Tag: fiction

The Hunger Games: Analysis to come!

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I interrupt my vacation to let you know that this week I’m reading The Hunger Games.

And also to let you know that I’ve decided to use The Hunger Games to illustrate my 8 C’s of  plotting.

So if you don’t want the whole plot of the first book given away to you, I’d advise you pick up the book or watch the movie before April 13th. If you don’t, I’ll try whiting out the spoilers, so you have to highlight them to read them. Still, The Hunger Games seems like the best choice right now, since so many people have read the book or seen the movie. If you can think of another movie that has seen such a big audience, let me know and I can try using those. I think The Lion King is a pretty good choice. If I must, I can refer to Titanic, but I’d rather not.

In other news, never try blogging on WordPress.com from your iPhone, unless you want to be seriously annoyed and unable to italicize reasonably. Yeah, there’s probably an app, but apps take up waaaay too much space on my phone. Space I can use for movies or videos of my child roaring at dinosaurs.

Until next week.

Write now.

The 8 C’s of Plotting: Worksheets

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8C-worksheet

If you haven’t read Part One, the introduction to the 8 C’s, read it here!

Use these worksheets to:

  • plan out the main plot skeleton of a novel
  • reduce a complex novel into one, overarching plot
  • understand the main plot of your novel, all the better to pitch with
  • get an idea of what to put in your synopsis
  • recognize how virtually all movies and novels use a similar structure
    • (and how each modifies the structure to fit its own needs)
  • make your other writer friends jealous of how organized you are

Do not use these worksheets to:

  • make money publishing or reposting my work
  • create your own blog post on the 8 C’s without linking back here
  • make paper airplanes (unless you recycle, of course)

Continue reading →

Diction: Latinate versus Anglo-Saxon

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Here for a school assignment? Click here for citations you can use. Best of luck!

Diction = word choice

Synonym = a word’s twin in meaning, e.g. “big” and “large” are synonyms.

Ever wonder why English has so many synonyms? Because it’s the lovechild of Germanic and French languages. (French isn’t called a romance language for no reason.) While having so many choices can be a wonderful thing, it can also be disastrous. With great vocabulary comes great responsibility. I’m talking to you, Christopher Paolini. Step away from the thesaurus.

You’ll notice the language split when two political candidates start campaigning and one plays the “smarter than thou” card and the other plays the “average Joe” card. Smarter-than-thou is going to try to dazzle you with an academic, million-dollar vocabulary. Average Joe is going to give you a pat on the back with neighbor-speak. Go back in time and see the difference between John Kerry and George W. Bush—two polar opposites in terms of diction.

See my post on dialogue at The Better Novel Project for an example of diction in The Hunger Games. Can you guess which quote belongs to which character?

Latinate words are sometimes also known as “purple language,” “flowery” or “five-dollar” words. These are the ones that hike up your reading level and slow down your audience. While they are pretty standard in academic works, nonfiction and romance, multisyllabic Latinate words are best used in moderation. If a reader doesn’t understand your words, your words are meaningless (to them). Jargon tends to be Latinate.

But Latinate words are also ones to spend time with. They are contemplative. They can be romantic.

Generally speaking, Anglo-Saxon words come from Germanic roots (i.e. Old English, German, and Old Norse) and are common words. They are shorter and simpler than Latinate words. Action, Adventure, and Thriller genres will use more of these because they read faster, quickening the pace and heightening the suspense. This, writers, is the kind of vocabulary you want to have your word babies with during those intense scenes.

Latinate words slow down the pace, so save them for when the action is over and the characters and readers have a moment to think.

There’s nothing wrong with Latinate words. Literary works tend to favor them, and commercial works can sometimes use more of them. Middle grade writers often use Latinate diction to introduce new words to vocabulary-voracious children.

Balance is best!

Writing picture books, humor, or commercial fiction? Use more Anglo-Saxon words than Latinate.

Has someone told you that your voice sounds “too MG” or “too YA” when you’re writing for an older audience? Try adding in more Latinate words, but keep the majority to two or three syllables, sprinkling four-syllable and longer words in less frequently.

Want a list of examples of Anglo-Saxon words and Latinate words? Wikipedia saves the day.

Watch and listen to Latinate diction from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and a mix of Latinate and Anglo-Saxon diction from The Dead Poets Society.

More resources that I found after Googling the subject:

Additional resource:

5-Minute Writing Exercise

Write down a list of 5–10 adjectives describing yourself or your protagonist. Look them up in the dictionary and see if they are based on Latin/French roots or Germanic (or Old English) roots. Then come up with a syllable for each word that comes from the other family.

For example, “masculine” is Latinate. “Burly” is Old English.

Have fun! Share here if you’d like.

Related Exercise: Analyzing diction in your favorite speech, short story, or poem

Citations

MLA:

Willard, Lara. “Diction: Latinate versus Anglo-Saxon.” Lara Willard, 21 Mar. 2012, larawillard.com/diction-latinate-versus-anglo-saxon/.

APA:

Willard, L. (2012, March 21). Diction: Latinate versus Anglo-Saxon [Blog post]. Retrieved from /diction-latinate-versus-anglo-saxon/

Chicago (Footnote):

Lara Willard, “Diction: Latinate versus Anglo-Saxon,” Lara Willard (blog), March 21, 2012, /diction-latinate-versus-anglo-saxon/.

Motivation Monday: WRITE NOW posters

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Today on Motivation Monday, I am bringing you a choice of a ton of posters that tell you to write. Now.

Well, would you look at that! A nice, big image perfect for pinning on Pinterest! (Oh yes I did.)

I’ve got romance-y images, plain posters, international patterns, grungy textures, a flower my brother colored when he was 5, writing images (that’s a typewriter), a color-your-own outline…

It’s a PDF, in case you were wondering.

Pick which one inspires you the most, and print off that page. Or print them all off and give them to friends. Distribute these as you please, just don’t make it seem like you made the original, since you didn’t. We are all creative-types. Let’s be honest ones.

Speaking of creative types, if you DO want to make your own, I’m going to give you a PNG that you can place over any image to make your very own WRITE NOW poster.

Above is the one with outlines. Click it, and it will take you to the full sized image, which you can download and keep.

If you want one without outlines, click in the middle of the white space above. It’s white, on the white background of my blog, so you can’t see it, but it’s there. Just like the wind, or Jesus. Click, and then you’ll get the full sized image.

Place on top of a picture or texture of your choice, and your image will make the words “Write Now.”

These are all for letter-sized sheets. If you’d like a different size, comment below (4 to a page? Business card size? 5×7? 4×6?). If somebody agrees with you, I’ll get you different sizes on another Monday. Hope that’s cool. Hope you’re inspired or motivated.

Next week I’ll be asking you about what music you listen to whilst writing. Think about it now, and get ready to share next Monday. I can’t promise to update on Wednesday this week, but I will certainly be posting printable plotting worksheets on Friday.

Update: go to next week’s Monday motivation post to download the mobile phone version of the Write Now poster.