Your assignment for this week is to write a piece in the style of one of these authors. Your piece should be of the usual length and can be a re-imagining or continuation of something you've already written, or it can be completely new.
In order to successfully imitate the style of one of these authors, you need to first analyze what makes their respective styles unique. We did some of this in class, as you will recall. Here's a refresher on some of the traits we talked about in each of the stories. Remember to go back to these stories to figure out more about what makes these authors' voices some of the most distinctive in literature.
Hemingway:
- Simple, straightforward, economical language
- Frequent use of short sentences
- Naturalistic dialogue--characters often speak in short phrases
- Repetition for emphasis
- Characters tend not to reveal much about themselves, seem almost reluctant to speak
- Long, winding sentences with somewhat elevated diction
- Use of almost microscopic detail to describe certain actions or sensations that have particular significance to the story or the main character
- Partially omniscient narrator that has access to the deepest recesses of one or more characters' psyches.
- Regional dialect in the dialogue contrasts more formal language in narration.
- Accessible language, casual diction, simple sentence structure
- Somewhat cynical tone--narrator doesn't necessarily sympathize with the characters
- Macabre subject matter
- Dark humor--even mixes slapstick, visual humor with violence
- Plot twists hinting at the random turns life and death can take
- Use of simple, yet striking similes ("Face as broad and innocent as a cabbage")
- Regional dialect
There's so much more to the style of each author, even based only on the stories that we read. So make sure you get your noses back in the book before you start writing.
Have a great weekend, and have fun with this writing assignment!
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