Anyone who’s sat down to write knows it isn’t for the faint of heart. Whether penning a poem, a screenplay, or a novel, a writer needs a few tools in their toolbelt. Enter common literary devices, literary elements and literary techniques. Besides listing, defining, and providing examples, this article will also take a moment to consider how and why a writer might use these common literary devices in the first place.
INTRODUCING LITERARY DEVICES
How to use literary devices in your writing
But first, how can you use literary devices? Chances are, you probably already are. Literary devices are so ubiquitous that it would be hard to write and not use them.
But that’s not to say using literary devices is easy. In other words, just because you’ve used a device doesn’t mean you’ve used it well. Above all, a writer must use literary techniques and elements discerningly. Why use a prologue? Why put a metaphor there? What is the theme? Is this juxtaposition necessary?
There is no simple answer to these questions. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But you can feel more confident in your use of devices if you know what they are and how to identify them.
Defining Literary Elements...
Literary Elements: What to write
While there isn’t a formal definition of literary elements, sometimes referred to as narrative elements, there is a mutually agreed-upon understanding taught in literary education.
LITERARY ELEMENT DEFINITION
What are literary elements?
A literary element is one of many necessary features of storytelling. These elements are found in both written and spoken narrative. They’re essential in the construction of a story. Here’s a selection of different types of literary devices.
Antagonist
The antagonist is the adversary of the story. She stands between the hero and her goal. Far from just a mustache-twirling evil-doer, a truly genuine antagonist will have a goal every bit as justified as the protagonists. Importantly, the antagonist is tailor-made to the protagonist, attacking their weakest vulnerabilities.
Example: Darth Vader in Star Wars.
Anticlimax
Whereas a climax is an exciting crescendo, an anticlimax offers the opposite. An anticlimax is a sudden drop, which is in disappointing contrast to a preceding rise in action. Still, it’s a useful tool, especially in postmodern media, where subversion is prevalent.
Example: The ending of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where the film set is shut down before the climactic battle.
Antihero
A crowd favorite, the antihero is a protagonist who lacks the virtues of a traditional hero. Classically, Batman is thought to be an antihero, although his archnemesis finds his own hero’s journey in Joker. But, if you’re looking for compelling antiheroes, look no further than your own TV set. The Golden Age of Television has given us great bad guys to root for.
Example: Walter White. Don Draper. Hell, Michael Scott. These characters make breaking bad look good.
Characterization
Characterization is the construction of a fictional character. It’s not only vital for screenwriters to craft a great character, but one who is specific to the story you’re telling. It’s helpful to look at the story you want to tell and ask what kind of character needs this to happen to them?
Example: In Zodiac, Robert Graysmith is overly curious from the very beginning of the movie. This characterizes him as an obsessive who won’t be satisfied until he solves the mystery.
Conflict
Conflict is a significant element of narrative. Conflicts create challenges for the protagonist to overcome. They can come from anywhere but are designed to attack your protagonist in ways specific to her. By overcoming these conflicts, the audience cheers (or jeers) for your protagonist as she hurtles towards her goals.
Example: Zoolander fighting against Mugatu in Zoolander.
Context
Fundamentally, context is what circumstances surround your artistic expression. Context helps amp up a film’s message by being “relevant.”
Example: The example par excellence is 2017’s Get Out, which was a breakout hit for many reasons, but in large part due to the context in which the film was released, expressing fears of white supremacy after the election of Donald Trump.
Dialogue
Dialogue is simply characters talking within a story. Easier said than done. Because any screenwriter knows dialogue isn’t just about getting story information across. It’s getting information across in a way that reveals character, conflict, emotion, and moves the story forward.
Example: Whit Stillman famously utilizes witty dialogue in his filmography.
Epilogue
An epilogue is the closing section added to a film which provides further comment.
Example: Hell or High Water’s epilogue offers a resolution to the exciting climax. The scene works well because of the lingering tension in the wake of the climax.
Exposition
The bane of all writers, exposition is a necessary evil. The exposition provides the audience with pertinent information they must know beforehand to understand the story. Exposition = explaining. The challenge for the screenwriter is getting exposition across in a way that shows no seams.
Example: The infamous opening monologue in David Lynch’s Dune.
Genre
A kind or type of work, a genre is generally discussed as having a surface structure and a deep structure.
Example: the Western genre has superficial similarities: cowboys, Indians, creaky weathervanes. The deep structure of a Western may concern ideologies and myths around Manifest Destiny and genocide. As a writer, identifying tropes inside of a genre can help you better subvert audience expectations.
Motif
Related to theme, a motif is a recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. In film, motifs are often visual but they can also be found in dialogue, sound design, or the various elements of production design. Musical motifs are also known as leitmotifs.
Example: Santiago repeatedly thinking about lions in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.
Narrator
A narrator is a character who relates parts or all of the story to an audience. She may be a character within the narrative. She may narrate with omniscience. Sometimes coming through in voice-over, although not exclusively. The narrator harkens back to Greek drama, where a chorus commented on the play’s action.
Example: Patrick Bateman is the narrator of American Psycho, getting us inside his twisted mind.
Plot
A plot is the plan of action of a play, novel, or screenplay. The protagonist generally drives the action of the story, leading to a sequence of events known as the plot. The plot guides the story along to a hopefully satisfying dramatic resolution.
Example: Just about any mainstream movie you’ve ever seen.
Point of View
In literature, point of view is a particular attitude or way of considering a subject matter. In writing, point of view is not only important for your protagonist and other characters, but for you, too! A common buzzword around Hollywood is “voice,” something that comes through only when a writer expresses their unique point of view on the page.
Example: Holden Caulfield has a very specific point of view in Catcher in the Rye. He is jaded and cynical.
Prologue
A prologue is an introduction. More common in prose, but useful in film, a prologue delivers pertinent information to the audience before the narrative begins.
Example: In True Grit, we’re given a prologue from a mysterious narrator that establishes the context for the film’s action.
Protagonist
Simply put, the protagonist is often, but not always, the main character of a story. She can be thought of as the audience’s “in” to the story since we're typically aligned within her perspective.
The protagonist classically wants to achieve a certain thing. Therefore, she drives the action of the story to accomplish her goal. Along the way, she suffers trials and tribulations, usually at the hands of the antagonist. In the end, whether or not the protagonist achieves her goal, she’s typically forever changed.
Example: Galileo in Bertolt Brecht’s play Life of Galileo.
Setting
Setting is often taken for granted, but it is one of the most important literary elements. A story’s setting is the time, place, state of being in which your story takes place. Setting can breed conflict.
Example: In movies such as Jojo Rabbit, the setting of WWII-era Germany informs its conflict, character, and theme.
Story Beat
Somewhat ambiguous, a story beat is an event, choice, or discovery that alters the protagonist’s journey in some way. Story beats can be momentous events on which your entire narrative is built, such as the Inciting Incident, or Midpoint. Or, they can be microscopic movements inside individual scenes.
Example: In John Wick, the inciting event story beat is when the protagonist’s dog is killed.
Subplot
A subplot is a secondary plotline inside a narrative. However, a subplot is anything but insignificant. They serve the protagonist in her goal just as much as the main plot. A subplot usually starts developing at the beginning of Act II. Conventionally, you’ll find romance in a subplot.
Example: Maverick and Penny’s romantic relationship in Top Gun: Maverick. It’s not what drives the main conflict, but it has a fully developed beginning, middle and end.
Theme
Perhaps one of the most ambiguous terms in screenwriting, the theme is what your story is about. Coming from the Greek thema, the theme is thought of as an argument or question. While young writers are tempted to put down “brotherhood” or “death” as their theme, it is important to highlight that a theme is an argument.
Example: Common movie themes include: “Is it better to die free or live as a slave?” “Life is beautiful, even in the face of suffering.” “If you love something, let it go.” Whether cliche or profound, your protagonist wrestles with this argument and comes to find the solution.
Tone and Mood
Tone and mood are closely-linked but distinguishable. The tone is the attitude the author has towards a subject vs. the mood, which is the atmosphere or emotional temperature felt by the reader. In a film, the tone is how you frame the story — a thriller, horror, comedy, etc. The mood created in setting, imagery, and “diction” helps the audience feel that story's specific tone.
Example: Kubrick establishes The Shining is a horror film with haunting opening music.
Tragic Hero
Stretching as far back as Greece, Aristotle defines the tragic hero as a person who evokes pity and fear in the audience. She usually has a fatal flaw, which brings about misfortune through an error of judgment.
Example: Anakin Skywalker is the tragic hero of the Star Wars series. He loses his way, and when he finally repents for his sins, it is too late– he is about to die.
Literary Techniques List
Literary techniques: How to write
Now that we've covered the essential literary elements, let's move on to literary techniques. If literary elements are the framework of your script, literary techniques will help bring it to life. Let's begin with a quick definition and then we'll get into the list of techniques.
LITERARY DEVICES DEFINITION
What are literary techniques?
Literary techniques are constructions of language every writer uses to convey meaning. While literary elements express the what, devices are techniques in how a writer expresses those elements. Here are some basic literary devices examples.
Allegory
When a story’s characters and events have symbolic meaning, a piece of writing is allegorical. Allegories populate the landscape of fairy tales because a key aspect to allegory is its ability to instruct an audience, especially children.
Example: Lost functions as an allegory for the afterlife. The island acts as a sort of purgatory.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the purposeful repetition of an initial sound in two or more words of a phrase. While alliteration may seem unnecessary in screenwriting terms, it’s a useful tool for pace and rhythm, two vitally important yet often overlooked aspects of screenwriting.
Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Allusion
Indirect or casual references, otherwise known as allusions, are ubiquitous in film these days. This is especially true in family movies where filmmakers often subtly nod to the adults in the audience by throwing in a quick allusion kids probably won’t get.
Example: This Chinatown reference in Inside Out. Deep cut, guys.
Catharsis
We can thank Aristotle’s Poetics (a quick and valuable read for screenwriters) for this term, which comes from the Greek word for ‘to puke.’ Catharsis is what your film builds towards. It’s an emotional response you want from your audience through a relieving of emotional tensions. This occurs in your film when the protagonist overcomes the struggles you’ve created for her and comes to embody the theme. Both the character and the audience feel a sense of relief and “purge.”
Example: When Rose finally lets Jack go at the end of Titanic.
Euphemism
A euphemism is the use of a less direct word or phrase for one considered offensive. This device is important for writers because it’s yet another way to reveal character.
Example: Saying “kicked the bucket” instead of “died.”
Extended Metaphor
An extended metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things that continues through a series of sentences, lines, or even an entire work. In film, an extended metaphor is superb for getting across the theme.
Foreshadowing
By the end of this definition, you’ll know what foreshadowing is. This literary technique example is when an author suggests or indicates something beforehand.
Example: A fantastic example of foreshadowing is The Wizard of Oz. From Dorothy’s family members who’ll eventually return as her allies on the Yellow Brick Road to the Miss Gulch-The Wicked Witch musical motif, the First Act of the film sets up just about everything happening in the Land of Oz.
Flashback
I know, the “common wisdom” out there suggests you should avoid flashbacks like Covid-19, but hear me out first. A flashback is an interruption in the continuity of a story by telling or showing an earlier episode. Characters, like human beings, sometimes have sudden recollections of past events.
Example: Forrest Gump is told nearly entirely through flashbacks. This gives it its distinct nostalgic feeling.
Hyperbole
Among literary techniques, a hyperbole is an exaggeration for effect, not meant to be taken literally.
Example: I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.
Irony
The writer’s best friend, irony is simply an event or result that is the opposite of what is expected. Why it’s a writer’s best friend lies in the fact that a writer’s central duty is not only to construct a story, but also not to bore audiences. Therefore, surprising actions really jolt life into your 110 pages. So, when you get stuck, ask yourself what the most ironic solution would be and try it out. The more unexpected, the better!
Example: Saying “This has got to be the highest grade in class” after receiving an F.
Imagery
What is a story without images? In the dictionary, imagery is not described as images, but rather mental images. A good question to ask of your writing: what imagery am I putting in my reader’s mind?
Example: Joyce Carol Oates description of the gothic manor in Bellefleur. It’s a vital setting for the novel, so she spends lots of time on painting an image for the reader.
Iambic Pentameter
Iambic pentameter is a way to structure dialogue in a very specific rhythm. An iamb is a metrical foot of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented one, as in a-bove. Pentameter indicates a line of five “feet” of iambs. Interestingly, the human heartbeat follows the iamb, each pair of beats resembling an iambic foot.
Example: Perhaps that’s why Shakespeare’s poetry resonates throughout the ages. He used iambic pentameter constantly.
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition comes from JUXTA, or beside and POSE, meaning to put side by side. This may sound a lot like a metaphor, but the implication in juxtaposition isn’t that the two things are being compared, only placed side by side.
Example: if your character is falling in love and then Judgement Day begins, her Rom-Com turned survival story is not only ironic, but also an interesting juxtaposition.
Metaphor and Simile
Both are a comparison of two unlike things. Similes use “like” or “as.” Metaphors don’t. An example, this flan is like an opera in my mouth vs this flan is heaven. Neither operas nor heaven has anything to do with flan, but the comparison gets across just how good the flan really is.
Example: “He was a cat on the dancefloor” is a metaphor. “He was like a cat on the dancefloor” is a simile.
Mixed Metaphor
A slight oddity, the mixed metaphor is a combination of incompatible metaphors, producing an absurd effect.
Example: "Early bird gathers no moss. Rolling stone catches the worm, right?" — The Truman Show
Visual Metaphor
A visual metaphor is a representation of a thing through a visual image that suggests an association or similarity. A visual metaphor is closely related to symbols, but are not the same because the metaphor is at the end of the day about comparing two unlike things.
Example: Great examples of visual metaphors come in the form of match cuts. Think of the famous cut between the bone and the spaceship in 2001: A Space Odyssey, comparing human’s most rudimentary tools with the ones of the future. What’s implied? They’re not so different.
Onomatopoeia
Bang. Zip. Plonk. Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates sounds. This device is a useful tool in deepening the sensory experience of your script for the reader.
Example: This device can be found throughout comic books, which rely on onomatopoeia to supply sound effects.
Oxymoron
Oxymorons are figures of speech in which contradictory ideas or terms combine. These can produce an effect much like a mixed metaphor, but they can also be quite poetic. As a paradox, an oxymoron can show complexity through its contrast.
Example: Thunderous silence. Deep vapidity. A sharp-witted fool.
Paradox
A paradox is a statement that seems contradictory but may in fact be true. So much of writing is coming up with contrasts. Especially when considering character, a paradox (or a few) can add complexity.
Example: The phrase “This sentence is a lie.” It cannot be true, but also cannot be a lie.
Parallelism
Parallelisms are parts of a sentence, text, or speech which are grammatically the same, or similar in construction.
Example: This repetition works wonders in rhetorical speeches such as Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech where the phrase “I have a dream…” is constructed throughout in parallels.
Personification
To personify, a screenwriter imbues a non-human thing with human qualities.
Example: Great examples of personification litter the landscape of Disney animation. Commonly, the hero gets help from some personified animal if the protagonist isn’t a personified animal herself!
Satire
Satire is a literary work where vices, follies, etc. are held up to ridicule and contempt with extensive use of sarcasm.
Example: Jojo Rabbit, whose light tone juxtaposes its dark subject matter. It satirizes current events through an allegorical story set in Nazi Germany. Satire requires a relevant context in which to live. For instance, would Jojo Rabbit be as poignant if they released it during Barack Obama’s presidency?
Symbolism
Visual media is rife with symbolic meaning, or objects given meaning by their representation of something abstract. In film language, symbols help a filmmaker get across more information with more economy.
Example: The One Ring in The Lord of the Rings could be argued to symbolize the corrupting nature of power and greed. When a character is exposed to it, they begin to lose their sense of humanity.
Repetition
Repetition is easy enough to define, something repeated for effect. However, the practical application is so much more rewarding than that. Repetition in a script can create mood, pace, tension.
Example: In dialogue, repetition can demonstrate a range of characteristics (just think of how many Coen Brothers’ characters repeat words and phrases). In comedy, the rule of threes necessitates repetition. So, repeat, repeat, repeat.
