Friday 6 April 2012

A to Z Challenge - ORWELL's THIRD LAW - F is for Failure

FAILURE IS THE MOTHER OF SUCCESS
Action is its father and
ideas, improvement and persistence
are siblings.
Orwell's Third Law of sentence construction deals with idioms, proverbs and figurative language.

This April, for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, I am posting examples of figurative language.


George Orwell says: 

WHEN WRITING A SENTENCE YOU SHOULD ALWAYS ASK YOURSELF:

1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?


From Becca Fitzpatrick's hush, hush


     We were plunging. The flashing lights along the tracks blinded me; I couldn't see which way the track turned at the end of the dive.
     It was too late. The car swerved to the right. I felt a jolt of panic, and then it happened. My left shoulder slammed against the car door. It flung open, and I was ripped out of the car while the rollercoaster sped off without me. I rolled onto the tracks and grappled for something to anchor myself. My hands found nothing, and I  tumbled over the edge, plunging straight down through the black air. The ground rushed up at me, and I opened my mouth to scream.
     The next thing I knew, the ride screeched to a stop at the unloading platform.


For anyone who hasn't read this book yet there is a success and a failure of sorts in that section ;)


     "Hold on to your horses and corral your cat! Why, I'd say that starting at Potential, and fuelled by self-belief an' a healthy dose of action, failure ain't nothin' more than a waylay station on the road to Success."
     I was beginning to think Gramps had lost his ma...p. "Right." 


Flat on his back, with Lyon's foot on his chest, his position looked a lot like failure but Byng liked to think he was one defeat closer to victory.


Amy's failures stung like hail and they left behind a bitter cold that dampened her spirits and sent chills through her battered determination.


THIS APRIL, ARE YOU FEELING THE GLOW OF SUCCESS OR IS FAILURE CHILLING YOU?

5 comments:

  1. I'm feeling a bit of both. And I really like the writing examples you chose here.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Angela
      I'm glad you are seeing silver in the storm clouds.
      Give or take Becca's Fitzpatrick's, I've been writing sections that would show different aspects of idiomatic and figurative imagery.

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  2. great post! will be back to read more. :)

    best,
    MOV
    http://wordcut.blogspot.com

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  3. Thank you :) I loved reading your Some say I might be repetitious blogpost and your Failure is a tooth fairy saga too :D

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  4. I have grown to enjoy sharing information using imagery and examples and stories. Really makes it all clearer!

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