Megan Botts-Hamzawi

Craft Table for The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Craft Moves / Location / Explanations
sentence structures / 6T, 6M, 9M, 11T / Writers vary sentence structure for several reasons: to keep readers engaged, to temper the anticipation or action of a moment, and to draw attention to important text. In the sample below, note how Bradbury follows four concise sentences with a longer sentence. The reader can already sense the woman’s unease, but it is only reinforced by the added attention given to “the thing” that will occur. “She looked out at the pale desert. The twin white moons were rising. Cool water ran softly about her toes. She began to tremble just the least bit. She wanted very much to sit quietly here, soundless, not moving until this thing occurred, the thing expected all day, this thing that could not occur but might.” Participial phrases are fantastic, but they should not be over-used.
participial phrases / 2M, 2B, 5T, 6T / Participial phrases, or modifying phrases that contain -ing or -ed words, add wonderful variety to an author’s writing, not only varying sentence structure but also adding detail to the nouns they modify. The following example draws the reader’s focus from the ceiling of the woman’s house down to her face.
“A gentle rain sprang from the fluted pillar tops, cooling the scorched air, falling gently on her.”
This example has a similar panning effect. It draws the reader’s literary eye from her mouth to her facial expression.
“She put her hand to her mouth, unbelieving.”
short paragraphs / 2M, 3T, 5M, 7T, 11M / Ray Bradbury relies on short paragraphs to draw attention to important ideas. Short paragraphs are a powerful tool, but they can also be, especially when they occur too frequently, very choppy. If writers want to use short, one line paragraphs, they can combat the choppy issue by varying sentence length and using this technique sparingly.
“They were not happy now.”
“The dream occurred.”
absolutes / 3T / Writers use absolutes to modify nouns, adding and emphasizing important details.
“In the distance she heard her husband playing his book steadily, his fingers never tired of the old songs.”
The absolute “his fingers never tired…” allows the reader to better understand the man, who is habitual by nature and does not handle change very well.
consecutive verbs / 3T / Writers can add further sentence variety by placing several verbs together, separated by commas.
“Her brown fingers trembled, came up, grasped at the air.”