`1` Romance worth killing for
Shattering Romantic Suspense
Author Websites
Elisabeth Naughton
Joan Swan
Linda Winfree
 
Author's Latest Releases









Coming Soon

AddThis Feed Button

 
Industry Blogs We Like
Agent Obscura
Anatomy of a Book Deal
Bookends Literary Agency Blog
The Bradford Bunch
Buzz, Balls & Hype
Jennifer Jackson, Literary Agent
The Knight Agency
Magical Musings
Mid-Willamette Valley RWA Blog
Kristin Nelson, Literary Agent
Jenny Rappaport, Literary Agent
Miss Snark
Murder She Writes
Paperback Writer
Romancing The Blog
Running With Quills
Working Stiffs
Samhain Publishing
Wine Country Romance Writers, RWA
WriteMinded
 
Author Blogs We Like
Elisa Adams
Carol Burnside
Brenda Coulter
Tanya Holmes
Larissa Ione
Lydia Joyce
Elisabeth Naughton
Patti O'Shea
Edie Ramer
Kate Rothwell
Marissa Scott
Lynne Simpson
Amie Stuart
Joan Swan
Karin Tabke
Stephanie Tyler
Linda Winfree
 
Recommended Resources
Agent Query
Charlotte Dillon
Common Redundancies in Writing
Cop Talk--Karin Tabke
Crime in Mind
Cruisie/Mayer 2007 Online Workshop
Kiss of Death RWA Chapter
Publisher's Marketplace
Romance Agents
Romance Writers of America
 
Previous Blogs
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
 
What We're Working On Now

Elisabeth: Marked

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
33,126 / 95,000
(34.9%)



Joan: Buried Secrets

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
68,000 / 115,000
(59.1%)


Linda: Facing It

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
45,540 / 85,000
(53.6%)

:~: Saturday, May 05, 2007 :~:

Syntax Basics, Part 1

I apologize for posting late, but I have the flu and yesterday I was responsible for pulling off the school's annual talent show. Okay, I was responsible for the kids I delegated that task to, but still . . .

So what is syntax? Yeah, yeah, we've all heard the English student joke -- it's what the church charges sinners. Nope, sorry. Syntax, as scary as it can be to a roomful of ninth graders, is simply the arrangement of words and phrases into sentences. Sentence structure. No real biggee, right? Everyone knows how to write a sentence. My ninth graders always want to know, "Why do we have to look at this? It's just sentences."

Wrong. It's not just sentences. Syntax is an important facet of a writer's style, affecting everything from pacing to fluidity. So how do you analyze syntax, in your own work or another author's?

First, you need a piece of writing with a minimum length of fourteen sentences -- you can do more, of course, but fourteen seems to work well for showing patterns. Also, it's not an overwhelming amount of data to analyze once you're finished. (Oh, forgot to mention -- you want this to be a piece of narrative -- this doesn't work as well with dialogue, although I've seen students do it).

For my advanced comp students, I have them first analyze a favorite author's syntax before tackling their own. Some suggested authors: Stephen King ("The Last Rung on the Ladder" works well), Ray Bradbury (fantastic loose sentences), Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allan Poe, Toni Morrison, Flannery O'Connor, Joyce Carol Oates. Anyone works. If you like a particular author's style, choose a piece of her writing to analyze.

Got your piece to be analyzed? Great. Now, download the syntax chart. Fill out each section of the chart. Special features might include figurative language, passive voice, imagery, functional fragment, inverted structure -- anything that jumps out at you. Under the verbs column, list every verb in the sentence, whether it is the main verb or the verb in a subordinate clause. Count the number of words per sentence (we'll use this later). Finished? Now, look at the chart. What do you see?

Leave your answers in the comments section, and I'll be back later today to talk about Part 2 -- Using the chart to analyze your own use of syntax.

Labels:

0Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home