Creative Writing Workshop Flashcards
Grade 10 · English · Flashcards
Essential craft terms, principles, and workshop practices for advanced creative writing.
Flashcards
- Voice
- The distinctive personality and rhythm of a writer's prose; built through diction, syntax, and what the narrator notices or omits.
- Show, Don't Tell
- Craft principle: render experience through concrete sensory detail and action rather than direct authorial labels ('she was nervous' = tell; 'her pen tapped 40 times' = show).
- Diction
- Word choice — the specific words selected determine tone, precision, register, and voice; high vs. low register, concrete vs. abstract, latinate vs. Anglo-Saxon.
- Point of View (POV)
- Narrative perspective: who tells the story, what they know, and what they can access. First-person = intimate/limited; 3rd limited = interior/partial; omniscient = broad/less intimate.
- Revision
- Substantive reworking of a draft at the structural, scene, character, and language levels; re-seeing rather than proofreading.
- Scene
- Real-time narrative with dialogue, action, and sensory detail; slows time and increases emotional intensity for crucial moments.
- Summary
- Compressed narration that covers time quickly; used for transitions and less dramatically significant events.
- Concrete Detail
- Specific, sensory, observable information that grounds abstraction and creates vivid, credible experience for readers.
- Workshop Critique
- Text-based feedback identifying what works, what needs development, and specific revision suggestions; not personal preference or intention-based.
- Interiority
- The representation of a character's inner thoughts, feelings, and perceptions; distinct from external action and dialogue.
- Sentence Rhythm
- The pattern of long and short sentences, stressed syllables, and clause structures that creates pace, emphasis, and voice.
- Register
- The level of formality and vocabulary in language — formal/academic, informal/colloquial, technical, poetic — must be consistent with character voice and narrative context.
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