Using the Right Words & Sentences in a Story

Gasp.  Twenty days has passed since I've last written on my blog.  Excuse me as I've been checking my writing with Webster's reference, finessing my story-line in my novel as an enticing read, and finally I've been reading up on poetic devices.  I promise to post my own poems with Shakespearean rhyme, possibly mixed in with another language (lots of classic poems were translated into English language:  Homer's Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, Dante's Commedia,) and my own rap song few months down the line possibly sooner.

The Good News:  I am satisfied to find my novel has met the standard requirements in an interesting story line.  

(1.)  Is there shattering news?  That "No Way" twist in the story line that entice readers to read onto the next page?  

        Yes!  

(2.)  Is there a change in routine of the main character's life which changes course of her direction?  

        Yes!  

(3.)  Is there a chance meeting that effects how the story shapes in the future?  

        Yes!  

And as I write this, I cannot help but notice I am writing with anaphora, a poetic device.  Martin Luther King Jr. used anaphora in his "I have a dream," speech, and as per contemporary work, rapper Eminem used them in his raps.  "You better" is rapped repeatedly in "Lose Yourself," as the lines begin with "You," either "you better," or "you own." 

                                           *                                                   *

I discern sentence structures more so than before.  Paying attention to sentences in other writings, I notice how simple sentences have clarity.  William Faulker uses simple sentences in his novels.  However, I do not use them often in my writing.  

Subject and predicate.  "I see."  "I eat."  "I sleep."  Children's books are full of simple sentences:  subject, predicate, and object.  "I see cat."  Khaled Hosseini ends his best-selling novel, The Kite Runner with a simple sentence, "I ran."  My writing is usually filled with complex, compounds, and complex compounded sentences.  I gravitate towards conjunctions or subordinate clauses.  Conjunctions such as "so," "and," "or," "nor," make up a compound sentence and phrases that starts with "if," "because," "who," form a complex sentence.  I have reduced subordinate clauses in my sentences.  No grammar error is found in subordinates, so I just prefer not to see them often.  Long sentences finishes with a dramatic effect if the writer uses it appropriately; however, too many long sentences lessen the clarity of the writer's message.  I particularly like periodic sentences, in which independent clauses/phrases are paired before the main clause:  subject and predicate.  For example, "Driving 6 hours on the road, talking to two of his kids and his wife seated in his car, and looking out for rest stops, Glover was finally relieved to arrive at the destination for the holiday weekend."  The sentence has a dramatic effect if used sparingly at the right time.

I've come to notice multiple elements in a sentence particularly subjects and verbs.  Multiple elements used on subjects have a nice ring on a sentence.  "Huey, Dewey, and Louie searched for treasures at the ancient ruins of the Inca empire."  The names rhyme which makes the sentence sound nice to the ear.  Multiple verbs have a nice sound to a sentence also:  "She pined, whined, and sighed for him."  The verbs rhyme.  Change it to a positive sentence :  "She cooked, cleaned, and cashed in for the family."  The verbs all start with the letter "c," which forms an alliteration.

  

Creative writing styles include the three's — everything is in three's —because three's make a plain sentence into a creative sentence.  In finance, you may hear the phrase, "bankers bank at 3, lend at 6, and borrow at 3."  Try writing in three elements: subjects, phrases.  Your sentences look creative.  Other than sentence structures, I've come to fixate on rhymes, metaphors, hyperbole, and simile.  Oh, do you know the difference?  Shakespeare used metaphors in his plays.  In Romeo and Juliet, "Juliet is the sun."  The words before Juliet, "it is the east," defines Juliet as the sun.  What a compliment to use on a young lady.  That is a metaphor.  In MacBeth, Lady MacBeth saw spots out of her mental deranged mind.  That is hyperbole.  Simile is noticeably apparent because of the words which precedes it, "like," for example, is used in a sentence, "she shined like the stars in the night sky."

Not only do rhymes ring nice to our ears, they are further divided into 2 forms:  masculine and feminine rhymes.  I had listened to different words in figuring out the rhyme as masculine and feminine.  Masculine rhymes are used on the last syllables:  fared, bared, cared.  Feminine rhymes are used on the second to last syllable (also known as penultimate syllable in poetry):  sailing, failing, railing.  Rhymes have two types:  slant and dissonant rhymes.  The latter do not sound as alike in the previous examples.  Rhymes on words like "Love, move" do not sound as loudly to other words.  Dissonant rhymes accentuate similar sound but have different outcome.  An example of dissonant rhymes are "Incest" and "Pressure."  They main rhyme in the words is the sound of the 'S.'

Finally, Edgar Allen Poe and Faulkner often use single words that are not used in full sentences —for a dramatic effect.  Let me conclude on this note.  Poe uses the same word repeatedly in dramatizing the suspense of his story.  Faulkner uses a single word in his novel in making a sound.  Poetry calls it an onomatopoeia.  An example in the following sentence:  "My heart raced as I walked down the steps on a stormy night.  Da Dum. Da Dum. Da Dum.  I breathed in and exhaled slowly as I approached the shadow lurking in the den."  Another example in this sentence:  "After studying for my exam, the hours pass slowly.  Tick.  Tick.  Tick.  Tock.  Tock.  Tock.  Time seem to span endlessly."  Gasp.