Writing Elements
(This will help you with your BOOK REPORT PROJECT requirement).
Strong Verbs
Verbs are action words. Did you know there are weak verbs and STRONG VERBS? Young authors need to know the difference between the two.
Weak verbs are words that have been over-used or don’t add any new information to the sentence. They are okay, but lack imagination.
Example: The bunny went across the field. (went= weak verb)
Strong verbs add more information to the sentence. Strong verbs paint a word picture in the reader’s mind and create mature, well-written sentences.
Example: The bunny scampered across the field. (scampered = strong verb)
*Other strong verbs you could have used are: raced, flew, crawled, danced, skipped…
Juicy Color Words
We are fortunate to live in a world splashed with every color imaginable. We are surrounded with a kaleidoscope of shades of every color family, not just red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, brown, black, and white. Juicy color words are names that describe the color and are more specific.
Examples of juicy color words: lobster red (red), robin’s egg blue (blue),
school bus yellow (yellow), emerald (green), lavender (purple),
pumpkin (orange), coffee (brown), charcoal (black), vanilla (white)...
Examples:
The green grass was slick as the brown dog leaped across. (green, brown=NOT juicy)
The forest green grass was wet as the chocolate brown dog leaped across.
(forestgreen, chocolatebrown= JUICY)
Similes
Similes, similes, similes. They’re everywhere! When we compare two things, using the words like or as, it’s called a simile. Similes show us the qualities of an object or person by comparing it to something else.
Examples:
My brother is as clumsy as a bull in a china shop.
Mary Ellen acts like a big baby when she doesn’t get her way.
The sunset looks like a dazzling watercolor painting.
His grin was as toothy as a great white sharks.
Onomatopoeia
The “popcorn” of the writing world is onomatopoeia, or any sound effect word. They are used to recreate specific sounds or moods. These fun-to-read words can give your stories, poems, plays, or comic strips just the right zing.
Examples: crash, crunch, pop, zing, zip, meow, munch, roar, rip, sizzle, crackle, splat, kerplunk, bang, clank, woof, thunk, hiss, whiz, oink, moo, sniff, snap, cough, achoo, dong, ding, pong, ping, bong, bing, zap, zing, whoop, woosh, chug, ha,…
Emotion and Sensory Words
People connect with other people through their emotions. Whether you’re writing a fictional narrative, personal narrative, an opinion piece, or a persuasive piece, it’s a good idea to use specific emotion words. Emotion and Sensory words tell the reader exactly how someone feels or pinpoint the exact experience that’s being described.
Emotion examples: (tells how you feel about something)
When I won the award I felt good about myself. (good = NOT emotion word)
When I won the award I felt proud and fantastic. (proud, fantastic = EMOTION word)
Sensory example: (tells how something feels, tastes, smells, sounds, looks)
The sandwich tasted bad so I didn’t eat it. (bad = NOT sensory word)
The sandwich tasted stale so I didn’t eat it. (stale = SENSORY word)
Word Pictures
When writers choose words that create a mental picture for the reader, it is called painting a word picture. These descriptions make you see, hear, smell, and imagine things you’ve never experienced before. So much detail and description is used that you can “see” or imagine a picture of the story in your head.
Examples: He was madder than a wet hen.
The twilight was strange and dusty.
She twisted her hands and bit her lip in frustration.
His heart nearly jumped out of his chest and his blood turned to ice water.