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Description:

Did you know that you, as a writer, get your own toolbox? That's right! It doesn’t even matter how badly you fouled up that sliding bookshelf you tried to make last year in wood shop!

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:07

Writer's Toolbox, a la Shmoop.

00:11

It is said that once there was a young man with writer's block...

00:16

...who would lose his home unless he could come up with a book of strange and wonderful stories.

00:23

So the writer headed out in search of tools to make his tales more interesting.

00:31

He met a storyteller who knew all the tricks of the trade,

00:36

and she promised to fill his cart with tools called literary devices...

00:42

Hi, I'm Scheherazade! I know how to make stories interesting, because

00:47

I write tales to get all the town's landlords off people's backs!

00:52

Sheesh, have these guys never heard of cold, hard cash?

00:56

A symbol is a small thing used to represent a big thing, or a concrete thing used to represent

01:02

an abstract thing. Symbols are loaded with meaning. Hide 'em in your writing like you're

01:09

setting up an Easter egg hunt.

01:11

A window can be more than a window. It can symbolize inside versus outside,

01:17

freedom versus enclosure, and public versus private.

01:24

Speaking of inside and outside...

01:26

Stories need to take place somewhere, right?

01:28

There's a device for that... called setting.

01:31

We use stuff like era, geography, seasons, and living spaces to set the mood and add

01:38

context to stories. Then, we get to decide what our characters do in the spaces we provide

01:43

for them. Since we're the creators of these elaborate

01:47

worlds, another thing we get to do is give shout-outs to other works of literature if

01:51

we feel like it.

01:53

We can use allusion to refer to someone else's creation—and not just other works of literature.

01:59

Writers can also allude to stuff like TV shows, songs, and famous paintings by including ideas

02:06

from them, their names, or even specific lines from these other works in their own writing.

02:14

Of course, at some point, we have to be able to describe all the stuff we're trying to say.

02:19

A simile is a figure of speech that compares one thing to another using "like" or "as."

02:27

Ever heard the phrase tough as nails?

02:29

Simile alert.

02:32

Metaphors are like similes, but without the "like" or "as."

02:36

Metaphors are magical because they turn one thing into another thing.

02:40

Take the phrase "the golden hammer."

02:44

The golden hammer isn't really made of gold; it just means "the right tool for the job."

02:49

Similes and metaphors surprise readers...especially when they come right up behind them...

02:54

and offer new ways of thinking about everyday things.

02:58

Another way to add magic to descriptions is through sound devices.

03:03

The first sound device I'll show you is what fancy poets like to call perfect rhyme.

03:08

Paint and faint.

03:10

Similar-sounding words and all that. But let's take a look at a couple other

03:14

ways to split verse... Scheherazade Sells Several Screwdrivers.

03:19

That's alliteration, which is when all the words in a

03:23

phrase start with the same consonant sound.

03:26

Okay, now how do we put it all together?

03:29

Well, to start, we can choose our words carefully.

03:32

Thanks to a device called diction, the toilet can be the can... or the throne.

03:39

Diction is just word choice and the effect it has. It's a great device for tweaking tone

03:44

and saying it like ya mean it. Syntax is the way words and phrases relate

03:49

to one another. We use syntax to organize our sentences.

03:53

Syntax is like an enormous set of fridge poetry...

03:56

... It lets us run wild with meaning and creativity...

03:58

Well, within the limits of proper grammar anyway.

04:01

Ready for the final purchase? Irony.

04:04

Irony is when the actual meaning contradicts the figurative meaning.

04:08

Writers can use a nifty device called situational irony, which is a way of showing rather than

04:14

telling what happens when life seems to contradict itself.

04:18

Wouldn't it have been ironic...

04:21

if our writer had been trained to use all these devices only to find out it was too late?

04:29

The writer, unblocked and pleased with his purchases,

04:32

toiled the night away with his new tools.

04:35

When the morning came, the landlord was pleased with the writer's creations.

04:39

So, he treated him to one thousand and one more days on his lease.

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