A dictionary definition of “Anaphora” would state, the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs.
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and on the streets, we shall fight in the hills.” – Winston Churchill
“This blessed plot, this Earth, this realm, this England.” – William Shakespeare
From the above examples, you can see how this technique is used for a heightened dramatic effect.
The word “paragraph” in the definition poses a bit of a problem. Other language / writing guru’s like Hofmann referred to the paragraph as a natural barrier to anaphora. Creativity Hacker refers to starting paragraphs with the same word whether consecutively or just too often as “Echoing Headwords.” This concept seems to apply to both paragraphs and consecutive sentences.
Let’s say that your MC is named Lisa. Imagine the paragraphs on one page starting as follows.
Lisa grabbed…
Lisa looked…
She stepped on…
The dog barked…
Lisa hurried….
She opened…
Lisa went…
*Psst…I know that most of the sentence starters above seem like an assault of declarative sentences, but that is the subject for another blog post.
As you can see, beginning paragraphs with repeated words just doesn’t work very well. Unlike adverbs, where the usage rate is one for every five to seven pages, I couldn’t find the acceptable rate of repetition concerning echoing headwords.
It would be quite a daunting task to complete a novel with every paragraph starting with a different word. I went back into some drafts to find a rate of repetition in my own #writing. I found that you can repeat the start of a paragraph every other page, or at least eight to ten paragraphs apart, as long as they are not on the same page.
As for sentences, try not to use the same “headword” consecutively or bunched too close together.
Have you found evidence of this faux pas in some of your drafts?
***Check out Ernesto San Giacomo’s author page at AMAZON and choose a title today!***
I’ve never given this a name before. I consciously think about the words starting my sentences, particularly within the same paragraph, but as long as the same word isn’t starting every paragraph, I don’t worry about it too much.
Checking the book I most recently published, I have:
Bronwyn Darrow wriggled…
As he dragged…
Five years was…
But from another…
When he found…
Unfortunately, wicked magic..
Since parting, Alaura…
Through her energy…
Bronwyn swept these…
Eight paragraphs later, I began with the same word, the name of the main character. It turned up on the bottom of the second page. While I don’t check this, I think I’m doing okay with paragraph starters.
Although it is good to avoid using the same words over and over again, I don’t dwell on it too much. I used to but I’ve come to accept that some words are simply used more than others.
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Looks good Diane. I used to repeat a lot, but then realized it could create a type of “fatigue” for the reader.
Always glad to hear from you.
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Reblogged this on .
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This is quite insightful! Thanks Sir Ernesto.
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Hi Jagweng! Thanks for stopping by and offering your opinion.
It is always a pleasure to know that one of my posts impressed another author.
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I’m more honoured, this is class and I’m here to learn from the best. It’s kind of you to share your pot of knowledge with us, your readers. 👌
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