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                Putting that Literary Touch on Your Writing


Writing can be enhanced by a turn of phrase—a sentence or expression that is artful. Here are three basic ways you can put a literary touch in your writing.



PERSONIFICATION
Personification is a form of figurative language. It gives an inanimate object a human trait. Here are a few examples.

"Then the wind increased, joined by large pelts of rain, the mid-morning having made up its mind to be rainy."

"I sometimes think my car hates me."

"I’m convinced the eyes in the painting were following me."

Obviously, wind cannot make up its mind, a car cannot hate you, and the eyes in a painting, though it might seem like they are following you, are not. We are simply ascribing human attributes to inanimate objects.


OBJECTIFICATION
This is the reverse of personification. You objectify when you give a human the characteristics of an inanimate object. Here are some possible ways to do it:

"A pair of tiny black beads stared at her."

"The hoodlums cruised the streets like hyenas, sniffing the air for a weak animal."

"Nancy had a voice as quiet as an exam room."

"Ted was as blue as a butterfly without wings."

The examples take from the natural world to provide a point of inspiration. Otherwise, they would read like this:

"The man stared at her."

"The hoodlums walked the streets looking for people to rob."

"Nancy spoke softly."

"Ted was depressed."


CROSS-ATTRIBUTION
Cross-attribution is like personification insofar as we attribute qualities to something that is not intrinsic to it. The difference is that the characteristics are borrowed from one inanimate object and given to another. Some examples:

"Bill’s morning slippers scraped along the kitchen floor like a lumbering crab."

"A slight touch of air grazed the back of Mary’s hair like a feather duster."

"Terry grabbed the arms of the chair and lowered himself as if he was getting into a bubble bath."

Many people wear funny slippers. But no one literally walks on crabs. And I would think I was losing my mind if I really thought a feather duster suddenly appeared by itself and touched the back of my hair. Now, I do have a back problem, so I can identify with Terry.


I hope that these simple tips help your writing. We are always in need of inventive ways to dress things up a bit.

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