~Part 3-- Awesome Tips and Tricks~

CherryBlossomSky: These are awesome techniques to amp up your diction.

This is also called "Mary Ellen Ledbetter's Smiley Face Tricks".

These are GREAT tricks to use in your writing, but remember, just like salt when you are cooking, a little bit goes a long way. You don't want to use a hyphenated modifier or a magic three in every paragraph.

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Here is the Eight Smiley Face Tricks...

1. Magic 3: Three items in a series, separated by commas that create a poetic rhythm or add support for a point, especially when the items have their own modifier aka parallel structure.

2. Figurative Language: Non-literal comparisons-- such as similes, metaphors, and personification-- add "spices" to writing and can help paint a more vivid picture for the reader. Compare things that are different (clouds like marshmallows) to make writing more interesting.

3. Specific Details For Effect: Instead of general, vague descriptions, specific sensory details help the reader visualize the person, place, thing, or idea that you are describing.

NO FUZZIES!

» A fuzzy is a word that does not show advanced diction (word choice) or vocabulary. Avoid the temptation of the FUZZY.

These are an examples of elevated diction:

Good: excellent, magnificent, marvellous

Bad: awful, appalling, terrible, abysmal

Hot: searing, scorching, blistering, sweltering

Cold: frigid, freezing, biting, bitter

4. Repetition for Effect: Writers often repeat specifically chosen words or phrases to make a point, to stress certain ideas for the reader. The key here is that you are repeating for a REASON!

5. Expanded Moment: Instead of "speeding" a past a moment, writers often emphasize it by "expanding" the actions. Keep describing every little detail of a moment that you want the reader to focus on.

SLOW MOTION FOR WRITING.

6. Humor: Professional writers know the value of laughter: even subtle humor can help turn a "boring" paper into one that can raise one's spirits. Check, even in the Shakespeare's darkest tragedies, he makes his audience laugh sometimes!

7. Hyphenated Modifiers: Sometimes a new way of saying something can make all the difference- hyphenated adjectives often cause the reader to "sit up and take notice." For example: She has an I'm-so-beautiful-I-know-it stare.

8. Full Circle Ending: Sometimes students need a special ending, one that effectively "wraps up" the piece. One "trick" is to repeat a phrase from the beginning of a phrase. You can also use an idea from the intro in the conclusion in a new way.

(End of Part 3)