The writer's craft
When you are thinking about the writer’s craft and the use of language and stylistic devices you may wish to use this list as a helpful guide:
- structure of the text - beginnings, climax, sequentialHappening in a logical order. / chronologicalEvents are written or spoken about in the order in which they actually happened. ordering, flashback, conclusion
- descriptive techniques eg vocabulary choices, use of imagery and the senses
- creation of setting eg time, place, atmosphere
- creation of character eg through narrator’s descriptions, use of dialogue, actions
- narration eg omniscientAll knowing - an omniscient narrator is one who knows all of the thoughts and feelings of the characters in a story. narrator, first person narration, multiple narrators’ use of personaThe voice adopted by an author for a particular purpose, this voice does not necessarily reflect the author's true thoughts. It can also mean a mask that someone presents to the world as their real character ('persona' is the Latin word for an actor's mask). , autobiography
- cohesiveFitting together well to form a united whole. elements eg repetition of words or ideas, climax, suspense, sequentialHappening in a logical order. ordering
- disjunctiveLacking any clear connection or consistency. elements eg cliffhangerA plot device featuring a character in a perilous or difficult situation, used to ensure that an audience will return to see how the situation unfolds. endings, flashbacks
- use of punctuation and other typographical effects eg italics, capitalisation, suspension points Sometimes known as ellipses, these are usually three dots used in a sentence to indicate where a word or words have been left out, the missing words can usually be guessed from clues in in the text.
