As you may recall, one of the exciting things that’s happened in the past month is something called Phoenix Fiction Writers.  If your memory is a bit foggy, or if you were justifiably preoccupied with the holidays and missed the announcement, you can read all about PFW in my blog post.

Today, I had the honor of publishing an article on the Phoenix Fiction blog! I got to talk about literary techniques, something I find fascinating.  Here’s an excerpt from the post:

Do you rock at Scattergories?  Do your friends refuse to play Scrabble with you?  Does your family groan as you slip yet another pun into a conversation?

You’re probably a writer, which means words are your playthings.  Most of us love the rhetorical devices we were taught.  We love them so much that we use and reuse them–sometimes to the point of ridiculousness.

Take similes, for instance.  There’s nothing wrong, and sometimes a good deal right, with a comparison that makes us think differently about the world.  But, when your similes are as frequent as your verbs, when your readers trip over strange comparisons as if they were blindly wandering through a rock quarry, similes become a bit problematic–like too much sugar poured into tea, making it more candy than drink.

You get the point.

There is good news, though: There are dozens of ways to play with words!  I’d like to share with you some of my favorite rhetorical devices today.

Is your interest piqued? Head over to PFW’s website and read the rest of my article, “Playing with Words: 6 Ways to Liven Your Writing.” While you’re at it, click around and get to know the other Phoenix Fiction authors.  Trust me, they’re amazing!

Actually, scratch that.  Don’t trust me.  Get to know them for yourself :)

And have a lovely week!