LANGUAGE OF

CREATIVE WRITING
 In creative writing, the writer must consider
the language to be used which will make the creative
work different from other forms of writing. The
language of creative writing is different if compared to
technical writing and academic writing. Words are
flowery, expressive, and more interesting. This is to
capture not just the mind but also the heart of the
audience and to make the audience feel a different
reading experience.
IMAGERY
Imagery is the language used by poets,
novelists, and other writes to create images in the
mind of the reader. It includes figurative and
metaphorical language to improve the reader’s
experience through their senses.
Types of Imagery
• Visual – describes what we see: colors, patterns, shapes, size
• Olfactory – describes what we smell: nice fragrances, bad
odors
• Gustatory – describes what we taste: sour, sweet, bitter,
salty, acidic
• Tactile – describes what we touch: texture, movement,
temperature
• Auditory – describes what we hear: music, silence, noise
FIUGRE OF SPEECH
Writers use figures of speech and figurative
language to create images that would deepen the
reader’s comprehension of a text. Figures of speech
and figurative language create the so-called figurative
images which increase reading pleasure.
• Simile – two unlike things are explicitly compared. It is
introduced by words such as like, so, as.
Examples:
Pliant like a bamboo
Lovely as a flower
Slept like a log
Blind as a bat
• Metaphor – an informal or implied simile in which
words like, as, so are omitted.
Examples:
She is just a late bloomer
Time is money
I smell success in the building
A dream is a wish your heart makes.
• Personification – an idea or thing is given human
attributes and/or feelings or is spoken of as if it were
human.
Examples:
My heart danced when he walked in the room
The birds are singing
The sun kissed my cheeks.
That door jumped in my way.
• Hyperbole – a literary device that creates heightened
effect through deliberate exaggeration.
Examples:
I love you to the moon and back
I’m starving, I could eat a horse.
This suitcase weights a ton
She loves him more than life itself
• Alliteration – the repetition of the same letter or
syllable at the beginning of two or more words.
Examples:
But a better butter makes a batter better.
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
Best Buy
Coca-Cola
• Allusion – a figure of speech that references a person,
place, thing, or something that happened in history. This
may come from many sources such as Bible, Greek or
Roman mythology or Shakespeare.
Examples:
Don’t act like Romeo in front of her.
This place is like a Garden of Eden.
Stop acting like my ex-husband!
The rise in poverty will unlock the Pandora’s box of
crimes.
• Onomatopoeia - is defined as a word which imitates
the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect
that mimics the thing described, making the
description more expressive and interesting.
Examples:
Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle.
The buzzing bee flew away
The sack fell into the river with a splash.
The rustling leaves kept me awake.
DICTION
Diction refers to language and word of
choice of the writer. It shows the level of
formality of a text which helps in shaping the
perception and view of the readers. There are
three levels of diction. There are formal, informal,
and colloquial.
 LEVELS CHARACTERISTICS

Formal Diction Academic/ Scholarly

Language
Informal Diction Conversational
Language
Colloquial Diction Slang Language;
Captures regional
dialect
Formal Diction
• Proper and polite
• Often filled with descriptive words
• Stick to grammatical rules
 

Informal Diction
• More conversational
• Often used in narrative literature
• How people communicate in real life
• Gives an author freedom more realistic character
Colloquial Diction
• Informal in nature and generally represent a certain region or time
Examples:
• Colloquial Formal Diction Informal Diction
- going to - gonna acceptable okay/ok
- want to - wanna opt pick-out
- you - ya
edify let know
- all of you - y’all