A couple years ago, Catherine Brady spoke at the California Writers Club, Tri-Valley Branch meeting. She impressed me and I bought her book, Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction. I highly recommend it as an indepth study for the craft of writing. Brady is the author of three story collections. Her Curled in the […]
George Orwell Quotes
George Orwell (1903 – 1950) was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His birth name was Eric Arthur Blair. The Times, in 2008, ranked Orwell second on the list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945”. “Good prose should be transparent, like a window pane.” “Good novels are written by people who are […]
NaNoWriMo Participants
NaNoWriMo Participants aim to write a 50,000 word novel in November. As the last week of NaNo approaches, how are you all doing? Have you gone to write-ins? Have you gone to the forums on-line? I look forward to the writing frenzy every year. I missed a couple of years, but the five years I […]
Antiphrasis Rhetorical Device
Antiphrasis is a figure of speech in which a phrase or word is opposite to its literal meaning in order to create an ironic or comic effect. Examples: “The Chihuahua’s name is Goliath.” “The actress was a mere babe of forty years.” “Get in, little man,” he told his six foot tall friend. Antiphrasis surprises […]
Rhetorical Devices Epitasis and Anesis
Epitasis is the addition of a concluding sentence that merely emphasizes what has already been stated. A kind of amplification. Example: Eat your sandwich. All of it. Anesis is the opposite of epitasis. It adds a concluding sentence that diminishes the effect of what was said previously. Examples: The little dog is cute and obedient. […]
Flash Fiction Book, UP, DO
Patricia Flaherty Pagan edited Up, Do, an anthology of thirty-three flash stories by award-winning and emerging writers. The four categories are “Our Hearts”, “Our Bodies”, “Our possible Futures”, and “Our Dreams; Our nightmares.” In the Introduction, Pagan writes: “I subscribe to the theory that flash fiction is like a geode of a larger narrative. Slicing […]
Ray Bradbury Quotes
Ray Bradbury has said: “I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows, or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.” “Creativity is a continual surprise.” “I’m not in control of my muse. My muse does all the work.” “Write a short story every […]