Ap Lit Notes

Writing as “telepathy”

Writing as “telepathy”

Reader and writer should see the same thing

Dressing up one’s vocabulary

Don’t do this; keep it simple; makes you look dumb

Active vs passive verbs

Active verbs are better because they keep reader interested

Dialogue attribution

Showing vs saying; the fancy name for the words that come at the end (or sometimes the start… or even in the middle) of a line of dialogue. It is the 'he said' 'she asked' 'they shouted' portion of your sentence

“Omit needless words”

Don’t use needless words because it’s stupid

Paragraphs in essays vs paragraphs in fiction

Long paragraph vs short paragraph to keep reader intrigued

The muse

A person or personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist; keep them basic; they’re the outside inspiration for the story

Why it’s important to read and write a lot

Both are just as important; practice makes better

The closed door

Close the door to outside thoughts that might affect your paper

Telling the truth

Don’t present a story that’s clean; keep it real; instead show the truth about the characters based off their personality

Narration

The action or process of narrating a story; moves the story from point to point

Description

A spoken or written representation or account of a person, object, or event; creates the environment

Dialogue

Conversation between multiple people; creates characters; don’t be overly simple; build around it; use it to form a character

Plot

Characters write themselves but this doesn’t; the sequence of events in which each event affects the next one through the principle of cause-and-effect

Situation

Where they are and what they are doing; how you start the story

Locale

Helps with the reader be in the story; ace where something happens or is set, or that has particular events associated with it

Texture

The concrete, physical elements of prose or poetry that are separate from the structure or argument of the work; same as locale

Cliches

Stereotypes that are overused; don’t use them cause they put your character in a box

Characterization

Let characters build themselves based off what they do and say

Figurative language

The use of language in a non-literal way to communicate a truth after thorough comparison

Showing vs telling

Show through actions instead of saying it

“Murder your darlings”

Don’t hold value to useless writing if it doesn’t make sense

Symbolism

Don’t force it; in the first draft don’t think about it; second draft read it back over to see if there’s any potential for symbolism which shows itself; the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

Theme

Don’t write based on this; same as symbolism; an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature.

Resonance

How the story affects the reader

2nd draft = 1st draft - 10%

During 2nd draft, cut out 10% of 1st draft; when you put the effort to see the mistakes and delete cleverly, you mostly reach the 10 percent mark

Backstory

Don’t over explain this cause most people’s are boring