Smiley Face Tricks

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Smiley Face Tricks
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• Smiley Face Tricks are used to make your writing
  better.
• We will learn 8 different ways to make your
  writing better, by making it sound better.

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Magic Three

• Three parallel groups of words
• Separated by commas
• Used to create a poetic rhythm or add support for
  a point (Elaborate Explain)

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Example 1

• I was so excited that I jumped up and down, cried
  huge tears of joy, and plastered a huge smile on
  my face.

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Example 2

• My palms became sticky and shaky, my neck tingled
  with anticipation, and my heart puttered with
  emotion.

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Example 3

• I love to relax by reading a favorite book,
  sitting in my yard watching my animals, or eating
  out with friends and family.

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What to do?

• Every time you use a Smiley Face Trick, remember
  to put a smiley face on the periphery (edge) of
  your paper, next to it.

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Lets Practice

• With those at your table, create 2 Magic Three
  sentences.
• Be prepared to share.

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Smiley Face Tricks

• Figurative Language

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Figurative Language

• Non-literal comparisons
• Used to add spice to your writing
• Helps paint a vivid picture for the reader

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Different Types of Figurative Language

• Simile
• Metaphor
• Hyperbole
• Personification

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Simile

• Comparing two things, using like or as or
  than.
• Example
• She is pretty like a summer day.
• He is as fast as a jaguar.
• He is faster than a jaguar.

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Metaphor

• Directly comparing two things, usually using is
• Example
• She is a summer day when she smiles.
• He is a jaguar when he races down the street.

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Hyperbole

• An exaggeration, to express a strong point.
• Example
• The books weigh a ton.
• I am doing a million things right now.

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Personification

• Placing human-like characteristics on an item
• Example
• The sun smiled on me today.
• The wind kissed my cheek gently.

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Your Turn

• Simile
• Metaphor
• Hyperbole
• Personification

• Come up with 1 example for each type of
  figurative language.
• BE PREPARED TO SHARE

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Smiley Face Tricks

• Specific Details For Effect

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Specific Details for Effect

• Use your five senses to create a specific
  explanation of what your writing is trying to
  express.
• Help the person visualize and imagine, through
  your words.

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5 Senses

• Hear
• See
• Smell
• Touch
• Taste

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Specific Details For Effect

• Example 1
• I started shivering. I could taste blood in my
  mouth and smell it in my nose. It had a cold,
  metallic taste that made my stomach twist inside
  out. I tore away from Pieters grip and ran back
  to the rail, emptying my stomach over the side.
  P. 54 Letters from Rifka

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Specific Details for Effect

• Example 2
• Before I could finish, water, a wall of water,
  rose up over me. Pieter grabbed me around the
  waist and hurled me away from the side. The water
  came crashing down over our heads, slamming us
  onto the deck. Pieter held onto me as the water
  sucked at my body, trying to pull me overboard.
  P. 54 Letters from Rifka

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Your Task

• Pick any item in your possession
• Write 7 sentences describing EVERY aspect of the
  item.
• Remember to consider all 5 of your senses.
• BE PREARED TO SHARE.

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Smiley Face Tricks

• Repetition For Effect

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Repetition For Effect

• Repeating specifically chosen words or phrases to
  make a point
• To stress certain ideas for the readers

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Repetition For Effect

• Example 1
• He wrote that at Ellis Island you are neither in
  nor out of America. Ellis Island is a line
  separating my future from my past. Until I cross
  that line, I am still homeless, still an
  immigrant. Once I leave Ellis Island, though, I
  will truly be in America. P. 57 Letters from
  Rifka

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Repetition For Effect

• Example 2
• While I was shopping with the lady from the HIAS
  that first week, I saw a hat that I wanted, a hat
  that would cover my baldness. I thought if I only
  owned such a hat, it would not matter so much
  that I was bald but I did not have the money.
  P. 45 Letters from Rifka

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Your Turn
Make sure to put a smiley face next to each
Repetition for Effect.

• Write a paragraph about this class.
• Think about what happened, at certain parts. You
  should use Repetition for Effect, AT LEAST twice
  for this task.

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Smiley Face Tricks

• Expanded Moments

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Expanded Moments

• Instead of speeding past a moment, writers
  sometimes spend some time explaining a certain
  part of the story in detail.

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Examples

• Then Pieter bent over and kissed me! Right on my
  lips, Tovah. A warm kiss, with the soft blond
  hairs of his mustache tickling me. p. 52 Letters
  from Rifka
• The treatments are not so bad as I feared. I
  walk to the convent once a day. The nun in charge
  of my case is Sister Katrina. She washes my scalp
  with a green soap that makes my eyes water. Then
  she puts me under a violet light. The light warms
  my head. p. 37 Letters from Rifka

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Your Turn

• Write one paragraph, explaining one specific
  moment during your lunch time. Make sure to
  explain every single detail. Let the reader feel
  as though they are you.

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Smiley Face Tricks

• Humor

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Humor

• Great writers know when to add a bit of humor,
  something funny, to their paper. This can make a
  potential boring paper into an interesting and
  entertaining paper, lifting someones spirits.

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Example

• There I was on the first day of schoolthe
  picture-perfect girl. My new outfit looked like
  something from my big sisters magazine, my
  hairfor once was having a good day, and I was
  strutting in my new shoes. Little did I know that
  I was trailing a three-yard piece of Charmin
  behind me. So much for using the bathroom right
  before class. (Ledbetter p.106)

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Your Turn

1. Write about something that has happened to you
   that you think/thought was funny. Try to write
   it down and capture it in words.
2. Then, read it out loud. Does it still sound
   funny?
3. If it does not, figure out what you can
   add/change to make sure your words capture the
   humor.

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Smiley Face Tricks

• Hyphenated Modifiers

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Hyphenated Modifiers

• Sometimes a new way of saying something can make
  all the difference. Hyphenated adjectives often
  cause the reader to sit up and take notice of
  what you have written.

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Examples

• The teacher looked at me with her
  I-am-going-to-give-you-a-detention look.
• When I was getting dressed for school, my mom had
  this youd-better-wear-that-red-sweater-your-grand
  ma-knitted-you-or-else look.
• He gave me a lets-be-friends handshake.
• She gave me the I-dont-like-your-shirt look.

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Your Turn

• Write 3 different sentences using hyphenated
  words in each one. There must be at least 3 words
  or more in the hyphenated phrase.

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Smiley Face Tricks

• Full-Circle Ending

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Full-Circle Ending

• This is a special type of ending that effectively
  wraps up the pieces.
• One way to do this is to repeat a phrase-perhaps
  with slightly different words-from the beginning
  of your writing.

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Example

• From beginning
• I sit quietly on the old wooden deck, watching
  the birds soar through the humid air. The
  oceans waves are like wrinkles gathered up in
  place.
• From end
• The clouds are so delicate, so fragile, yet a
  single plane could not break their perfect form.
  I sit quietly on the old wooden deck, watching
  the birds, the waves, the clouds.

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Your Turn

• Beginning Write 5 sentences to start off a short
  story about something that has happened to you in
  8th grade.
• End Write 5 sentences to end the short story.
  BUT, this time reword what you initially wrote.

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The End

• Go forth and improve your writing!!