Today I learned the truth. Today my father’s actions made sense for the first time; why he always locked all the doors and windows every time I went to bed, why he scratched those strange markings on their frames, but mostly why my door had so many of them. Why he had the village healer inscribe both my eyelids with the same symbol. Today I learned why the entire village feared me, and cast me and my family away in the forest. Today, under the ancient weeping willow at the heart of the forest, I reshaped reality. My reality. I’m not sure, but I think there’s three of me now, and the other two were not very happy they were held captives for so long.
What’s your favourite rhetorical device?
Last week I talked about Rhetorical Devices and gave you a list of 60 of them. If you read Robert A. Harris’s post and went through all of them (of course you did, why wouldn’t you, when they are there to help you elevate your craft?) you probably noticed those you involuntarily use (as in my case) or do so purposefully. Chances are you use more than one or two, and it’s possible you have a few that are your favourites, either because they remind you a novel you read that stayed with you over the years, or because they added a little something to one of your works.
So, here are some of the ones I use frequently. See if we have any in common. To my knowledge, none of the examples I used here are used anywhere else. I just made them up as I wrote this post. If you know that one of them belongs to someone else, please let me know and I will take it down.
Amplification
According to Robert A. Harris, amplification is the repetition of either a word or an expression by making it more detailed to draw attention to it. In my mind, amplification adds something poetic to my writing.
Example: And, oh, the sea, the vast, inviting sea. How much he longed for it.
Anadiplosis
This can sometimes be confused with Amplification. The difference (as I understand it) is the level of detail you, as the writer, add to that special word.
Example: And the sea, the sea that claimed her brother, would now claim her.
Anaphora
It is the repetition of a word or an expression, but unlike the previous ones, it usually happens at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses.
Example: If only he remembered, if only his memories hadn’t fled like frightened children.
Example: She approached the bubbling cauldron very timidly, very sheepishly, very carefully not to wake the fearsome guardian (for the sake of the example, let’s ignore the eye-popping use of the word “very” and the number of adverbs, shall we?)
Antanagoge
It is the placing of a positive or beneficial attribute next to a negative or a problem to minimise the significance of the negative.
Example: He did crash into her, and her damage was greater than his, but he was willing to cover all costs and offered to take her to the hospital, if she were injured.
Antiphrasis
It can either be a word or a clause used to express irony or drive a point subtly.
Example: He’d enforce peace even if he had to kill them with it.
Antithesis
It’s the use of a clear comparable contrast of two ideas close to one another.
Example: The insect may look tiny and cute as a ladybug, but it kills faster than a nuke.
Aposiopesis
The abrupt end of a statement before it’s finished. The meaning of the statement is implied.
Example: If I don’t get the money to pay them –.
Appositive
Usually a noun (or a phrase serving as a noun) placed next to another to give a description of the first noun.
Example: It happened at night, a dreary and bleak time, though George had no knowledge of it (here, the phrase “a dreary and bleak time” describes the night).
Asyndeton
The intentional omission of conjunction between words or clauses.
Example: She was coming home with the unattainable. She was a champion, an Olympic medalist, a goddess destined for Olympus.
Example: She couldn’t get enough dancing, walking, running, living.
Hypophora
It happens when you (or your character) raises a question and then he/she answers said question.
Example: What would those at the settlement offer him, if he went there? A cut from ear to ear, that’s what (taken from my novel, The Darkening).
Rhetorical question
The difference between a rhetorical question and hypophora is that in this case the question remains unanswered usually because the answer is too obvious or to emphasise a point.
Example: So she would marry and bring that good-for-nothing in the house. Well, two’s company, three’s a crowd. So who was the extra one now?
Metanoia
Used by recalling a previous statement, only this time in a stronger or milder way.
Example: Gasps of awe and wonder erupted around the light, and one by one they moved closer to it. No, not any kind of light, a living light, a girl with a halo (taken from my novel, The Darkening).
Metaphor/Simile
Used to describe two very different things by implying that one thing IS another thing. Different from simile, that one thing is LIKE something else.
Example (metaphor): He had survived through another day, but had little hope of survival through the night, for hope was water held in an open palm (taken from my novel, The Darkening).
Example (simile): A face as white as days-old snow stared back at him, the flesh transparent, like tracing paper (taken from my short story Wisps of Memory, Published by 9 Tales Told in the Dark).
Onomatopoeia
It’s the use of words whose pronunciation imitates the sound the word describes (Robert A. Harris).
Example: The room buzzed and hummed, first from his left, then his right, as though a thousand wasps that lay in hiding were now ready to sting them (taken from my novel, The Darkening).
Parenthesis
A word, a phrase, or even a sentence inserted in the middle of another sentence, which is usually the main or important one. Those of you who frequent my blog must have noticed how often I use it. If you’re looking for an example, scroll up at the first paragraph of this post. Note that Parenthesis doesn’t force you to use brackets. You can also use dashes with the same effect. It all comes down to style and how strong you want the extra phrase to be in the eyes of the reader. Personally, I don’t like using brackets or see them in books, since they tend to drag me out of the story. Obviously, I have no problem using it on my blog 🙂
Personification
The representation of an object or an abstraction as having life-like attributes or human attributes.
Example: The derelict house groaned and creaked, as it settled its beams and walls in a more comfortable position against the wind (taken from my novel, The Darkening).
Example: Liberty called for them to fight to the bitter end.
Polysyndeton
It’s the opposite of Asyndeton (see above). Here, words are joined together by the use of conjunctions.
Example: The kids ran, and played hide-and-seek, and laughed, and tormented the poor old nanny.
These are the ones I tend to use in almost all my works. You can say I’m partial to them for some reason. Turns out I use quite a few of them. How many from the list of 60 do you use more often than others?
Rhetorical devices
Ever wondered what is the thing that makes certain passages within a story flow in a way that make us lose our connection with reality and instead draw us in their made-up world? Why the cadence of some sentences resonate with us in a way that makes us fall in love with a writer and their craft?
Aside from a reader’s preference to a specific setting or type of characters or plot or genre, I think a great deal should be attributed to something called “Rhetorical Devices.” Some of us use them, knowing fully well which one is needed, where to use them, and why (lucky you). Others, like myself, have no idea what they are called, or when or where one should be used, but use them none the less because something at the back of our heads insists it’s the right place to add them, that it adds a little something to our craft.
I think it’s best to be able to identify some of them, even if you don’t want to use them.
Margie Lawson, a guest blogger on Writer’s in the Storm, posted a few of them and gave some nice examples from published works in this post.
Then there’s Robert A. Harris’s, A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices, that provides an even greater list with 60 of these devices.
Happy studying and I hope they help you improve your writing 🙂
Inspirational prompt 29
“If we want to be completely honest with each other, my short friend, it was the silence that woke your queen, not I.”
The constable still struggled to maintain his grip on the ever shifting apparition that looked like that feisty woman from last year, the only one who had managed to ruin a perfectly well-organised execution. “Don’t give me that. Silence doesn’t wake anyone, nor does it put them in a slumber afterwards. We saw you -”
“You saw me doing what exactly?”
“Pulsing,” the constable said and made a point by waving a fat hand before her face when no other descriptive word came to his mind, “over her head. Now she can’t wake up.”
“That’s ’cause she stopped listening. It demands her attention. Mine as well, and your voice is so annoying.”
“Listening what? What does it say? Who says it?”
The shimmering woman paused, focused on the air around her, listened earnestly. “It says, ‘we should talk about your unborn ancestors and the crimes they’ll commit’.”
Comma rules? Comma rules!
Far be it from me to lecture native English speakers about English grammar rules. I used to love grammar and syntax at school. Yes, I was that type of nerd at school, but let’s not go into too much detail about it, shall we?
However, after more than two and a half decades since I was at elementary school, when we did grammar and syntax, and after stuffing my brain with the rules of another language, more or less at the same time with my native language, some rules have “migrated” from one language to the other. So I often remember a rule for this and that while I write, only to realise, oh say a year later, that said rule was not meant for English but for Greek or the other way around.
And yes, I’m one of those people who may have a sudden burst of epiphany to years-old questions in the most absurd places, like cinemas or the bathroom, and I make sure everyone around me knows I found the answer to something.
Which means I have to go back and change things around in my manuscripts. Those of you who beta read for me in the past must have noticed it. (Btw, thank you again, you awesome people you! – wink wink, nudge nudge, next novel will be ready at some point)
One thing I noticed a lot of people struggle with, not only in Greek but in English as well, also not only in self-published books but traditionally published too, is the comma. So, if you’re one of those people like me, have a look at this image with a few rules about comma, and see if it helps you.
