Smiley Face Tricks

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Smiley Face Tricks

• Tricks of the writing trade to help you meet and
  exceed writing expectations.
• Ideas developed by Mary Ellen Ledbetter
• Powerpoint created by Gwen S. Thibadeau

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Why use Smiley Face Tricks???

• These writing techniques are common tools that
  ALL authors use.
• They are proven to add personality, voice, style,
  and reader interest.

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Magic 3

• A technique writers use to list items-the items
  must follow
• the same pattern.  Technically referred to as
  Parallel Structure.

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M3--Example

• After school each day I typically drive home with
  my children, complete homework, and talk about
  the day.

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Hyphenated Modifier

• A technique writers use to creatively describe
  or rename someone or something rather than using
  plain one word adjectives. A boring, one-word
  adjective is replaced by a phrase or clause that
  might come to mind when the person is in that
  particular situation.

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HM--Example

• Some of her students sat in their
  why-do-I-have-to-be-here postures while others
  exuded eagerness.

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Repetition for Effect

• While repetition without careful consideration
  can be tedious and ineffective, a carefully
  selected word or phrase repeated can add
  incredible emphasis!

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RE--Example

• That week, the teachers attended three faculty
  meetings.  They went to two department meetings. 
  They sat in on one collaborative teaching
  meeting, and they held training meetings.  They
  were ready to go back to class just to get away
  from all of the meetings.

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Specific Details

• Also known as imagery, this technique appeals to
  the senses and includes enough detail to allow
  the reader to identify with the description.

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SD--Example

• Her car reeked of stale cigarette smoke.  The
  back seat was speckled with charred black holes
  where the cigarette ashes had burned what used to
  be the pale gray plush fabric.

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Figurative Language

• This technique finds new and creative ways to
  describe people, places, things, and ideas.
• Similesmetaphorshyperbolepersonification
• It incorporates fresh and creative similes and
  metaphors, not cliches.

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FL- Example

• She had graduated. It wasnt until then that she
  had realized what freedom really was. Finally,
  she was soaring through the air, wings spread
  wide.

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Expanded Moment

• This technique involves the writer leaving the
  main story line to go into the characters mind
  and explain a related experience or idea.

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EM Example

• After the car accident, I held my fathers head
  cradled in my lap.  I talked to him and tried to
  keep him conscious for as long as possible.  I
  reminded him of the time we went fishing, and as
  we tried to load the boat onto the trailer, he
  slipped and fell, scattering fish all in the mud
  on the edge of the lake.  I stood by the truck
  and laughed as he struggled to stand up. 
  Suddenly, I heard the police sirens, and I told
  my father as he struggled to keep his eyes open
  that help was almost here.  He died before the
  police arrived.

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Humor

• Writers use humor for many reasons... not only
  to create a connection with the reader and cause
  him/her to laugh, but also to lighten the mood in
  a tense or serious situation.

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HExample

• Sitting at the funeral home waiting for the
  services to begin, the old man knew what he would
  miss most about his wife of sixty years her
  lying in bed waving the covers up and down,
  giggling as she vented her toot.

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Full Circle Ending

• Writers will often begin a piece of writing with
  a key word or phrase, develop the piece, and will
  bring the reader back to the key word or phrase
  at the ending.

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FCE--Example

• She was fat and happy.  The day she gave birth
  to her first child was amazing.  Everything was
  perfect.  The child had a beautiful head of hair,
  all ten fingers and toes, and slept rather than
  crying like most babies do.  Now, as an old woman
  sitting in her favorite chair visiting with three
  of her great grandchildren, again she was fat and
  happy.

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Practice Makes Perfect!!!

• For the remainder of class and for homework,
  write one descriptive paragraph about your day,
  and in that paragraph, use at least four smiley
  face tricks. Come to class prepared to share
  your examples.