The first summer after I launched my business, my older son Houston was rising high school sophomore. He exited his freshman year with a packet of summer work the teachers titled "Summer Reading Assignments." Houston was not a happy summer camper. I'm sure that when his English teacher said, "This summer, you need to read This Dark Endeavor so you better understand Shelley's Frankenstein," Houston was tempted to reply, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
His plans were to play AAU basketball with his cross-county teammates, hit golf balls with little brother Scotty, and fish Little River with me—play, hit, fish. My plan was to focus on growing my company while he did all the above and enjoy jumbo shrimp cocktails by the pool. Annotating novels did NOT make Houston's and my list. I mean, that dog won't hunt. That English teacher had overcooked our grits! The assignment screamed, "Stressful interactions are headed your way, mother and son!"
Misery loves company, right? My former student Ty' Dajah told me, "Mrs. Dyer, you are a hustler!" Well, I do have to bring home the bacon. I am the quintessential entrepreneur who battles shiny object syndrome. I thought, Aha! This terrible situation could be profitable. I quickly created a flyer and matching social media posts that offered Summer Reading Clubs based on school, grade, and specific novel.
The plan was to gather a gaggle of miserable girls and boys and help them knock out summer reading assignments in two to four meetings. The flyer sang my praises and surfed through cyberspace to garner a gamut of teenagers. Success! I mean, why not? I am the absolute greatest reading tutor in the history of mankind!
You now understand why I hire out all graphic design work or rely on Canva templates. Ha!!! I know where my talents end and someone else's begin.
Students completed their worksheet packets, and most of them actually read the novels. Some even learned how to use actual, physical, 3-D dictionaries! They're favorite tasks were diagramming characters on gigantic sheets of paper taped down my hallway and learning literary devices. The students taught me what my writers might enjoy as well. I now employ many of the same teaching methods that I used in Summer Reading Clubs with my adult students.
Here's a little trick you can try. Apply what I call "fiction finesse" to all of your writing, even non-fiction self-help books. Review the list below, then see if you can spot some of them in this email.
xoxoxo, Jody
Each device is followed by its definition and example(s). Enjoy!
Alliteration – repetition of same letter at beginning of words
The green grass grows.
Allusion – reference to something well-known to make a situation more understandable but without directly stating what that “something” is.
What I really need here is a yellow brick road.
She was as ignorant as Goldilocks on day one.
Cadence – rhythm in the writing
“I came, I saw, I conquered.” Latin – “Veni, vidi, vici.” – Julius Caesar
Colloquialism – words and phrases that aren’t used in formal English but accepted – like slang
Are you nuts? He is going to blow our cover.
Hyperbole- Highly exaggerated claim
My ex-boyfriend called me one million times last night.
Oxymoron – Figure of speech in which two opposing words come together in order to create a more interesting meaning (usually adj. and noun)
Living death, genuine fake
Personification – Giving human traits to a nonhuman object/thing
The whirling wind howled louder than Remus lupin on the moon. (allusion)
Cliché – Heavily repeated phrase – overused – limited impact these days.
As red as a rose – The grass is always greener – Can’t judge a book by its cover.
Please share this email with writers, young or old, in your life! If you'd like a lesson on "fiction finesse," let's talk.
