What Makes an Author Unique Style and Voice What Makes an Author Unique

The little pink fishes swam upstream and died. Is this sentence sad? Think about this carefully. Don’t focus on the idea of a dying fish. Instead, focus on the sentence itself and the effect it produces. Does the sentence make you feel sad, or like crying, when you read it? Examine what keeps it from being sad. Specific characteristics in the sentence keep it from being sad. As you identify these characteristics, you are looking at the tools writers use when they create voice. Now write a sad version of the sentence. What did you do to make it sad? What choices did you have to make.

What is STYLE ? Every author has his or her own style – that is, each author uses literary devices, tone, and mood in a particular way that makes his or her writing recognizable. When you read several books by the same author, you become accustomed to the author’s style of writing and sometimes you look for authors with a similar style.

The Elements of Style Diction Detail Figurative language Imagery/Sensory Language Syntax Tone

Diction Diction refers to the choice of words and is the foundation of voice and all good writing. Read this sentence: A redheaded woman was there with Trout. Kate could see her rummaging through the cabin, dumping drawers, and knocking things from the shelves of cabinets How would the meaning change if we changed some of the words? Try changing the bold-faced words in the second sentence.

Detail Detail refers to the facts, observations, and incidents that develop a topic. Writing is flat and boring without detail.

Practice with Detail Think of a trip to your favorite shopping mall. Think about everything you might look at in the mall. Make a list of the details you might focus on during a shopping trip to the mall. Next, decide your focus: people, clothes, food, stores, specific parts of the mall (like a video arcade). Now, write your focus. Now write your attitude—thrilled, critical, neutral, mocking, angry, awed, panicked? List as many details as you can that support your focus and develop your attitude. Choose details that help your reader to understand the focus and attitude you have chosen. Now think about your favorite time of year at the mall. This is your focus. Your attitude should be celebratory and happy. List all of the details you can that support this focus and attitude.

Figurative Language Use of words in an unusual way to reveal new meaning Not literal meaning but language that makes the reader think.

Imagery Imagery is the use of words to re-create a sensory experience by appealing to any of the five senses: Sight Touch Smell Taste Hearing

Imagery/ Sensory Language Sight words – words that make the reader see what the author sees. i.e. colors, movements, shapes, appearance Sound words – words that make the reader hear what the author hears. i.e. piercing, rowdy, racket, whisper, mutter, laugh, scream, cry Taste words – words that make the reader taste what the author tastes. i.e. bitter, tangy, hot, sweet Smell words – words that make the reader smell what the author smells. i.e. fresh, moldy, putrid, sweet Touch words – words that make the reader feel what the author feels. i.e. damp, cold, fuzzy, sharp, smooth, sticky

Understanding Imagery Read this passage— The silence was delicate. Aunty Ifeoma was scraping a burnt pot in the kitchen, and the kroo-kroo-kroo of the metal spoon on the pott seemed intrusive. Amaka and Papa-Nukwu spoke sometimes their voices low, twining together. They understood each other, using the sparest words. Watching them, I felt a longing for something I knew I would never have. I wanted to get up and leave, but my legs did not belong to me, did not do what I wanted them to. Which of the five senses is the most important here? List the words and phrases that contribute to this imagery. Check your answers with your partners.

Syntax Includes sentence structure, word order, and punctuation Controlling syntax helps to express ideas and thoughts in a fully developed way. Syntax includes these important elements— Sentence parts Word order Sentence length Punctuation

Tone Tone is the expression of the author’s attitude toward his or her subject matter and audience.

Tone Example   The girls were playing in the pond, splashing each other and trying to catch fish with their hands. They were having fun, but kept looking over their shoulders at the looming forest. The long grass of the field kept moving and they sort of felt like they were being watched… About a half hour passed and still the girls kept checking the field for movements. It seemed like a pair of dark eyes was on them. They even considered going back inside, but that would mean homework time. So they continued splashing, but with caution now. Their eyes hardly left the field. The tone of this passage is ominous, suggesting a little bit of fear or foreboding. Words like "caution, dark, and looming“ lead readers to the tone.

Read and Think About Tone The Baudelaire orphans went to the bedroom and glumly packed their few belongings. Klaus looked distastefully at each ugly shirt Mrs. Poe had bought for him as he folded them and put them into a small suitcase. Violet looked around the cramped, smelly room in which they had been living. And Sunny crawled around solemnly biting each of Edgar and Albert’s shoes, leaving small teeth marks in each one so she would not be forgotten. What is the tone of this passage? Words like ______ and _____ lead readers to the______ tone.