Creative Writing: Literary Devices and Figures of Speech

• Creative writing is the art of making things up.

Literary Devices

• Imagery is a concrete representation of an idea.
• It conveys a message using language to evoke the five senses.
• Olfactory imagery relates to the sense of smell.
• Tactile imagery relates to the sense of touch.
• Visual imagery relates to the sense of sight.
• Auditory imagery relates to the sense of hearing.
• Gustatory imagery relates to the sense of taste.

Figures of Speech

• Figures of speech are also known as figurative language.
• This creates figures or pictures in the minds of readers, differing from the usual.
• Simile compares one thing to another different kind of thing.
• Similes are used to make a description more emphatic or vivid.
• Hyperbole expresses ideas in an exaggerated manner.
• Onomatopoeia uses words imitating natural sounds of things or animals.
• Personification gives human qualities to inanimate objects.
• Rhetorical questions do not need an answer but are asked for emphasis.

Diction

• Diction means the selection of words in a literary work.
• This conveys action, reveals character, implies attitudes, identifies themes, and suggests values.
• Formal diction uses third-person pronouns (he, she, it, they, them).
• Formal diction does not allow contracting words.
• Informal diction uses first-person pronouns (I, we, us).
• Informal diction allows the use of contractions.