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Essential web writing + content marketing advice

12 Uncommon Literary Devices to Give Your Writing Irresistible Style

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So I bummed this book from a neighbor. It’s a book on classic English rhetoric. Or verbal style.

She initially pulled it off her shelf to show me because of the name of the author: Ward Farnsworth.

Not an exact rendering of my last name (it’s Farnworth, no “s”). And that’s not pretentious posturing on my part — it has been that way for generations.

But it didn’t really matter who wrote the book. I fell in love with the book and the uncommon literary devices it shared on the spot.

12 Uncommon Literary Devices to Give Your Writing Irresistible Style

Each chapter is devoted to a literary device like anaphora, chiasmus, and litotes That may sound like nonsense to you, but they’re just fancy words for rhetorical devices you’ll quickly recognize.

Furthermore, each device is broken down into subspecies, complete with examples from notable sources like Shakespeare, Churchill, Chesterton, and the Bible (and I threw in a few by Tupac Shukar, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Bob Dylan).

What is a literary device?

Before diving into these uncommon literary devices, let’s take a quick detour.

Talking about literary devices, figures of speech and writing style can be intimidating for many.

After scouring the web and referring to a few additional books, I didn’t come across an agreed upon definition of literary devices. So here’s my take:

A literary device is a technique you can use to create a special effect on your writing.

Think about it this way.

[Read more…]

Is This the Secret to Going from a Good Writer to a Great One?

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You don’t have to look far to find advice on the fundamentals of writing.

A benefit for new writers, no doubt.

Unfortunately, those of us who have been around the block often know every intimate detail about that advice.

In fact, not only do we know it… we’ve memorized it.

It wouldn’t be so bad if the landscape changed every year and all a writer had to do to go from good to great was to simply stay current.

But it’s not the way it works. Fundamentals never change.

Is This the Secret to Going from a Good Writer to a Great One?

 

And while the usual advice on the basics of writing are fine for the newbies in the field [and important for seasoned writers to revisit periodically]. . . what about the rest of us?

What about those who want to go from undergraduate to graduate work?

Who want to inject a tangible and seductive element in their writing that growls “You better take notice of me”?

What’s the best way to accomplish that?

And why?

As you might guess, I have an answer. [Read more…]

How to Absorb a Book into Your Bloodstream

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Bloodstream Book

Just in case you were beginning to mistake me for a coffee addict who blazes through books, I thought I’d write a post to correct that picture in your mind.

In fact, I want to convince you of one of the most important rules when it comes to reading.

I want to show you why absorbing a book into your bloodstream is a good thing.

And I want to show you that unless you do this, you’re likely missing out on the best kind of reading. Let me show you what I mean. [Read more…]

The Fight Club Method to Feedback

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Fight Club

The eleventh post in The Education of a Writer (TEW) series.  

This is how the fantasy goes down.

You sack my sister’s room, demolish dad’s garage, take the entire house by storm before kicking me out of my writing chair. I hit the floor (near the potted baby orange) with a groan.

You press your boot into the nape of my neck and lure black birds in through the open windows like it were Aventine Hill, my parents the Latins, and you the Roman emperor Ancus Marcius … a crippled arm waving in the air.

That’s the long-running fantasy. The one about suffering. As a writer. Culminating in something like this … [Read more…]

Starting a New Blog? Assume Nothing

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Lifeguard

Darren Rowse, founder of Digital Photography School, wondered if a post on how to hold a camera was too basic. Was his audience more sophisticated than that?

He took the risk, wrote the post, and it became one of his most popular.

When it comes to content marketing most of us overestimate the sophistication of our readers. That’s not a condescending thing to say. Even in a saturated market like weight loss most interested readers don’t know the basics.

And sometimes what we do know is flat-out wrong or more complex than we think.

As fitness authorities will tell you, losing weight can not be reduced to “burn more calories than you consume.” There is more to it than that.

Thus, if you are starting a new blog, start with the basics. This lays the foundation for your advanced work. Never, however, abandon the basics.

You will experience reader turnover. Every blog does. And your new readers need to be taught for the first time — or simply reminded in a fresh way — of the basics.