Literary devices are certain writing styles and elements that you can add to your novel or writing to add more depth and meaning to it. Adding the right literary devices to your work can help the readers connect more to what they are reading and gives them a deeper understanding of the events occurring. There are over 30 literary devices that you can implement into your writing, however, in this article we will only tackle the most popular ones that a beginner can start with .
Allusion
Allusion, not illusion, is adding elements from the real world into your novel. For example, when a character keeps losing something in the same place, so you refer to that area as the Bermuda Triangle. Since characters in novels live in a different world than ours, adding allusions to your writing can help the reader relate more to the characters and their world, by feeling like it is the same world they live in too.
Diction
Diction is the choice of words and style of writing. There are different types of diction, and the style that you choose to write in depends on what the book is about and who it is targeted at. There are three types of diction:
Formal diction: is a formal and high class type of style, the words are very carefully chosen to fit with the sophistication of the writing. This is usually used when the writer is writing a character that is from an upper class, or writing a book aimed at highly educated, and also upper class, people.
Informal diction: is when the writer is addressing normal, everyday people, or the character he is writing is a regular person.
Slang diction: is using slang in your writing, whether it is an actual, real life, existing slang, or, if you are writing a novel, a made up slang that you created specially for your book.
Alliteration
“Sally sells seashells by the sea shore”.
The previous sentence is an example of alliteration; which is using similar consonants right after each other to create a rhythm to your writing. This is usually used in poetry and in titles, such as “Gone Girl”, or even for restaurants, cafes, or shop names, such as “LuluLemon”, “Krispy Kreme”, and “Dunkin Donuts”.
Allegory
Allegory is when your writing depicts real life events, society, or human nature, on a smaller scale in a way that does not directly relate or link to them. There are three types of allegories:
Biblical allegory: biblical allegories are usually stories and themes taken from the Bible. An example of this is the movie Mother!, where throughout the movie you can start seeing similarities between the characters and their stories, and the biblical and historical stories about Adam and Eve, Abel and Cain, Jesus Christ, etc.
Modern allegory: modern allegories are when a story represents certain events or features from the real world without necessarily being intended. For example, how the show SpongeBob Squarepants is thought to be representing the 7 deadly sins, even though this might have not been the main purpose of the show.
Classical allegory: classical allegories usually symbolise issues and stories from the real world and our perception of them. An example of a classical allegory would be the movie Horton Hears A Who, where Horton tries to convince his village throughout the whole movie that Whoville exists, but no one believes him because they can’t see or hear them. This portrays how we perceive the world and how hard it is for humans to believe and have faith in what they can’t see, hear, feel, or touch, even though it might actually exist.
Colloquialism
Colloquialisms are expression words, phrases, and slangs, that are used to help the reader relate more to the real word. Examples of colloquialisms are “the bomb”, “lit”, and can also be contractions for two words such as “aint” and “gonna”. You can also create your own colloquialisms in your book in order for the reader to get a sense of the world in your book as well.
Euphemism
A euphemism is saying something harsh or inappropriate in a nicer, more appropriate way. For example, “passed away” instead of “died”, “on the streets” instead of “homeless”, or “not the sharpest” instead of “stupid”.
Flashbacks
Flashbacks are very popular and very often used in all kinds of writings. Flashbacks are when you go back to a moment in the past in your book to further explain some events, reveal new information, or add more to information already presented. When writing flashbacks you have to make sure that they are relevant to the part of the book where you are writing it, and that it is important and useful to the events of the story.
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is when the writer adds hints and clues about what is going to happen further in the book without giving away any surprises. This is essential in any piece of writing so that when the book is heading towards its climax, the events can make sense to the readers. If there were no hints at all to lead to the big reveal, or the twist, the events will not make sense to the reader and will end up being confusing, on the other hand, if the writer drops some hints along the way to build up to the climax, the reader can pick up how all these hints led up to these events.
Imagery
Imagery is using a lot of descriptions to describe the settings, events, and feelings in the story to better paint the image in the reader’s mind. For example, “Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere.” (1984 by George Orwell)
Personification
Personification is very commonly used in literature, it means giving human-like characteristics to nonhuman things. For example, “the wind was whistling” or “the mirror stared back at me in despair”; even though we know that the wind does not whistle and mirrors do not stare in despair, it still conveys the meaning it is supposed to, and helps the reader deeply understand the emotions occurring.
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition is using opposite words to give multiple emotions to the readers at once, it helps create a contrast and a “rollercoaster of emotions”. This can be done either by using opposite words, or by ending a chapter on a sad note and then starting the other on a happy one, or in multiple other ways where multiple opposite emotions are developing. A famous example of this is the opening of the novel A Tale of Two Cities, where Charles Dickens starts by “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…”
Metaphors
A metaphor is a figure of speech where one thing is directly compared to another. For example “All the children started screaming and crying after their trip was cancelled, it was a zoo in there”. Comparing the classroom to a zoo because of how loud and messy it is a metaphor.
Similes
Because similes are similar to metaphors, people often mistake them for the same thing. Similes are also comparing one thing to the other, or one situation to another, but by using “like: and “as” when making the comparison. For example, “It felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest”, this is a simile, whereas if the sentence was “My heart burst out of my chest”, it would have been a metaphor.
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is using words to describe sounds. This is very useful because it helps the readers actually imagine and hear what the sound in your story would be like in their head, instead of just saying that an object or a person made a weird or an unusual sound. Some examples of onomatopoeia would be “meow”, “boom”, “hmm”, and “purr”.
Symbolism
Lastly, symbolism is when certain objects or occurrences convey a specific meaning. For example, how crows symbolize death or evil, or how rain usually means washing away the past and starting a new beginning after the sun comes back up. You can create your own symbols as well when you are writing your story to add uniqueness to your book.
A Beginner’s Guide to Literary Devices
A Beginner’s Guide to Literary Devices
Literary devices are an essential part of your writing process. Click here for 15 literary devices you have to be using in your writing.
Literary devices are certain writing styles and elements that you can add to your novel or writing to add more depth and meaning to it. Adding the right literary devices to your work can help the readers connect more to what they are reading and gives them a deeper understanding of the events occurring. There are over 30 literary devices that you can implement into your writing, however, in this article we will only tackle the most popular ones that a beginner can start with . Allusion Allusion, not illusion, is adding elements from the real world into your novel. For example, when a character keeps losing something in the same place, so you refer to that area as the Bermuda Triangle. Since characters in novels live in a different world than ours, adding allusions to your writing can help the reader relate more to the characters and their world, by feeling like it is the same world they live in too. Diction Diction is the choice of words and style of writing. There are different types of diction, and the style that you choose to write in depends on what the book is about and who it is targeted at. There are three types of diction: Formal diction: is a formal and high class type of style, the words are very carefully chosen to fit with the sophistication of the writing. This is usually used when the writer is writing a character that is from an upper class, or writing a book aimed at highly educated, and also upper class, people. Informal diction: is when the writer is addressing normal, everyday people, or the character he is writing is a regular person. Slang diction: is using slang in your writing, whether it is an actual, real life, existing slang, or, if you are writing a novel, a made up slang that you created specially for your book. Alliteration “Sally sells seashells by the sea shore”. The previous sentence is an example of alliteration; which is using similar consonants right after each other to create a rhythm to your writing. This is usually used in poetry and in titles, such as “Gone Girl”, or even for restaurants, cafes, or shop names, such as “LuluLemon”, “Krispy Kreme”, and “Dunkin Donuts”. AllegoryAllegory is when your writing depicts real life events, society, or human nature, on a smaller scale in a way that does not directly relate or link to them. There are three types of allegories: Biblical allegory: biblical allegories are usually stories and themes taken from the Bible. An example of this is the movie Mother!, where throughout the movie you can start seeing similarities between the characters and their stories, and the biblical and historical stories about Adam and Eve, Abel and Cain, Jesus Christ, etc. Modern allegory: modern allegories are when a story represents certain events or features from the real world without necessarily being intended. For example, how the show SpongeBob Squarepants is thought to be representing the 7 deadly sins, even though this might have not been the main purpose of the show. Classical allegory: classical allegories usually symbolise issues and stories from the real world and our perception of them. An example of a classical allegory would be the movie Horton Hears A Who, where Horton tries to convince his village throughout the whole movie that Whoville exists, but no one believes him because they can’t see or hear them. This portrays how we perceive the world and how hard it is for humans to believe and have faith in what they can’t see, hear, feel, or touch, even though it might actually exist. ColloquialismColloquialisms are expression words, phrases, and slangs, that are used to help the reader relate more to the real word. Examples of colloquialisms are “the bomb”, “lit”, and can also be contractions for two words such as “aint” and “gonna”. You can also create your own colloquialisms in your book in order for the reader to get a sense of the world in your book as well. Euphemism A euphemism is saying something harsh or inappropriate in a nicer, more appropriate way. For example, “passed away” instead of “died”, “on the streets” instead of “homeless”, or “not the sharpest” instead of “stupid”. FlashbacksFlashbacks are very popular and very often used in all kinds of writings. Flashbacks are when you go back to a moment in the past in your book to further explain some events, reveal new information, or add more to information already presented. When writing flashbacks you have to make sure that they are relevant to the part of the book where you are writing it, and that it is important and useful to the events of the story. ForeshadowingForeshadowing is when the writer adds hints and clues about what is going to happen further in the book without giving away any surprises. This is essential in any piece of writing so that when the book is heading towards its climax, the events can make sense to the readers. If there were no hints at all to lead to the big reveal, or the twist, the events will not make sense to the reader and will end up being confusing, on the other hand, if the writer drops some hints along the way to build up to the climax, the reader can pick up how all these hints led up to these events.ImageryImagery is using a lot of descriptions to describe the settings, events, and feelings in the story to better paint the image in the reader’s mind. For example, “Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere.” (1984 by George Orwell)Personification Personification is very commonly used in literature, it means giving human-like characteristics to nonhuman things. For example, “the wind was whistling” or “the mirror stared back at me in despair”; even though we know that the wind does not whistle and mirrors do not stare in despair, it still conveys the meaning it is supposed to, and helps the reader deeply understand the emotions occurring. JuxtapositionJuxtaposition is using opposite words to give multiple emotions to the readers at once, it helps create a contrast and a “rollercoaster of emotions”. This can be done either by using opposite words, or by ending a chapter on a sad note and then starting the other on a happy one, or in multiple other ways where multiple opposite emotions are developing. A famous example of this is the opening of the novel A Tale of Two Cities, where Charles Dickens starts by “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…” Metaphors A metaphor is a figure of speech where one thing is directly compared to another. For example “All the children started screaming and crying after their trip was cancelled, it was a zoo in there”. Comparing the classroom to a zoo because of how loud and messy it is a metaphor. SimilesBecause similes are similar to metaphors, people often mistake them for the same thing. Similes are also comparing one thing to the other, or one situation to another, but by using “like: and “as” when making the comparison. For example, “It felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest”, this is a simile, whereas if the sentence was “My heart burst out of my chest”, it would have been a metaphor. OnomatopoeiaOnomatopoeia is using words to describe sounds. This is very useful because it helps the readers actually imagine and hear what the sound in your story would be like in their head, instead of just saying that an object or a person made a weird or an unusual sound. Some examples of onomatopoeia would be “meow”, “boom”, “hmm”, and “purr”. Symbolism Lastly, symbolism is when certain objects or occurrences convey a specific meaning. For example, how crows symbolize death or evil, or how rain usually means washing away the past and starting a new beginning after the sun comes back up. You can create your own symbols as well when you are writing your story to add uniqueness to your book.
