• Adding a figurative comparison or contrast (metaphor, simile, or symbol).
  
  

  Original: Revised:

  She saw her brused thumb. She saw her bruised thumb, as purple as a plumb.

• Supplying a literal, concrete action or image (that is either real or imagined).
  
  

  Original: Revised:

  The hills were long and rolling. The hills were long and rolling. Daffodils swayed in the breeze of the late-afternoon heat, while cows moved slowly up the southern ridge.

• Adding an elaboration, extension, or distinction to an idea or proposition.
  
  

  Original: Revised:

  We read to understand. We read to understand, and the more we read, the more we know we understand less than we know.

  
  
• Adding an idea, meditative moment, or proposition to an image or plot element.
  
  

  Original: Revised:

  She dressed so carefully. She dressed so carefully that one could not help but think that something more than acts of vanity were behind her deliberate moves.

  
  
• Adding a description to open up a statement or image.
  
  

  Original: Revised:

  He was an angry man. He was an angry man, but sometimes, behind his scowl, a sad memory would flicker.

  
  
• Adding plot elements to a dramatic situation.
  
  

  Original: Revised:

  He used to lie his finger beside his nose before he'd answer. He used to lie his finger beside his nose, stare up at the ceiling, and hum before he'd answer.

  
  
• Adding characterization (by using analogy) to an action or character.
  
  

  Original: Revised:

  He looked small, gaunt, and old. He looked small, gaunt, and old, like a desert lizard after twelve days without water.

  
  
• Adding word play or musical effects to a line of thought, image, or action.
  
  

  Original: Revised:

  When the sick child sat up he said "I see you!" When the sick child sat up he said, "I see you!" and the doctor couldn't help but think of the abbreviated letters of the Intensive Care Unit.

  
  
• Supplying dialogue for a character or situation.
  
  

  Original:   Revised:

  She let the water from her hair fall down her back before she turned. She let the water from her hair fall down her back before she turned and said, "I think I've had enough for today."

  
  
• Adding specificity to general description.
  
  

  Original: Revised:

  The cars passed by the funeral, slowly. One, two, three, four cars, then more passed by as the minutes clicked one-by-one slowly away.

  
  As you move through this course, try to use all ten of these techniques for generating content—you'll be surprised at your ability to get the words down on paper. Now go to the exercises and practice, practice, practice.

metaphor: a trope (language whose interpretations go beyond the literal to the figurative) that works directly through a comparison of similarities, dissimilarities, substitution, or identity.

simile: a poetic device that indirectly compares the characteristics of one thing with those of another.

symbol: a poetic device in which a literal image or a phrase stands as a sign that takes its meaning and order of ideas from its surrounding context.

plot: the actions or events of a narrative.

characterization: the representation of real or fictional characters via physical, psychological, attitudinal, or anecdotal description.