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Fiction
Poetry
Top Ten Tips for Fiction
Top Ten Tips for Poetry
Quotable Quotations
100

The sequence in which an author arranges events, stressing causes, connections, and conflict; sometimes the ending can be ambiguous

What is plot?

100
Stale, overused phrase, usually figurative, that reveals the writer's unwillingness to work hard for something fresh
What is cliche?
100
Start in the middle of the action.
What is en medias res?
100
Poetry thrives on this term which refers to the five senses of the body.
What is imagery?
100
According to Ray Bradbury, you only fail if you stop this.
What is writing?
200
Physical place (and all things in it) created for a play, film, or story
What is setting?
200

No puncuation at the end of a line

What is enjambment?

200
Play with this using first person ("I") or second person ("you") or third person ("he," "she," "they")
What is point of view?
200
Using language correctly, but in surprising ways, can involve this light-hearted activity with words.
What is word play?
200
A publisher for Simon & Schuster said, "My advice to writers would be to aggressively seek" this.
What is the truth?
300

This is created by conflict, problem, or dilemma in a story.

What is tension?

300
The convention of how lines end in a particular poem or how a particular line ends
What is a line break?
300
Try a rule of these familiar things to base your story on: a character you can thoroughly imagine, a place you know, and the current time.
What is a rule of threes?
300
This type of language makes comparisons that are not literally true but imaginative, revealing a deeper level of meaning.
What is figurative language or metaphor?
300

Show, don't tell. (What does Mrs. Sylvester think of this?)

What is the most important thing you can take from this class?

400
Causes, within a character and the circumstances surrounding the character, for the ensuing action
What is motivation?
400
Figure of speech that depends on an unexpected area of likeness between two unlike things that are said to be identical
What is metaphor?
400
Knowing your character's values and tendencies (proclivities), you are then ready to put that character into this.
What is conflict?
400
Experiment with this type of ending, referring to the most basic unit of composition in poetry.
What are line breaks?
400

According to Paul Engle, this is "ordinary language raised to the Nth power." (Hint: this is a specific type of writing.)

What is poetry?

500

Universal message in a work

What is theme?

500
Idea that a work of art should be seamless so that nothing could be changed without destroying the effect of the work
What is organic form?
500

You can practice doing this by hanging out in the quad or in a mall. This helps you develop believable characters.

What is people-watching?

500

Poetry is meant to be read this way.

What is out loud?

500

Poet Theodore Roethke famously wrote, "I learn by ____ where I have to go."

What is going?