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How can setting be a character?
When asked to write something about setting, for an essay or an exam, what exactly are we being asked to describe? When I was in high school my English teachers advised us all against writing the exam essay on setting. So I did. But I wouldn’t advise the same thing. Setting essays provide plenty of…
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I Kill Giants As Perfect Example Of Being-toward-death
I Kill Giants is a film and comic book for an upper middle grade audience which functions as a perfect example of Heidegger’s Being-toward-death.
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Lamb To The Slaughter by Roald Dahl Analysis
“Lamb to the Slaughter” is one of Roald Dahl’s most widely read short stories, studied in high school English classes around the English speaking world. In this post I take a close look at the structure from a writing point of view. Why has this story found such wide love? What appeals?
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Sam and Dave Dig a Hole Picture Book Study Analysis
Earlier this month I wrote a post on Teaching Kids How To Structure A Story. Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen’s Sam and Dave Dig A Hole is useful as mentor text because it appears at first glance to break all the rules. This story does follow the rules of storytelling, but in an ironic way. Jon…
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The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee Analysis
This month I’m blogging a series aimed at teaching kids how to structure a story. This seven-step structure works for all forms of narrative. It works for picture books, songs, commercials, films and novels. Today I take a close look at The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee to show how universal structure exists…
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What is the meaning of Save the Cat in storytelling?
Save The Cat was Blake Snyder’s term for screenwriters, though it’s used a lot by novelists, too. Snyder had the following advice when setting up a main character: Heroes should be introduced by a selflessly heroic moment in which they ‘save a cat’ or similar, to show they’re a good person. Blake Snyder The opening…
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Definition of Anagnorisis and Other Similar Words
Anagnorisis is a moment in a work of fiction when a character makes a critical discovery. Even for plotters rather than pantsers, this is the part of writing that often emerges in the process of storycrafting.
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Pax by Sara Pennypacker Novel Study
Pax is a middle grade novel by Sara Pennypacker about a boy and a fox who embark upon a mythic journey to reunite after Pax is abandoned in the woods. Structurally, Pax is the middle grade equivalent of Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier.
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What is a heterotopia?
I have previously written about utopias, snail under the leaf settings, idylls and dystopias. I thought I had -topias covered. Then I came across the word heterotopia. What’s that, now? Foucault uses the term “heterotopia” to describe spaces that have more layers of meaning or relationships to other places than immediately meet the eye. In…
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What does Gothic mean in literature?
The Gothic is notoriously difficult to define. This is a type of story in constant flux. Each new literary period adds is own spin. “Gothic” is more like a skin layered upon other genres, most often: horror, romance, science fiction and fantasy. Where does one genre end and the gothic element begin?
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Tips For Writing Melodrama
melodrama is a widely misunderstood term but has its place in good storytelling. What is melodrama, and how do we write it? Melodrama In Everyday Usage In everyday English, if we describe a person as ‘melodramatic’ we are probably describing a high drama individual. We’re probably talking about what we consider ‘too much emotion’. When…
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Unreliable Narration In Storytelling
This post more than any other contains spoilers. Sometimes it’s a spoiler just to know that you’re dealing with an unreliable narrator. Unreliable narration is a storytelling technique which requires some work on the part of the reader, trying to work out how much of the story is true and how much is subjective, or…
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Diary Of A Wimpy Kid And The Buddy Comedy
Jeff Kinney’s Diary Of A Wimpy Kid was first published in 2004. The twelfth in the series is due November 2017. Kinney originally planned ten, unless the quality dropped off. At this point he plans to continue indefinitely, so long as they’re still popular. Television tie-ins, film versions and highly illustrated diaries of the Wimpy Kid ilk…
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Fabulism In Children’s Literature
FABULISM: WHAT IS IT? In fabulism, fantastical elements are placed in an everyday setting. It’s called ‘fabulism’ because authors are playing with realism by making use of elements of fable. For the definition of a fable, see here. COMMON FEATURES OF FABULIST FICTION The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter is a collection…