Notes on: Words that Work

I attended monthly Timp Teller’s story telling meeting at the library. This month we had a presentation on writing.
Enclosed are my notes: The workshop title is “Words that Work” taught by Janeal Freeman.

Verbs and nouns are the strongest words in the sentence.
Adverbs and Adjectives support verbs and nouns.
Look at all LY words in the sentence and try to avoid them.
The more specific the nouns the clearer the picture you pain.
Find a theme in a story and use imagery that supports the theme.
Anything that uses any of the 5 senses will create a stronger image.
Every story has a rhythm.
A fun way to build a theme is by metaphor and simile.
If you want to review various tenses look at picture books.

First: brainstorm your characters, props, places etc. then adding Poetic Devices:
Images: Sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch

Word music:
(alliteration- repetition of consonants
Assonance- repetition of vowel sounds
Repetition of words and phrases and even dissonance

Rhythm: meter

Likenesses – metaphors and similes

Word Play:
Inventing new words, puns, onomatopoeia, word surprises.

Other writing Tools:
Three voices
First person (I walked down the street)
Second person. (you run up the street)
Third person (he jumped over the ditch)

Point of view:
Omniscient voice: narrator knows all
Multiple view: A story, scene is displayed form the perspective of various characters.
Limited: main character point of view. He/she has to be present in every scene

Recommended books:
The creative habit by Twyla Tharp
Writing down the bones: Freeing the writer with Within by Natalie Goldberg
self-editing for fiction writers by Renni Browne.