What literary device (good examples) do you like to use most, which one the least, and which one would you like to write more of?
Hmm, according to that list, "setting" is a literary device, and I make great use of that. I also like tragic flaws, although, interestingly enough, my main character has no tragic flaw: he's just a person who lived an upper class life and now is thrust into a situation where he must fight (which has all kinds of mini-flaws attached to it, like cowardice and gullibility).

What literary device (good examples) do you like to use most, which one the least, and which one would you like to write more of?
I'd have to say Anthropomorphism. The Protagonist in my fic an hear Pokemon talking, therefore it is shown that they have personalities and are not merely dumb animals. I don't use the actual form of humans in Pokemon(except in one case but that's different) but I retain their original form and only change the way they talk.

Also interested in Tragedy which will come into play I assure you. And Tragic Flaw. One of my protagonists greatest flaws is the fact that he has lost his memory. Other than that, he's a sadist(deep down inside) and almost a Nihilist to the point of ignoring Morality to a certain extent. This will come into play unless i change it... He does feel guilt, pain, and suffering but he feels it on a different level to that of regular people.

What literary device (good examples) do you like to use most, which one the least, and which one would you like to write more of?
I like characters the most, and the plot obviously. And dialogue. As for what I like the least, there really isn't one on that list.

I want to write more PLOT.

This question is bugging me for some reason.

Sure it's not just your avatar?

Pandora is wonderful. Writer's block is not. Nor is boredom. Nor is painting steps. Making money is, however. Not getting to spend it isn't, though.

Because it assumes that a literary device must be present?

Would there be a case when something couldn't be classified? XD I suppose scholars and such, have exhausted that sort of thing, long ago. However, like philosophy, new terms keep popping up.

Well, new things are typically immediately classified. 9, a new movie coming out soon about living sackcloth dolls, has been classified as "stitchpunk," a term coined for it and the short it's based on.

What literary device (good examples) do you like to use most, which one the least, and which one would you like to write more of?

Ugh, I don't know, I just write what comes to mind and keep rewriting it till it sounds exactly perfect.

Also I suck at Literacy Devices because I din't listen in English last year when we learnt about them :P

I just really get annoyed at the words "literary device" brought up in conversations.

Like really annoyed.

I just want this week over.

Yeah, literary devices must be present because they're simply the application of archetypes to an art-form... Since archetypes are inherent to being human, and literary devices are archetypes applied, then the only way to avoid them is to not be human.

Manage that, and you got yourself a story lacking (human) literary devices... But then you'd have the literary devices developed from alien archetypes.

Our contest entries can't be that bad, can they? I don't really think about the building blocks of my writing, I just kind of type wherever my mind leads me. Upon review I can point out devices that I used, but I'm not like "oh, I'm going to use this device here!" I don't structure myself a lot, is what I guess I'm trying to say.

I have to say I disagree. Do something new that hasn't been classified, and there will be no existing device to compare it to. Unless you're saying that all possible literary devices have already been discovered, to which I must also say that I disagree.

I think this is where Astinus and others are bothered by the use of "Literary Device" in the prompt, which I wholly agree with and feel I can explain.

A more proper term for what I was explaining would probably be "Literary Elements". No matter what you do, there's always going to be a plot and a character. Those are simply inherent to writing.

Now, the difference between literary elements and literary devices are how those elements are used. A plot is always present, but story isn't (Plot = frame, Story = form). A character is always present, but characterization isn't.

Literary Devices are like a vehicle which carries the basic plot and expresses it as something more than simply beginning, middle, end. They're something a bad writer leaves out, a good writer simply includes, and an exceptional writer weaves into the very fabric of the piece.

Literary elements, which are few, will always be there and most likely have been entirely described. But the devices, the vehicle the writer uses in expressing those elements, are still something a writer can spend a lifetime crafting and developing and never find them all.

Hey, did anyone else happen to notice that (according to this webpage, but yes, in general as well) the term "literary device" is just an umbrella term for things that also include devices and techniques, meaning elements and techniques are devices but just subsets in the same way a falcon is a hawk but not necessarily vice versa?

I'd continue this snarky response except my sugarmama over there kinda stole the rest of this train of thought before it even happened.

With that said, I'm back from a two-week vacation, I'm jet-lagged, and I was reminded yet again why airports make me want to set kittens on fire. I'm also tl;dr'ing the majority of what you all posted during my absence for hopefully understandable reasons, so I'm just going to assume you all went wild with the metaphoric fire extinguisher and go catch up on the other threads I need to read. *salutes*

Hey there, Valentine! Hoped you enjoyed your vacation. :3

Yeah, I did notice, but not exactly sure why literary elements and literary devices have to be distinguish and they sound similar, but at the same time, not. O.o

;; I squeaked in happiness.

And I noticed. But didn't say anything for some reason or another.

Welcome back Val. :D
Yep, I noticed that too but I didn't think it was that relevant to the current conversation.

I hadn't noticed, which is funny because my spiel on the subject seem to be exactly right. =D

Well you know what they say:

You learn something new everyday.

And welcome back Val, hope you had a nice trip. :)

I like flying myself, means something new for me (traveling away), and yearning to come home (on the way back). But it is nice to not have to live out of a luggage bag... (did that for 9 months).

You know, I really gotta start saving up for it, but I want to go to New Zealand. And not just travel there, but live there...

By the by, playing Arkham Asylum on X-box 360 is fun.

Okay new bold topic that doesn't involve ambiguous words (or at least I hope not, haha):

When/if you do travel, do you try or purposely (even accidently), include settings akin to where you have traveled?

I haven't really given myself the opportunity to do so (aside from some attempted RP setting which didn't work to well). Anyway, for the future, however, I'd probably try to include places similar to that of Indonesia, and the Outback and Tasmania in Australia, even a bit of urban-ness if need be, for Perth.

When/if you do travel, do you try or purposely (even accidently), include settings akin to where you have traveled?
Well no not really since I don't do that much traveling. The only country I've ever travelled to aside from my home country would have to be England. I do however, include settings from places I've seen on the Internet.XD

Thanks for the welcomes, folks.

From what I understood of your other post, you seemed to be confusing literary devices with literary techniques. Some people consider techniques and devices to be synonyms of one another, but if we're going off this website (and a few other sources), then device is the overall term for elements and techniques. Meaning, as I've said before, an element is a device, but a device can be either an element or a technique.

That said...

When/if you do travel, do you try or purposely (even accidently), include settings akin to where you have traveled?

Occasionally, but I always feel weird when I consciously base something off my own experiences. (No particular reason why. I just do.) Instead, I usually try to go for pictures of places I haven't gone or just make things up out of pure thin air.

I'm not confusing anything. We don't need to make two simple terms more confusing then they need to be, when when we get down to the basics of it all what really matters are the messages they express, not the semantics.

Literary elements, as stated by that site and me, are the common aspects of stories that are always present whether you try or not. Literary devices are how you use said elements... A device is an object used to complete a task, so if we think of literary devices as a vehicle for expressing literary elements, then how you drive said vehicle/device would be technique. The terms are one and the same.

When/if you do travel, do you try or purposely (even accidentally), include settings akin to where you have traveled?
No. I like settings to be unfamiliar and new. Characters I'll tend to base off familiar characteristics, but not setting. :P

The point is that the spiel isn't necessarily exactly right because not everyone considers them to be the same thing, as evidenced by the offered website.

To be very specific, a device is defined as "a rule of thumb, convention, or structure that is employed in literature and storytelling," which implies that it covers both the concept of an element as you defined it as well as the concept of a technique.

Look above. I expanded my post and clarified what I meant.

To quote the site:

Literary devices refers to specific aspects of literature, in the sense of its universal function as an art form which expresses ideas through language, which we can recognize, identify, interpret and/or analyze. ... Both literary elements and literary techniques can rightly be called literary devices.

It is not necessarily how you use a literary element but rather also the element itself. As in, a literary technique is a part of a story that can be analyzed, period. This could refer to the elements such as plot, character, et cetera (the definition of element), or it can refer to the style that the author is using (the definition of technique). Or, in clearer terms, the term "device" covers everything, not just one or the other or how one is used, which goes back to the argument I was making against your statement that techniques and devices are considered to be the same thing by everyone. (In fact, we could be saying that if we use the site as evidence for anything, devices are certainly not the same thing as techniques because techniques are implied to be the literary equivalent of TV Tropes.)

Additionally, note that out of the list on that site (which we're referring to now, I assume), no definition is in black but rather green (elements) or blue (techniques). Furthermore, a separate definition for a literary technique is given, and the definition of literary device is offered as the header. In other words, you're looking at the definition of device here and assuming it's not actually referring to the definition for elements when it actually is.

That and, again, the whole point of this conversation was the fact that you implied (and then stated) that your argument is exactly right by saying techniques = devices when your source isn't actually saying that.

When/if you do travel, do you try or purposely (even accidentally), include settings akin to where you have traveled?
I already mention how in the original NE I based one of the cities off of Big Bear, California. I traveled there and the city looks very nice and the forest around it is just magnificent. It rained during the time my family and I had gone there, but the city still looks nice. XD The new version of NE I didn't though because the story takes place in Sinnoh. :x