Inside This Author's Mind: Rhetorical Devices

There are many rhetorical devices to choose from. Margie Lawson lists about thirty of them in one of her class notes. You will find differing numbers via an Internet search, just as there are contradictions online as to the basic plot(s), from one on upward.

But for this post I would ask you to question whether you need a rhetorical device at times. I'll use an example derived from my earlier post. Here's the final version:

[S]et the proper mood for that elusive piece that is still floating around in your subconscious but wanting to become physical, tangible, evident in print. 

And this was the drafted version:

[S]et the proper mood for that elusive piece that is still floating around in your subconscious but wanting to become something physical, something tangible, something evident in print. 

I took out the three repetitions of "something" (for added emphasis) and really liked this sentence better without that clutter.

The point of this post? Just because it is a rhetorical device, doesn't make it useful in every incarnation. As my example above illustrates. But I will continue to use them, judiciously, and with a better (stronger) word than "something" to catch the reader's attention.

In fact you'll note the lack of a conjunction with the three items listed at the end of the block quote. That's a rhetorical device in and of itself, the same as writing "physical and tangible and evident in print" is another.

I believe it is more important to write from the heart, where our emotions reside, and double check it with our gut. Our writing should look effortless and not draw attention to its creator but to our tale and its characters.

So if the rhetorical device bumps the reader out of our scene, toss it.

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
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When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
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