Euphonics For Writers: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors by Rayne Hall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another winning book from Rayne Hall’s Writer’s Craft series. As Rayne explains this book is about learning how to touch your reader’s subconscious with subtle tricks. There are sounds which effect our psyche and choosing which words you write can influence how a reader feels. This can then enhance the reading experience and may lead to a positive review of your book.
Set in two parts, part 1 deals with the different feelings and sounds letters of the alphabet make to our subconscious. For instance words with “m” are warm and motherly and make us feel cosy, roll these words over in your head; Mother, warm, comfy, welcome, how did they make you feel?
Part 2 deals with sound placement and writing rhythm. Rayne discussed alliteration, consonance & assonance, sentence lengths, starter words, the use of repetition of words, asyndeton & polysyndeton (how to make a piece of writing fast or slow paced)
Even though I am not writing a book at the moment, I am excited to try out some of these techniques in simple everyday pieces I write.
Learn how to touch your readers’ subconscious with subtle tricks.
Certain sounds have certain effects on the psyche. By using words which include those sounds, you influence how the reader feels.
Euphonic techniques are popular in poetry, but seldom used in prose. This guide shows how you can apply them to make your prose fiction sparkle.
For the purpose of this book, I define euphonics as the use of sound devices for prose writing. Poets, musicians and special effects engineers have their own definitions.
I’ll show you which sounds to apply to manipulate your reader’s psyche the way you want. You’ll learn how to impress your readers with power, how make their hearts race with urgency, how to creep them out and how let them linger in a sensual scene.
Part 1 is a thesaurus of sound effects where you can look up the best sounds to enhance the mood of your scene.
In Part 2, you’ll learn how and when to apply the sounds and how to combine them with rhythm for best effect.
This book isn’t meant as a definitive scholarly tome for academics. but a practical kit for working authors who want to refine their voice. I’ll avoid literary theory and grammatical jargon. Instead, I’ll give you useful tools.
Novice writers can have inspiring fun playing with euphonics. In the hands of skilled writers – for whom this guide is intended – euphonics are power tools.
Euphonics can’t replace basic fiction crafting skills, but they can add impact and polish to a well-written piece.
In print, the effects are very subtle, serving only to enhance what’s already there, and need to be combined with other techniques. But if you plan to perform author readings or release an audiobook, the euphonics will hold listeners enthralled with poetic power.
I’m writing in British English. Some spellings, grammatical rules and word choices differ from American English, but the euphonic effects are the same.
Now open your manuscript draft to give it that special polish.
Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
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Rosie Amber 