The

Language
of Creative
writing
The Creative Writer’s Tools
Objectives
1. At the end of this module, I can:
2. Utilize language to evoke emotional and intellectual
responses
3. Use imagery, diction, figures of speech and experiences
in my writing.
4. Write short paragraphs based on my specific experiences.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Task 1 Diction and Style

01 “A good story starts with 02 STYLE is pretty much
a good beginning.” related to DICTION!

Figurative
Tone Language
03 Part of diction and the 04 Figures of speech or
manner of expression in stylistic devices.
writing.
INTRODUCTIO
N
“A good story starts with a good beginning.” Get us hooked in the
first paragraph of your story.

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 Since the tools for creative writing are
words, you must be able to manipulate
and utilize words and phrases
effectively and efficiently so that they
are at the very least, as colorful and
vivid and lively as a painter’s paint, or
01 as musical and harmonious as a
composer’s notes and chords, or
perhaps as mellifluous and lilting as a
musician’s instrument, or maybe as
graceful and elegant and hypnotic as a
dancer’s steps.
Words
Words are the tools of creative writer, you
must be able to use words and sentences
that engage, entertain or give pleasure,
and ultimately satisfy your readers.
OUR TEAM (Words/Diction=Style)

Diction Style
 TONE
Tone is a part of diction and the manner of expression in writing.
But think about this: Can your diction be elegant and still have a harsh tone? Can you insult
someone using a polished and gorgeous diction?
Look at this: “Oh, my! What a beautiful dress you have. Did you just make it? The fabric is
just glorious; we had it for curtains at home.”
 Figurative
Language
Also being called figures of speech or stylistic
devices because these are tools that can be used as
part of your personal style to give emphasis,
freshness or clarity to whatever you are trying to
say. They really add sophistication to your writing,
and show off a little bit of your skill in using the
language. Creating pictures in the mind of the
readers make for effective and convincing and
often impressive writings.
 Alliteration
- is the repetition of words with a change in letter or
sound.
Example: There will come soft rains and the smell of the
ground and swallows circling with their shimmering
sound.

Allusion
- is a figure of speech that quickly simulates different ideas
and associations using only a couple of words; making
indirect reference.
Example: Describing someone as an “Adonis” makes an
allusion to the handsome young shepherd loved by the
Goddess of love and beauty herself in the Greek myth.
 0 0 0
1 2 3
Apostrophe
Anaphora Antithesis
- is a stylistic device that consists of - is a figure of speech that refers to - is an exclamatory rhetorical
repeating a sequence of words at the juxtaposition of opposing or figure of speech in which a
the beginnings of neighboring contrasting ideas. It involves the speaker or writer breaks off
beginning put of a contrast in and directs speech to an
clauses to give them emphasis. the words, clauses, or sentences
Example: You are lovely, you are imaginary person or abstract
within a parallel grammatical quality or idea.
gorgeous, you are pretty, you are structure.
Example: Oh, moon! You have
glorious, you are, and you are, you just Example: Too many choices, too little
seen everything!
are! time.
 “Assonance-
is a figure of speech that refers to the repetition of
vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within
phrases or sentences.
Example: A certain purple curtain, captain. (Note:
cer in certain, pur in purple, and cur in curtain. Also:
tain in certain, curtain and captain)
Euphemism
- is figure of speech used to express a mild,
indirect, or vague term to substitute for a
harsh, blunt, or offensive term.
Example: saying “passed away” for “died”, or “in
between jobs” to mean “unemployed”
Chiasmus-
is a figure of speech in which words, grammatical
constructions, or concepts are repeated in
reverse order, in the same or a modified form.
Example: People must live to work, not just work
to live. (Note: The phrases live to work is repeated
in reverse as work to live.)
Hyperbole
- is a figure of speech that uses exaggerations to
create emphasis or effect; it is no meant to be
taken literally.
Example: I told you a million times to clean your
room!
 Hypophora
- is a figure of speech in which there
- is a figure of speech in which the
speaker raises a question and
then answers it.
Example: Is it a bird? No! Is it a
plane? No, it’s Superman!
Irony Verbal Irony
-is a contrast between what is
is a contradiction of expectation
between what is said and what is
said and what is meant.
really meant. It is characterized Example: The explanation is
by an incongruity, a contrast, as clear as mud.
between reality and what is
appearance.
 Dramatic
Irony
occurs when the audience or the
reader knows more about the
events than the characters
themselves. In other words, what
the character thinks is true is
congruous with the audience
knows.
Example: One of the two identical
twins tells the other, “You are so
ugly!” The pot calling the kettle
black
 Situational Irony-
refers to the contrast between
the actual result of a situation
and what was intended or
expected to happen.
Example: The robbers stole
from the police station.
 Litotes
- is a figure of speech consisting of an
understatement in which an affirmative is
expressed by the negative of its contrary.
Example: Instead of saying that someone is
“ugly,” you can say that someone is “not very
pretty.”
Instead of saying that the situation is “bad,”
you can say that it is “not good.”
Metaphor

- is a figure of speech that makes an

implicit, implied or hidden
comparison between two things or
objects that are poles apart from
each other but have some
characteristics common between
them.
Example: The planet is your
playground.
The Lord is my shepherd.
Metonymy

- is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is not called by its

own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with
that thing or concept.
Example: using “Malacañang” to refer to the president or the
government administration or saying “a hand” to mean “help”
Oxymoron Personification
- is a figure of speech that - is a figure of speech in which human
combines incongruous characteristics are attributed to an
or contradictory terms. abstract quality, animal, or
Example: “open secret,” inanimate object.
“virtual reality,” and Example: Red punctuates and makes
“sacred profanities” bold statements, says something,
and means it like an exclamation
point!
 Simile Synecdoche
- is a figure of speech directly - is a figure of speech in which
comparing two unlike things, a part of something is used to
often introduced with the represent the whole.
word like or as. Example: Sixty hands voted.
Examples: A smile as big as (Note: The part hand is used
the sun to refer to the whole person.)
She prays like a The country supported
mantis. the president. (Note: The word
country is used to refer to part
of the country, namely people.)
 Onomatopoeia
- the use of words that
imitate the sounds
associated with the objects
or actions they refer to.
Example: The clap of
thunder went bang and
scared my poor dog.
“We know what we are, but
we know not what we may
be” – William Shakespeare
THANKS
!
Do you have any questions?

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