural town that will serve as the setting for the rest of the story. You will of course want to capture the essence of this small town. However, you should avoid telling your reader everything about it the moment it's introduced. Instead, release descriptive details about parts of the town as your characters experience them. As an alternative to informing your audience about the diner, the mill, and the motel in a data dump, describe the diner the first time your main character goes for breakfast. And don't inform your reader about the mill or the motel until they're featured in their own scenes later on. The same logic holds within a specific scene. Don't offer the reader everything about the diner the moment your character arrives. Have the audience experience the details as your character does. You can describe the old sign out front. Then the scent of the lobby. Then the quirky personality of the waitress. Then the taste of the food. Then the mysterious man in the corner who seems to be spying. Want more writing advice?You might also like my post on writing voice.
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How to Write Great Dialogue in Your Story – 5 Tips With ExamplesWriting a book or screenplay? Bad dialogue can cause readers to abandon your story after just a few pages, while great dialogue can keep them hooked till the end. Check out these 5 tips to make sure your dialogue is the better kind. Want to write an awesome story? Download my FREE outlining guide. What is dialogue in a story?Dialogue is what the characters in a story say. It’s one of the four major types of content that appear on pages, along with description, internal monologue, and narration. Dialogue, which receives its own formatting, can be expressed in any sequence among any of the other page elements. Why is good dialogue important?Are you an author looking for a publishing deal? Employees at publishing companies are busy. They lack the time to fully read every submitted manuscript. They may just read the first five pages, then decide to continue or not. If you haven’t impressed them with those first five pages, your project is done (despite how great your ending is and all the other scenes they haven’t gotten to). Are you a screenwriter? Film producers are known to follow a similar process while going through script submissions. Do you plan to bypass a writing deal and self-publish? Consumers can read the opening pages of your book on Amazon before buying. If they’re not hooked, your sale is gone. Since dialogue often takes up the bulk of a page’s space, it is bound to play a significant factor in the perceived quality of your writing, even in just five pages. Quality dialogue is critical for getting your story “through the door.” Even if you can capture a reader’s attention in the opening pages, you still need to make sure you sustain their interest with quality dialogue through the rest of your story. Below are 5 tips to help you nail this crucial component of your story. If you want even more advice on dialogue, check out my online dialogue course. 5 tips for great dialogue#1 – Infuse your dialogue with conflict“Hi,” Nick says. “Hello,” Grace replies. “You look nice today.” “Thank you. You look nice too. Where do you want to eat lunch?” “I want to try that sushi place on Adams.” “I really want to try it too. Let’s go. I can drive.” “Sounds good.” Are you bored yet? This is an example of bad dialogue. It has no conflict. The two characters are having a pleasant conversation with no tension. Though people tend to enjoy conversations like that in real life, they disdain them in stories. People buy books and movies for drama. Your characters shouldn’t ask simple questions and get back simple answers. They should be at odds with each other. Even in a scene where two characters are friends, they shouldn’t be in full agreement on a topic. Give them different perspectives, even slightly, then show those perspectives clashing. #2 – Give characters unique voicesAs a reader gets deeper into your story, whenever a major character is speaking, the reader should theoretically be able to identify the character based on the content of their words. This becomes possible if you give your characters unique voices. Characters should be individualized via characterization traits. Those traits should be reflected in the things they choose to say. Does a nasty organized-crime enforcer speak the same way as a friendly guidance counselor? Make the distinction clear. Even characters who have many demographic traits in common shouldn’t sound exactly alike. Think about people in your own life whom you consider a similar demographic as you. You may not talk drastically different from each other, but some variety must exist. Maybe you say the word “Yes” often, while your best friend prefers “Yep.” Not a major difference, but it can add to characterization. #3 – Use slang and jargon effectivelyLike we just discussed, characters should have authentic, distinct voices. In real life, people often speak with characteristic slang and jargon. People in your story should too. These terms can help capture a character’s geographic roots, career, demeanor, and much more. However, your audience may not have previous knowledge of these specialized terms. And you don’t want to slow down your story by explaining what every instance means. Work in some of these terms, but in a way that doesn’t prohibit your audience from following your plot. Your reader should be able to understand the gist of a conversation even if they don’t know every word. Have you ever watched or read a police-procedural movie or book? What about a story that features scientists working in a lab? Did you hear various terms you didn’t quite understand? Maybe codes cops use over their radios? Or chemical compounds the scientists discuss? Were you still able to follow the plot? If so, the gist of the conversations were intact. Based on the reactions of other characters, who do understand the terms, you were able to tell if something bad was happening in the scene or something good, and you could tell whom was affected. That's what matters. Yet, in certain cases, knowing a bit about an obscure or technical topic is critical to understanding a story. If you're writing one like this, you need to get the information across to your audience. For example, if you’re telling a military story, and a certain cutting-edge weapon plays a major role in your ending, you should sufficiently explain how the technology works well before the ending. But be careful. If your story features too many topics that require explanation, your pacing can suffer. Keep these to a handful at most. #4 – Don’t force information into your dialogue“Hey Amanda,” Steve says. “Guess what? Yesterday I ran into our former classmate, Nathan, who you started dating in high school, then dated through college, then broke up with last year.” Feels off, right? Steve and Amanda both know she dated Nathan. Steve would have no need to tell her information he is aware she already knows. Instead, this would feel more natural: “Hey Amanda,” Steve says. “Guess what? Yesterday I ran into Nathan.” Why do writers often force unnatural information into dialogue? Though characters may be aware of a certain piece of information, sometimes the audience has yet to hear it. Contextual details the audience needs to fully understand a scene is known as exposition. You should only include it in dialogue if the words feel natural. FYI, avenues besides dialogue exist for conveying exposition, which I also cover in my Powerful Pages writing course. #5 – Leverage silenceYes, dialogue is about talking. However, don’t hesitate to use silence alongside it. People often go quiet when they are upset or have something to hide. These emotionally elevated states can make for great drama in a story. Use them. Which example is more interesting to you? Example A “I looked everywhere,” Leah says. “The nightstand. The glovebox of the car. Every drawer in my desk. I couldn’t find it.” “This can turn into a problem,” Jim says. Example B “I looked everywhere,” Leah says. “The nightstand. The glovebox of the car. Every drawer in my desk. I couldn’t find it.” Jim glances at her and steps to the window. He gazes at the falling snow. She puts her hand on his shoulder. “Honey, it’s going to be okay,” she says. He takes a deep breath and storms out of the den. I don’t know about you, but I think B is better, even though Jim doesn’t say a thing. His silence creates tension. Him leaving the room without talking is a stronger expression of “This can turn into a problem” than him actually saying “This can turn into a problem.” Want more writing tips?You might also like my posts on descriptive writing and writing POV.
10 Can't-Miss Tips for Writing a Suspenseful Book or ScriptWant to create a page-turning story? Check out these 10 tips for writing a suspenseful book, or script, that will keep readers excitedly flipping your pages. Want to write an awesome story? Download my FREE outlining guide. Suspense Tip 1 - Make your reader care about the characterSuspense is heightened the more the reader wants to know a piece of information. A reader's desire for a certain piece of information increases the more the reader cares about the character involved. For example, if a reader feels a deep connection to your protagonist, and that character is on trial for a murder he didn't commit, the reader will feel a lot of suspense awaiting the verdict. On the other hand, if a minor character that the reader never got a chance to know was on trial for murder, the reader wouldn't care much about the verdict, ie not much suspense. Since your protagonist drives the plot of your story, and most suspense will be around that character's outcomes, I suggest you learn how to create a protagonist the reader cares about. That being said, supporting characters can absolutely be the subjects of suspense scenes too. Make sure you've at least developed some empathy between the reader and character if you want these scenes to work well. Suspense Tip 2 - Put a lot at stakeLet's stay your reader cares a lot about a character and you decide to create a suspense scene around that character. You're off to a good start. You raise a question the reader wants the answer to. However, for some reason, when you read the chapter's draft, you're not on the edge of your seat. What happened? Likely, not much is at stake. For instance, if your reader cares a lot about a character named Michelle, who's stuck in traffic on the way to work, the audience may wonder, Will she make it to the office on time? However, this question isn't that suspenseful without something major at stake. If Michelle happens to show up 15 minutes late, nothing terrible will happen to her. She doesn't have much to lose. Instead, if Michelle has a potentially career-changing presentation with her company's biggest client, now something is at stake. The busy client only has 30 minutes at the office before having to leave for another appointment. If Michelle is late, she won't have enough time for her presentation. And if the presentation doesn't go well, she'll lose out on the promotion to her dream job. Suspense Tip 3 - Use story questionsA story question is a certain type of question the reader wants the answer to. However, unlike other suspense questions, it's rarely answered in the chapter where it was raised, but much later in the story. As mentioned, suspense is elevated the longer the reader must wait for a question's answer. Thus, story questions, with their long time horizons, lend themselves to effective suspense. Here's an example of how story questions can play out...
The reader will have to keep turning the pages for the answers to those four story questions. Suspense Tip 4 - Create a compelling protagonist "want"Your protagonist's "want" is the main goal they're after through the story. For instance, in a detective novel, the want may be catching a serial killer. Whether or not your protagonist attains the want shouldn't be revealed until the climax of the story, just before the end. This time delay makes for good suspense. However, you also need to make sure a lot is at stake for your protagonist. As mentioned, when characters have a lot to lose if a story outcome turns out negative, readers become more emotionally invested in the result. In the detective example, if the killer isn't caught, he's almost definitely going to carry out five more murders he's planned. Innocent people will die and the detective will be forced to shoulder the guilt, ie a lot to lose. To learn more about creating a great protagonist want, check out my post on story plot tips. Suspense Tip 5 - Structure your story into actsAs discussed, your protagonist should have an overarching want that propels the events of the story until the end. To turn up the suspense along the way, you should structure your story into acts. The beginning and middle acts would build to answer their own questions, which would serve as sub-questions to whether or not the main character achieves the main goal. For example, if a detective's main goal is catching a serial killer, the reader would receive a definitive answer in the final act. However, in the two previous acts, the events in the story would build to answer two important related questions:
Since these questions are related to the story's main one, if you did a good job crafting the main one, the earlier act questions will immediately become important to the reader. To learn more about acts, check out my post on structuring your story into acts. Suspense Tip 6 - Shift reader expectations during a sceneThe last few tips involved building suspense across many chapters. However, you should also aim to create suspense within chapters. The same rules apply: the reader needs to care about an outcome and you should delay the answer. However, within a single chapter, you don't have much time. You might only have five, maybe 10 pages. A tactic you can use to compensate for the compressed timeline is to rapidly shift reader expectations during it. For instance, let's say you're writing a scene where a woman is running through the woods, away from a man who wants to hurt her. If you simply describe her running for three pages, yes, your reader will likely feel suspense. However, that suspense would be stronger if you fed in a stream of events that shifted reader expectations as to whether or not the woman gets away. Here's how you could do that:
Suspense Tip 7 - Use a ticking clockAs you now know, with good suspense, you want to make your audience wait for answers. However, you'd benefit by doing the opposite for your characters - you want to give them tight timeframes. In writing, a ticking clock is a deadline a character has to accomplish an important task. These clocks are sometimes literal - in an action story, the hero may have just three hours to find and diffuse a bomb with an actual ticking clock on it. A physical clock doesn't need to be involved, though - you just need a time crunch, regardless of the source. For example, in a romance story, the lead character has been offered a job in a new city. She has until June 1 to accept the offer. From now until then, she needs to decide if she wants to take the job or stay in town and pursue a relationship with a man she's falling for. A ticking clock builds suspense because it makes a promise to the reader: by a certain point in time, either something good or bad will definitely happen for a character. The definitiveness of the outcome makes the reader care more about it. As the clock ticks down, the feeling of suspense grows. To elevate the suspense of a ticking clock, you can use dramatic irony to put a character in a dangerous situation he isn't even aware of. For instance, the audience knows a bomb, set to go off in 30 minutes, is inside a building. Unaware, the main character walks inside. Suspense Tip 8 - Leverage cliffhangersWith a cliffhanger, you raise a question the audience cares about in a chapter and then end the chapter before giving the reader the answer. Though closing on any type of unanswered question technically constitutes a cliffhanger, the more dramatic kinds involve leaving a character in a pressing predicament. The obvious example is someone literally hanging off a cliff. If the reader cares about a character, and that character somehow has found his way onto the edge of a cliff, and falling means serious injury or death, end the chapter there and the reader should be very eager to turn the page to see what happens. Don't be afraid to close a lot of your chapters with a cliffhanger. That being said, if you end many chapters in a life-or-death predicament, your story may feel a bit forced. Vary the stakes and the immediacy of the chapter-ending questions. Suspense Tip 9 - Leverage crosscuttingWith crosscutting, you'd write a chapter from the POV of character A, then write the next chapter from the POV of character B, who is currently not with character A. You're essentially jumping in space. At the end of a chapter, if the audience is left wondering how certain events will play out for character A, cutting to character B delays the reveal of information about character A, infusing suspense. After character B's chapter, if you again cut to character A (or even to C), the audience is left wondering about character B, ie even more suspense. The crosscutting technique works best in combination with pressing-predicament cliffhangers. The suspense around character A will be elevated when you cut to character B, if character A is left in physical danger or some other state of impending jeopardy. Suspense Tip 10 - Equip your antagonist for surpriseAs your protagonist pursues the want, the story's main villain should throw obstacles at the hero to prevent success. Make your villain a worthy opponent of your hero. Even better, make your villain more imposing than your hero, at least at the beginning of the book. A skilled, dynamic antagonist is capable of surprise. Thus, even when things seem to be going well for your protagonist, your audience will still feel suspense. If the reader knows a resilient villain, capable of crafty attacks, is lurking somewhere out there, the protagonist is never quite safe. A devastating surprise can come at any time. To learn more about antagonists, check out my post on writing great villains. What is suspense in storytelling?Suspense in storytelling is delaying the reveal of information the reader wants to know. The more the audience wants to know something, and the longer it waits, the greater the suspense. What types of stories need suspense?Though suspense is often associated with the action and thriller genres, it can be woven into stories of any genre. Yes, suspense is part of any quality gunfight or car-chase scene, but it's also what makes many subtler scenes work well. For example, in a domestic story, let's say a husband and wife are simply sitting at a table eating dinner. The reader knows the husband just told his wife a lie about where he was last night. When she asks him questions about the night, suspense is created. Will he will be exposed as a liar? Whatever type of story you're writing, it can benefit from an infusion of suspense. How to Write a Great Short Story: 5 Key TipsDo you want to be a writer? A short story is an excellent place to start. I'll show you how to write a captivating one with these five key tips. Interested in writing a book? Download my FREE story-outlining guide. Short story tip #1 - Create a distinct protagonistLike a novel, a short story should have a main character. Even though you have much fewer pages for character development, you still need to do it. If your reader doesn't know the sort of person your protagonist is, connecting with that character can be difficult. However, you need to be efficient with your words. A novelist might spend seven pages describing all a character's hopes and fears, but you can't in a short story. You need to decide on the information you want to convey, then do so in as few words as possible. Express the following about your protagonist early on:
Short story tip #2 - Give your protagonist a serious problemYour story can open with your protagonist already in trouble. Or, you can open by showing them going about a typical day. If you pick the second option, that day should only be typical for a page, maybe two. You need to throw your protagonist into a conflict quickly. Make sure they have something to lose if the problem isn't solved - what's on the line is known as "the stakes." In a thriller story, the protagonist may lose his life if he doesn't solve his problem (ex, a serial killer targeting him). In a romance story, the protagonist's life may not be in jeopardy, but something else important should be (ex, her shot at a lasting relationship). Once you establish that something major is at stake, your reader should feel a connection with your lead. And once emotionally invested in the character, your reader should eagerly turn your pages to see how the problem turns out. Short story tip #3 - Stay focused on one problemIn novels, a protagonist may run into various problems. Supporting characters may confront their own dilemmas, which can play out over many chapters. Short stories don't offer enough room to properly address multiple conflicts. Make sure the conflict that arises from your hero's problem is a compelling one - then stay focused on that single conflict through the story, remaining in the POV of your lead. That being said, though you should concentrate on a single plot thread, that thread shouldn't be flat. You want to escalate your conflict - you want the challenge for your protagonist to seem increasingly harder. If possible, you even want to "raise the stakes," ie give your protagonist more to lose going into the climax than at the story's start. For example, let's look at the thriller story mentioned earlier, about a serial killer targeting a man. At the beginning, the man is with his friend, an off-duty police officer with a sidearm. Toward the middle of the story, the killer murders the cop. Now, the unarmed man is alone - defeating the killer has become a more difficult challenge. Just before the climax, the man finds out the killer plans to murder his wife after him. Now, more is at stake if the hero fails to defeat the villain. Not only will he die, his wife will too. Short story tip #4 - Create an air of mysteryYou don't need to explain the context of every story event to your reader. Not only does this eat up valuable page space, it takes away any mystery. Raising questions in the mind of your reader is good. You want to eventually provide the answers, but delaying them builds suspense. Along the way, you can drip bits of information. For instance, the serial-killer story may open with two men in suits running through the woods. Your reader will wonder why they're doing this. You don't have to explain that they're running from a serial killer (even though they are). Possibly, you can show one of the guys tripping over a log. The other panics. While he helps up his friend, he says, "Hurry, I see him coming." Now your reader knows they're running from a man (you've dripped some information). However, your reader doesn't know who this man is (you've raised another question). A page or two later, you can reveal that their pursuer is wanted for fifteen murders. Short story tip #5 - Put in a twist near the endA twist is a major reveal that pulls the story events in a drastically new direction. The key to writing a good twist is to subtly hint at the shocking truth through the story, while misdirecting the reader so the connection isn't made. In a short story, a good place for a twist is during the climax, directly before it, or directly after. In any case, it should occur toward the end. For instance, in the serial-killer story, during the climax, the reader may find out that the main character was responsible for sending the villain on the killing rampage. The main character is a surgeon who was medically careless during a procedure, causing his patient - the villain's wife - to die. After lying in court, the doctor, along with the help of his high-priced attorney, was found innocent of any crime. The death, coupled with the lack of justice, pushed the already-troubled villain into a darker place, which led to a rampage. Here's how to create an effective twist from these events... Through most of the story, you'd portray the doctor - the main character - as a sensitive, moral family man, while portraying the villain as an emotionless butcher. The masked villain wears a necklace with a ring on it. The police assume it's some ritualistic death symbol. During the climax, when the villain has the doctor cornered, the villain finally removes his mask. His eyes are filled with tears. Though he's definitely a murderer, he's not emotionless. The villain gives the doctor a phone and insists the doctor admit what he did to the police. The doctor confesses to medical malpractice and lying in court. Content with this admission, the villain sets down his gun. He clutches the ring around his necklace and tells the doctor it belonged to his wife. The police show up and take away both men. Want even more writing tips?Personification Examples [Improve Your Writing]Learn the definition of personification and the different types, see various personification examples, and pick up some tips for adding this literary device to your writing for strong effect. Personification definitionPersonification refers to the depiction of human qualities in non-human items, such as buildings or animals. However, it can also refer to the depiction of a concept, like fear or perseverance, in the form of a human. Personification examplesIn narrative writing, when human characteristics are given to non-human items, writers often explicitly state these instances of personification. However, when humans embody a certain concept, writers often do not explicitly state the connection, but suggest it figuratively. 10 examples of stated personification
10 examples of non-stated, conceptual personification
Tips for adding personification to your writing1. Personifying non-human characters Non-human personification is critical for stories with non-human characters. In a fantasy story, for example, most of the characters might be animals. For an audience to identify with them, they should be given human qualities like the ability to talk. In a science fiction story that takes place in a different galaxy, all the characters might be aliens. Though these aliens may not look like humans, the writer should give them certain human qualities so the audience can identify with them. For instance, although most of these aliens may be seventy feet tall and have IQs of 850, they live in homes with families (just like humans) and bicker with family members (just like humans). 2. Personifying settings Settings are a great place to apply personification to create a human connection. For instance, let's say a character in an adventure story enters a dangerous jungle. A writer can elevate this scene by personifying the jungle. "Human vs. human" conflict is emotionally engaging. And though a jungle isn't a human, if it can feel like one, the conflict can become more vibrant... Ken takes his first step into the Bagana wilderness. The jungle's hot sun stares down at him. He looks for shade, but wherever he goes, the unforgiving sun finds him. When describing settings, as a general guideline, the amount of page space you dedicate to the description should be proportional to how important that setting is in your story. For example, if a character stops at a diner for a quick cup of coffee during a road trip, and that diner never appears in the story again, you shouldn't spend three pages describing the place. However, let's say you're telling a story about a seemingly law-abiding waitress who secretly deals drugs out of the diner where she works. Many of the scenes take place there. Going deep into the description of this diner, applying personification and other writing techniques, would be a good idea. 3. Personifying objects Like a setting, objects in a story can feel more vibrant if personified. Let's look at an example in an action story... Charles knows he's in trouble. He can hear his enemy's footsteps racing toward him from behind. Though Charles lost his gun, an old friend is still hanging around. His set of brass knuckles. While describing objects, follow the same guideline as settings - the amount of page space used to describe an object should be proportional to its importance in the story. A set of brass knuckles that plays a pivotal role in a fight scene could surely have a couple sentences of description, maybe even a couple paragraphs, while a stick of gum a character casually chews on may deserve just a couple words. 4. Personifying concepts When characters in a story represent concepts, the theme of a story can feel more palpable. A theme is the takeaway about life in general an audience would have after finishing a story. Since themes are abstractions about life, they involve concepts. Examples of story themes:
When certain characters in a story embody concepts related to the theme, the conflicts those characters go though can show the depth of the theme, and thus, make it more believable. For an example, let's look at this theme: Unresolved issues from the past can ruin the future. In this story, our main character will be Bill. He used to be a criminal. He went to prison for ten years. When he gets out, he decides to leave his life of crime behind and create a peaceful future for himself in the suburbs. There, he meets Sophia, a kind woman who has never committed a misdemeanor in her life. Bill views her as a potential wife - she represents "the future." A couple months into dating Sophia, Bill gets an unexpected visitor at his doorstep, Allen. Allen was Bill's old criminal associate, who feels he's owed $90,000 from a job they did over a decade ago. Bill doesn't believe Allen's justification, and even if he did, doesn't have $90,000 on hand. Allen, who represents "unresolved issues from the past," keeps antagonizing Bill. Sophia can't help but notice Bill's conflict with this angry stranger. To get revenge on Bill, Allen eventually targets Sophia. In the climax, she escapes death. However, even though Allen is arrested, Sophia has lost interest in marrying Bill. She decides to leave him. This idea of concept representation can be furthered with the development of motifs, which are recurring elements in your story that stand for ideas related to your theme. In the example above, story elements associated with Sophia can help you make points about the future. For instance, she could be renovating her and Bill's house, wanting to put a fresh, modern take on some of the old styles. Allen's appearance in their life causes so much stress Sophia becomes too distracted to continue with the project and puts it on hold. This plot event conceptually conveys the point, "Because of Allen, Sophia and Bill's relationship has stopped moving forward, and is stuck in the past." Want even more writing tips?You might also like my examples of other literary devices, such as alliteration examples, metaphor examples, and symbolism examples. |