Learning Something New Everyday

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What I like about Hamilton is that it tells me the actual name for devices I may be using in my own writing that I didn't know I was doing.  While I find Hamilton to be completely mind-numbingly boring, I will admit that it's teaching me things that I can use in my writing and in my classroom.  For instance, something I've learned tonight:

"Parenthetical observation, a brief interruption during which the character or the narrator reflects on a minor point that seizes his attention" (Hamilton 172).

I know I've used this device in my own writing, where the character speaking kind of randomly goes off on a tangent almost but then comes back to his or her original idea.  However, I had absolutely no idea what it was called -- or honestly, that it was even a device with a name.  I thought that was just something you could add to dialog or a story to let the reader know more of what a character might be thinking.  I know I use it to make the characters seem more realistic, since they can have more than one thought going on at the same time.

It's nice to know Hamilton can actually teach me something.

1 Comments

Juliana Cox said:

Isn't it just great knowing that something they may be considered a boring read can actually teach you something? I really like the example you used because it was also a term I was unaware of. Great observation!

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