Grabber or Hook – a sentence that is so interesting, shocking, or mysterious it captures the reader’s attention right away.
Ex: Darcy, T-beau, and the other slaves hadn’t eaten in three weeks and knew they hadn’t long to live.
Descriptive Language – words that create a picture in the reader’s mind of what the author wants the reader to imagine.
Ex: Murphey’s shaggy, brown fur was tangled, matted, and dripping with muddy water.
Color Word – a specific color name.
Ex: Raspberry red, school bus yellow, turquoise, oyster white, dove gray
Strong Verb – an active verb that adds special meaning to the sentence.
Ex: The wounded wolf crawled across the frozen field and struggled his way down into the den.
Emotion Word – a word that names exactly what a character feels
Ex: Annie felt pity for the orphaned kitty.
Sensory Word – a word that helps the reader see, hear, smell, feel, or taste something described in the story.
Ex: The spicy smell of orange marmalade came from Grandma’s kitchen.
Simile – words that compare two things using the words like or as.
Ex: The goalie defended the net like a fighting tiger.
Tagged Dialogue – telling what someone says and letting the reader know who is speaking by using he said or she said.
Ex: “The snow is perfect for sledding,” Carrie said.
Special Tags – dialogue tags other than said that give clues about the mood of the person speaking.
Ex: “You’re grounded for a week,” snapped Jason’s mom.
Flashback – taking the reader back in the time to let him know something that has happened beforehand.
Plot Clues – giving the reader clues so he can figure out the action of the story.
Foreshadowing – hinting about something important that is going to happen later on in the story.
Surprise Ending – giving the reader an ending that will be a total surprise.
Metaphor – comparing two things that don’t normally go together to make a special point.
Ex: Thomas was a big ox who could move a piano all by himself.
Onomatopoeia – words that sound like sound effects.
Ex: buzz, drip, beep, crunch, rip, sizzle, pop, snap
Catchy Title – a title that creates interest and makes the reader want to read the story to find out what will happen.
Show, don’t Tell – giving the reader clues through descriptive language instead of stating the obvious.
Telling: Coach blew the whistle and motioned for Thad to take the bench. Thad felt sick and exhausted.
Showing: Coach blew the whistle and motioned for Thad to take the bench. Thad’s knees began to tremble and his face turned ashen white.
Transitional phrases or words – using phrases that naturally move the story to the text next sequence or show its relation to the rest of the story.
Ex: An hour after Gary’s warning light went on, his engine died.