TECHNIQUES AND LITERARY DEVICES IN WRITING

FICTION

What are Literary Devices?

You have probably heard about this in any of your Literature courses, or even some English
classes. If not, where have you been?! Literary devices, or literary terms, are tools of language
used by authors to deliver their message more effectively. This tools also give writing a more rich
and vivid feeling. This means that instead of delivering plain, boring, tasteless text, authors give
us interesting and compelling stories adorned with these tools. Literary devices can be used for
poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, but in this case we will concentrate on the use of literary devices in
fiction works.

The first thing to know about literary terms is that they are divided into two categories:
Literary Elements and Literary Techniques.

Literary Elements

A story can't exist without literary elements. Any written or spoken story will have them.
The definition of literary elements is: the parts that form a story. Any written story has plot, a
setting, characters, and other elements. These are highly used by writers to make a story more
compelling, interesting, and overall more complete. Some important literary elements, and their
brief definitions are listed down below.
• Plot: The arrangement of events in a narrative, carefully crafted by an author.
• Setting: Place, time, and social environment in which the story takes place.

• Characters: The participants of a story, or the people involved in it.

• Narrator: The person telling the story.
• Point of View: Stance from which the story is told.

• Dialog: Conversations between characters in a narrative.

• Protagonist: The character the story focuses on.
• Antagonist: Anything that opposes the protagonist, and intervenes between the protagonist
and his/her goals.
• Archetype: A recurrent symbol, theme, setting, or character-type that recurs in different
times and places in myth, literature, and folklore.

These are tools used by authors to give depth to their writing. Literary techniques are specific
aspects of literature used to deliver a message of any written work more effectively. The difference
between literary elements and techniques is that these techniques are only found in written works.
Also stories can exist without them. Furthermore, think of literary techniques as clues to a deeper
meaning. Many techniques let the reader know what will happen in the story later on, or if a
character will be delicate or strong.

Down below, you will find the literary techniques we will focus on.

1. Flashback: Presentation of events that occurred in the past, either at the beginning of the story
or before the story took place. Flashbacks are interruptions that writers do to insert past events,
in order to provide background or context to the current events of a narrative. By using
flashbacks, writers allow their readers to gain insight into a character’s motivations, and
provide a background to a current conflict. Dream sequences and memories are methods used
to present flashbacks.
 Examples of Flashback in Literature

Example #1: The Holy Bible (By Various Contributors)

The Bible is a good source of flashback examples. In the Book of Matthew, we see a flashback
has been used when Joseph, governor of Egypt, sees his brothers after several years. Joseph
“remembered his dreams” about his brothers, and how they sold him into slavery in the past.

Example #2: Death of a Salesman (By Arthur Miller)

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman uses flashback to narrate Willy Loman’s memories of the
past. At one moment, Willy talks with his dead brother while playing cards with Charley. He
relives a past conversation in the present. This demonstrates a character that is physically living
in the present, but mentally living in the memories and events of the past.

Example #3: The Cruel Mother (By Anonymous)

Another example of flashback is the ballad of The Cruel Mother, in which a mother remembers
her murdered child. While going to church, she remembers her child’s birth, growing up, and
death. Later, she thinks back further to a distant time in her past to remember how her own
mother was ruthless to her.

2. Voice: A characteristic, unique form of narrative that each author has.

3. Characterization: Method by which a writer presents the personality, appearance and the
other traits of a character.
4. Symbol: An object or situation that represents something beyond itself.
5. Motif: Recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, or object that manifests repeatedly during
the course of a story.
6. Theme: Idea that the author repeats in the story to point to a deeper meaning.
7. Foreshadowing: Tool used by authors to hint what is to come, or one possible outcome of a
story.

Short Examples of Foreshadowing

 The final graveyard flower is blooming, and its smell drifts through their house, speaking
gently the names of their dead. (Foreshadows death)
  The evening was still. Suddenly, a cool breeze started blowing and made a windy night.
(Foreshadows thunderstorm)
 The most awful thing happened on a stormy evening, The battle between good and evil
started. (Foreshadows danger)
 Mary pulled back the curtains and saw some magpies sitting on the wall. (Foreshadows
gossip)
 They thought there would not be more bodies; however, they could not believe the
thought. (Foreshadows murder)
 An old man opens his drawer to find a magnifying glass, and sees a revolver.
(Foreshadows warning)
 In the middle of the night, the father hears the back door opening. He rushes to check on
his kids, but a masked intruder is blocking the way with a knife. (Foreshadows threat)
 Rainbow sparks, With shining lights. (Foreshadows optimism)
 Inhale fresh air, exhale bad breath. (Foreshadows new ideas)
 From the window, the gusts look so furious, the roofs of high buildings are stripped off,
and the trees are torn up in the city. (Foreshadows someone’s angst)
 Michael sees his own face under Donavan’s mask. (Foreshadows Donavan is his father)
 They have made up their minds to remove an evil eye forever. (Foreshadows harm to an
evil character)
 I observed devices, The symbols in the books To indicate the written future. (Foreshadows
writer)
 As the twilight colors blush. The eyes of the night arouse. (Foreshadows night)
 The same old thinking and the same old results. (Foreshadows change)
8. Stream-of-consciousness: Technique that allows the reader to see the continuous, chaotic, and
half-formed thoughts, memories, senses, images, and reflections that constitutes a character's
consciousness.

Learning about Literary Devices

So why is it important to learn about literary devices? This is not only something wanna-
be-writers should learn, this is important for experienced writers to remember, and for everyone
to know about. Learning about these tools allows us to analyze works of literature. Sure you might
enjoy reading, but what about the deeper meaning of a novel, the meaning behind the story? To
enjoy a literary piece to the fullest, it is important to understand many other aspects of it beyond
the story its telling. For example, by which social issues was it surrounded, what is the message
the writer wanted to convey, what do us– the audience– feel when reading it, and over all why this
story was written.

Now that we understand the importance of literary devices, we can learn how to use them.
If we want to analyze a novel, for example, we don't have to take the whole thing and analyze
everything at once. That's suicide. Instead, we divide the novel by identifying its parts, or its
literary elements. We separate the plot, setting, type of narrator, point of view, and so on. We
might also want to look to the historical context. After identifying all the parts of the novel, we
must identify any literary techniques that might be present in the book and analyze them. Why are
these techniques in the book? What the author wanted us to understand? What do we feel when
we approach each technique separately?

As writers, literary terms should be the foundation of our work. They allow us to look at
other authors works from which we need to learn– because we know how important it is for a
writer to be an avid reader– and understand them better. Learning about these tools will add beauty,
meaning, and depth to our own works.

SOURCES:

https://hobbylark.com/writing/Creative-Writing-101-Literary-Devices

https://literarydevices.net/foreshadowing/

"Literary Devices and Literary Terms." Literary Devices. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.

Vigil, Joseph. "Literary Elements: Definition, Types & Examples." Education Portal. N.p., n.d.
Web. 29 Oct. 2014.