The Glossary, E-L

Week of January 22, 2012—Picture Book Writer’s Glossary

Tuesday, January 24, 2012—The Glossary, E-L

-E-

Edit—to correct or “clean up” a draft. Usually includes correcting spelling, word usage, capitalization, and punctuation.

Explode the moment— this type of writing has been described by Barry Lane in his books The Revisers Tool Box and After the End. Think of how a snapshot freezes a moment in time with all the details of that moment captured for all to see. NOTE: This technique is also called Snapshot Writing.

-F-

Focus—staying focused on one central idea and excluding extraneous information.

Foreshadowing—to show or indicate beforehand.

Fretag’s Pyramid—a dramatic structure diagram showing rising action on the left side of the pyramid, up to the apex (which represents the climax), and falling action on the right side of the pyramid leading to the conclusion and denouement of the story. See: http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2011/10/dramatic-structurefreytags-pyramid.html.

-G-

Golden thread—a technique where a recurring theme, phrase, or set of words flow throughout a piece of writing. The thread helps “tie” together the writing and gives a feeling of completeness. See: http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2011/02/golden-thread.html.

-H-

Hyperbole—an exaggeration or extravagant statement or figure of speech that is not intended to be taken literally (such as: The pizza was so hot it burned my tongue off!)

-I-

Idiom—a figure of speech in which the meaning cannot be understood simply from the actual meaning of the words. (For istance: Keep tabs on him. OR It’s raining cats and dogs.) See: http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2011/03/idioms-familiar-wise-and-fun-sayings.html.

Insider vocabulary—vocabulary associated with a certain job, hobby, sport, and so on. For instance, ballet has its own set of vocabulary, as does skateboarding, soccer, instant messaging, and so on. The use of some insider vocabulary (and the inclusion of necessary definitions) can add interest and variety to writing.

-J-

-K-

-L-