When I write, I sometimes use rhetorical devices without thinking about them. However, two of those instances were brought to my attention by other people who suggested I change my wording.
The first instance was when I wrote about my heroine driving over the hose at the corner gas station and hearing a ‘bing, bing’ sound. The person reading my ms said the words were called onomatopoeia and were meant for comics, only, not romance books.
The second instance was in
An Outlaw for the Lady where I purposely ended 3 consecutive sentences with the word 'privacy'. I did this for emphasis because my heroine just realized she was alone on the prairie with four outlaws and nothing to hide behind. In one contest, the judge highlighted the word privacy and said, ‘You are going to have to find another way to say this.’ I disagreed and so I kept it. After all, 5 previous judges hadn’t mentioned it. Then at a workshop I attended at the ACFW conference in Sept, the instructor said it’s called an epistrophe (also called antistrophe) when you repeat the same word at the end of consecutive sentences. Maybe the judge wasn’t aware of this?
The topic of the workshop was how to liven up your writing. How to make it more interesting and literary. I discovered the six most common rhetorical devices. This term was unfamiliar to me as were half of the devices on the list. These definitions are courtesy of the Encarta Dictionary that comes with Microsoft Office:
1.
Simile - a figure of speech that draws a comparison between two different things, especially a phrase containing the word "like" or "as," e.g. "as white as a sheet"
2.
Metaphor - the use to describe somebody or something of a word or phrase that is not meant literally but by means of a vivid comparison expresses something about him, her, or it, e.g. saying that somebody is a snake
3.
Hyperbole - deliberate and obvious exaggeration used for effect, e.g. "I could eat a million of these"
4.
Personification - the attribution of human qualities to objects or abstract notions
5.
Alliteration – a poetic or literary effect achieved by using several words that begin with the same or similar consonants, as in "Whither wilt thou wander, wayfarer?"
6.
Onomonopiea - is a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing, such as animal noises like "oink" or "meow", or suggesting its source. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia)
The instructor said you shouldn’t riddle your writing with rhetorical devices, but when you did use one that the reader recognized, it was like finding a treasure.
Along with the six above, she mentioned:
Anaphora - the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism
Epstrophe - the counterpart to anaphora, because the repetition of the same word or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences
Symploce - combining anaphora and epistrophe, so that one word or phrase is repeated at the beginning and another word or phrase is repeated at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences
Polysyndeton - the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus structurally the opposite of asyndeton. The rhetorical effect of polysyndeton, however, often shares with that of asyndeton a feeling of multiplicity, energetic enumeration, and building up. ie They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked.
Asydeton - consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list of items, asyndeton gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous rather than a labored account: On his return he received medals, honors, treasures, titles, fame.
Litotes – a double negative.
Anadiplosis - repeats the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the next. It can be generated in series for the sake of beauty or to give a sense of logical progression. Ie
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. --John 1:1
Conducplicatio - resembles anadiplosis in the repetition of a preceding word, but it repeats a key word (not just the last word) from a preceding phrase, clause, or sentence, at the beginning of the next. Like anadiplosis, conduplicatio serves as an effective focusing device because with it you can pull out that important idea from the sentence before and put it clearly at the front of the new sentence, showing the reader just what he should be concentrating on.
These aren’t the only rhetorical devices, either. Virtual Salt at
http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm has an on-line handbook which it says ‘contains definitions and examples of more than sixty traditional rhetorical devices, all of which can still be useful today to improve the effectiveness, clarity, and enjoyment of your writing.’
You might also want to check out English Grammar on-line where the rhetorical devices are also called Stylistic Devices.
So, there you go. All the tools you need to enhance your writing.
Do you use rhetorical devices in your wips? Do you feel there’s a place for them in the modern fast-paced 55,000 word romance books? What’s your favorite rhetorical device?
.JPG)
On Saturday, May 2, Jess Granger becomes an Honorary Chick when she guest blogs on The Prairies. Jess writes futuristic romance and her debut novel, Beyond the Rain, will be released in August of this year. We’re lucky enough to have Jess guest blogging twice. On Saturday, she’ll be sharing her amazing world building skills and in August, right before her release date, she’ll be sharing her writing journey with us.
