#but the tl;dr is i liked the response in clouds when v can say only people they know real well calls them by their full name

[fereldanwench]

🥰🥰🥰 [template by @arcandoria]

[knightofbalance-13]

Missing The Point Entirely

http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/163837445715/chibi-review-10-12

(Points at a rock on the ground) this is your head (Points up at a cloud) That’s the point.

1.

Cool Uncle.

Oh hey! Another way to make Qrow “I drink because EDGE, and I break rules all the time” Branwen seem ‘cool.’ Because that is totally something to teach to kids in you KID-FRIENDLY SPIN-OFF SHOW! - This was weak, and was actually kinda painful to sit through. Can’t wait to see how the fans try to use this skit as “proof” that Qrow is actually Ruby’s dad, though. - Maybe that will be fun.

Wow, I have never seen someone miss the point so entirely: The show is portraying Qrow as IRRESPONSIBLE for all of this, using Taiyang as a straight man and Butt Monkey in the joke. Seriously, you act like Taiyang wasn’t even there when his reactions ARE THE PUNCHLINE. No wonder you found it weak: You completely glossed over the funniest part of the skit. In fact, you don’t even MENTION Taiyang at all despite being integral to the skit. Jesus chirst: How do you fail at this level of not getting a joke? Oh right, you don’t understand that misery is important to comedy.

Clean Behind the Ears.

Whe… Where was the joke? Was the joke that Michael Sun decided to wake up Kerry Neptune JUST to tell him that he was going to the shower? - Is this an inside joke or something?

... And once again: the like completely flies over your head. THe joke is the upcoming misery of the Geist Grimm (Who I think was an excellent addition to the series but rather unutilized) . If you had added in SOMETHING about the Grimm then this could have been a valid critique. But since you completely disregard the punchline AGAIN, you just come across as bitching.

Cool Dad.

This was also painful. Mostly because the things that Qrow was saying made no sense. Also what he was doing. Is it normal for his nieces to watch him do some dives? - And does he wear that cape EVERYWHERE? - Though, personally, I think it would have been funnier if Coco had called Tai weird - If only for the gag of the voice actors.

... Okay, you judge an entire skit with several jokes in it... on the end...right after an iconic moment in RWBY Chibi...

Dudeblade, you suck at reviewing comedy. You ignore jokes entirely, ignore the punchline, cherry pick what is going on, are completely oblivious to how comedy is setup and focus on only the most miniute details: You are failing at these reviews. S either get good or shut up.

1.

Movie Night.

Okay, yeah. This got a laugh out of me. It’s enjoyable to poke fun at movies. Superhero movies are always about origin stories, romance stories typically have an idiot, etc, and etc. And then all the rest. Also, this is the reason why when I go out to a movie with my friend, we already know in advance what we’re going to watch.

Are you not gonna comment on how the movies they suggest are reflective of who they are (Pyrrha wants to see a romance with Jaune, Sun wants to see a cop movie ect.) or what about the subversions/parodies in the movies (like how when Jaune tries to “save” Pyrrha, he ends up failing completely or how about when Neptune lampshades the “wlaking away as something explodes” cliché and acts like a normal person when it happens: freaked the fuck out ect?) These are all jokes too and they are a part of the skit: Ergo, you need to review them. Once again: You fail, except you fail at being POSITIVE as well. Especially since you DIDN’T address everything so they don’t know if the parodies/character interactions where good or not.

2.

Wore it better.

… Oh I get it. Neo was inspired by a female Roman cosplayer, and here, Neo is the one cosplaying… I hope that that’s the joke, otherwise I’m just looking like an intellectual. And who wants that when you watch a comedy show that’s the spinoff of a serial show that makes fun of men in dresses?

No, no you don’t. You don’t look like an intellectual because you have been constantly failing at the very definition of reviewing seeing as you completely forget to mention Roman is there as his lines are the build up as well as separate jokes (Weiss is seen as a spoiled brat, Roman has an irrational hatred of Ruby) as well as the punchline being his silent response in Neo’s own way of talking to how she wears HIS uniform. And yeah, she does wear it better. Who knew you could make a trenchcoat and boulderhat cute?

Evil Genius.

1.

Yes Ozpin. You should feel guilty for doing stuff like this. You are basically making CHILD SOLDIERS to fight a war with Salem that YOU probably started… At least Jaune got hurt. I enjoy it when Jaune is the victim of slapstick. I like to think that it’s karma for not respecting Weiss’ refusal to go out with him.

...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQBqSt15Vi0

Okay... There is so much wrong with this... “review” that I dunno wher eto begin.

At the beginning I suppose: It was NEVER once hinted at that Ozpin STARTED the war except by Salem...WHO IS THE BIG BAD. In fact, the only reason you say this is because you have a hate boner against the male characters and automatically think all males are default the bad guys (https://knightofbalance-13.tumblr.com/post/163808997355/what-you-see-in-the-mirror) and that you were whiteknighting Salem (http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/160955995697/rwby-theory-ozpin-is-a-fraud) ... USING A NON-CANONICAL SOURCE OF INFO.

You also ignore the fact that Ren and Ruby where getting hurt as well. And the fact that Ozpin was sending them to find random stuff like how he just sort of launched them into the woods to find chess pieces in Volume 1 and how Ruby and Ren caught onto what Ozpin was doing but Jaune didn’t. AKA you failed to review the FULL skit.

And by this logic, Pyrrha getting shot was karma too because she did the exact same stuff as Jaune...but WORSE in a lot of cases. Look at how much of an asshole you look like now.

2.

Uh… is the joke here the fact that Jaune’s weapon is so simple and straightforward that maintenance isn’t something needed- Waitaminute! Why doesn’t he sharpen it? Isn’t that basic sword maintenance 101? - Ugh, incompetent Jaune is incompetent.

The joke was that everyone else was being professionals at doing weapon mantinece but the one person who was never trained as a Huntsman fails in such a ridiculous way that you have to face palm. Like Port whom you completely ignored AGAIN.

3.

The what-glove? … Eh, I’m just going to assume that Ruby saw that Roman was having a bad day, and decided to sheer him up with that slapstick. That feels better, and doesn’t make Ruby out to be more incompetent than Jaune… Also, what is evil about Wi-Fi? If Wi-Fi is evil, doesn’t that make any company that uses the internet evil? I mean, by that same stretch of logic, RoosterTeeth is evil because it uses Wi-Fi… If you are one of those Critical Fans, go nuts with this logic.

Once again, you completely overlook Neo whose reactions are a PART of the joke, the OTHER evil inventions while lampooning how they always malfunction, and that the Froyo stopped Ruby while all of Roman’s complex inventions. AKA the complex plans fail while the simple accident WORKS.

Except this is has even MORE problems. Like the implication that Ruby can’t be incompetent, like she has to always be good at everything or she can’t have isolated instances or slip ups. AKA he’s literally criticizing Ruby for not being a Mary Sue when in the past he criticized for Jaune being a Mary Sue in his eyes.

And the part about the Wi-Fi is pathetic because the Wi-Fi was added on after the “embodiment of evil!” comment, meaning that by the way English is structured, Wi-Fi would logically not be included in the “evil” category. And then he ends by encouraging Insane Troll Logic in order to bash Rooster Teeth.

So to recap: Dudeblade does not understand comedy in the slightest, completely ignores certain aspects of skits (read: most of the skits), has a severe bias against male characters that seeping into his reviews meaning pretty much every review involving a male character is gonnq be shitty, whiteknights females and acts like they can do no wrong and SHOULD do no wrong and outright encourages people attacking Rooster Teeth for stupid reasons.

TL;Dr: Dudeblade should be doing anything critical. He does not have the capacity for it.

[sabergowitz]

GHD

Groundhog Day Broadway reaction post!!!! I’ve been waiting to see it for like a year and a half, and boy howdy do I like this show. I saw one preview, opening night, and once front row! General thoughts, plus a section at the bottom for opening night specifically (aka me stressing unnecessarily about his injury)

Disclaimer one: I wrote about spoilers, stuff I like, stuff I don’t like, staging, the whole nine. largely show-chronological. may not make sense to you unless you’ve seen the show

Disclaimer two: I wrote this on a bus in the middle of the night so it is not the most coherent. 

tl;dr all the people who say “i’m too busy literally spinning on bill murray’s dick to even consider seeing this show” can suck my fucking toe

ACT I

one of the screens in the beginning shows phil talking about the weather on mars? wot is tha abah

that beginning-of-frozen/come from away swag in ‘there will be sun’, that mountain sound. one of the reviewers pointed this out too

I saw one of the reviewers say that not one song was memorable to them after the show??? I don’t know what they were smoking, because I’ve had ‘day one’/””””small town usa”””” stuck in my head since I first saw it

the punxsutawney jingle is so disneyland-ready it’s scary

barrett never enunciates "flood" story. the first time I heard it I was like "blood story? wat"

Also re: barrett -- she fits the character so well and I LOVE her singing voice!!! I think her acting is mostly In Service Of andy, which, duh -- but I’d like her to (and I have confidence she will) make it her own/a little more individual/idiosyncratic. Just the three performances I’ve seen I think she’s growing into it/getting more comfy :3

the "with a kiss- twist!" gets a little laugh, but following it up with "/fuck/" just tickles me every time hehe

love how the point they freeze at in ‘there will be sun’ is right before the sunrise/"oh if i could i'd will these clouds away" stuff - which all happens once phil is freed, and he watches the sunrise with rita :')

I LOVE ned’s chopped and screwed jingle on the third go around. it's like five seconds but it's so good at setting the mood. I am Frankly Appalled that the jingle isn’t on the cast recording, you don’t get the full impact of ‘night will come’ then

did not see ned’s pedo stache on my first two viewings, it grrrrosses me out and is not even ghd-movie-canonical, why this

the drunk driving joke always gets a big laugh which makes me a bit uncomfy

‘nobody cares’ is so FUCKING good. I esp like "shoot some cans, crack some cans, shoot the breeze". I wish they’d perform it at the tonys but alas….

… okay an Aside for tonys performance thoughts: I’d love them to perform ‘nobody cares’ but it would kind of waste andy and I feel like they’d want him prominent. Plus the big car is run on the turntables, which they wouldn’t have on that stage, but maybe they could just block it differently. ‘hope’ would obviously be fucking incredible but I think it’s too Dark and staging-complicated for the tonys. I have a feeling we’re gonna get ‘if I had my time again’ which is fffffine but a little generic for my taste. Obviously the solution is ‘seeing you’, pls. okay moving on (ETA: they are apparently doing a medley that includes one of the Days. I am Nervous about this choice)

still don’t know how they do the bag blowing across the stage so well in ‘philanderer’! I don’t see a string or anything and it blows so realistically

also, important note: when he goes behind the door with nancy and is making ~sex noises~, he is actually in real time also thrusting/writhing up on her, I saw it with my eyes lordy lou

"me, in all my finery! and you, in your - practical attire!" makes me laugh EVERY time I just love how andy delivers it

the shining armor masturbation joke never lands and I think barrett have given up on trying to telegraph it super clearly haha

"same! that is my favorite drink!" handonchest.jpeg

rita's constant response to phil’s sleaziness is "grow up" -- which, I understand that is what they're trying to push thematically for phil? but like grown ass men aren't doing gross ass shit every day???

“for me modesty is second only to humility" is the laugh line for me but "my humility is legend" always gets it

in ‘one day’ when rita sings “metrosexual”, phil points to himself like “me? why you gotta call me out wtf”

in the snowball fight scene, once when rita’s turned away, phil turns to the kids and mouths “FUCK OFF” with hand gestures, I screamed

love how phil’s “fictional man” hits at the same time as rita’s “actual man”, and they’re both right, and they’re both wrong

ACT II

okay ‘playing nancy’. I see what they were going for with this song, but I think we can all agree that “it’s better to be leered at than not desired at all” is A Bad Take, Greg. whatever, none of the reviewers like this song either, it gives people time to get back to their seats ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ not only is the content strange, but it’s kind of boring musically/melodically too. also I think it’s fucky that they have nancy be a sympathetic character for “taking what men give her”, but shit on rita’s ‘one day’ farm girl for doing the same thing? idk, I haven’t really unpacked all my thoughts about it but it’s not keeping me up at night. they tried, they largely got there, whatevs

the shooting scene before ‘hope’ was so shocking to me when I first saw it, but ‘hope’ itself was just thrilling and exciting. music fixes everything I guess

I love ‘everything about you’, it really struck me in the sternum the first time I saw the show. I’m a BIG sucker for very simplistic imagery communicating larger ideas of love or death or whatever (see also: underwater from caroline or change, origin of love from hedwig and the angry inch)

also “you thought jesus was going to appear from the dark” in your bedroom is totally ripped from the headlines of tim minchin’s life (right? I remember a very similar anecdote from an interview of his) ETA: YES

‘if i had my time again’ is fun and fine!! for me there’s not enough blocking/telegraphing of phil ~truly falling for~ rita. you get some of it in the tilt-a-whirls but it’s pretty hard to follow visually. this song is like a slightly less effective ‘when you’re home’? “feels like you’re showing me around your hometown”, yanno.

“and I would be a lot more zen” immediately followed by “and I would punch a lot of men” same girl

also phil holds the hot dog for SO LONG in this song, I didn’t realize. like for more than half of the song he’s holding this hot dog rita handed to him near the beginning ahahaha

andy karl gets the tony award for best coat-ography, whipping that shit around his shoulders twenty times a show

ned ryerson’s ballad about death is one of my favorite songs, which is a sentence tim minchin made me type with my own two goddamn hands. and john sanders sings it sooooo well I love it. (I like him singing it live better than some of the vocal choices he made on the cast recording)

if I think too hard about what phil is actually doing?? or trying to accomplish?? during that moment it fucks me up so hard. sisyphian 4 real

also the staging at the end of the number, phil (who is dark) following in step behind ned (who is lit) fuck meeee

‘philanthropy’ is the most joyous I have ever been in a theater fight me

also vishal did the whole number and then came back on and was supes sweaty in a tuxedo plus coat, poor thing

and then when all the sound is sucked out of the room and seeing you kicks in I’m d o n e :’’’’’’’’))))))))))

when the final scene comes around and it was clear he had been freed, a lady behind me scoffed and said too loud, “he’s broken out of it now. watch.” and I was like DEBORAH WE’RE ALL AWARE OF THE MOVIE your insight is not necessary pipe down pls

matthew warchus has a talent for ending shows with lovely simple artistic vignettes (ms honey and matilda cartwheeling towards a tiny house, phil and rita with their arms around each other bathed in sunrise) :’)

OPENING NIGHT

maybe it was just me because i had too much coffee beforehand? but I think during the first half I/the audience, plus andy himself, were a little tense/stiff/high strung? not quite ~in the groove~. it is a very anxiety-inducing first half to be fair. (plus it was literally opening night, so.) some of the audience was v aware he was injured: at one point putting on his shoes he almost slipped off the bed platform and a bunch of people gasped/winced. I swear I saw him at one point (when he was stage left, not in the spotlight yet) wave off “no im fine” to someone in the wings. I took deep breaths during intermission to zen out tho, and once he nailed ‘hope’ I was like pshaw we good

he was not quiiiite limping but almost. was stiff. at "with what a dixie cup" I saw him like ~hobbling off the stage :( and he was pulling his punches somewhat with the physical comedy, but I only knew that because I saw him do it at full strength at the preview. I don't think it was obvious to first timers. he didn't go Full Loony Slapstick Panic Attack, it was more like real ass nervous and Stressed, which just made ME stressed because I didn't know if he was struggling injury wise or not

he really gave his all in the slick dancing of ‘philandering’ tho. and everyone was cheering him on, it was great

“one lonely people? c’mon...” *extends his leg with knee brace up onto a diner stool, gestures to it, massages his thigh, literally two distinct applause breaks* “aren't you even curious?”

he kept bending down as the snowball fight scene warrants and I was like BUDDY PLS

in ‘hope’ “there will be mornings you’ll be utterly defeated by your laces” got LAUGHS, I was upset. but people gave crazy cheers each time he woke up again. he just crushed it like fuckin YEAH

when the bell chimes started in for philanthropy my heart rate skyrocketed. instead of doing a silly gangly full on sprint like he did uninjured, he did like, tiny running? in the style of a powerwalker? it was still very comedic and good

‘seeing you’: he broke down/cracked a bit on “I know nothing” and paused, looked upstage, looked at barrett, looked out at the audience, and continued. READER I CRIED

[williamlwolf89]

57 Literary Devices That’ll Elevate Your Writing (+ Examples)

Where were you when your fourth-grade teacher first introduced you to literary devices?

(Did you learn about the mighty metaphor? Or maybe its simpering cousin, the simile?)

Perhaps you were daydreaming about cheese pizza and wondering what your mom packed you for lunch.

Years later, you’re starting to realize that maybe you should’ve taken better notes back then.

Because you’re a writer now, or trying to be, and it’s kind of embarrassing when your friends (or worse, your kids) come to you and ask: “What’s an onomatopoeia?”

And all you have to say is: “An onomatopoeia? Uh, well, you know it’s a species of a…a…achoo! Darn my dratted allergies!”

Never again.

Not with this handy-dandy list of 57 (count ‘em!) literary devices that will help your writing soar above the clouds… pull ahead of the teeming hordes… shine beyond the most brilliant — uh, you get the idea.

But let’s back up. You probably need a quick refresher first, right? Let’s do a quick Q&A.

Starting with…

What are Literary Devices?

Literary devices are strategies writers use to strengthen ideas, add personality to prose, and ultimately communicate more effectively. Just as chefs use unique ingredients or techniques to create culinary masterpieces (flambéed crêpes, anyone?), skilled writers use literary devices to create life-changing works of art.

So who should care about literary devices?

You, of course. If you want to be a charismatic, powerful writer that readers want to follow (or clients want to hire), that is.

The right literary devices can make your ideas more memorable, your thoughts more clear, and your writing more powerful.

Your knowledge and skillful use of literary devices will catapult you above the hordes of wannabe writers, increasing your self-confidence, and endowing you with the kind of influence that will keep your audience salivating to consume your work.

How are Literary Devices Different From Rhetorical Devices?

Literary devices and rhetorical devices have a good bit of overlap. They’re very similar — so similar, you’ll find a lot of confusing, conflicting information online.

Google “alliteration” and you’ll see it on lists for both rhetorical and literary devices. The same is true with “personification”, “tmesis”, “litotes”, and numerous others.

So what’s the difference?

Here’s an oversimplified TL;DR:

Literary devices are a narrative technique. Rhetorical devices, also known as persuasive devices or stylistic devices, are a persuasion technique.

What are the 10 Most Common Literary Devices?

Alliteration

Anthropomorphism

Dramatic Irony

Euphemism

Flashback

Foreshadowing

Hyperbole

Onomatopoeia

Oxymoron

Point of View

(Yes, we were surprised “anthropomorphism” made the list too.)

Alright, enough questions. It’s time for the main event.

Our Huge List of Literary Devices

You will find some recognizable names in this list. You will also find a few party crashers that (unless you were an English major) you’ve probably never heard of (I’m looking at you, verisimilitude).

But whether it’s a familiar friend or an idiosyncratic interloper, each and every device comes with a lovingly hand-crafted definition and an enlightening example, carefully curated by yours truly.

(Don’t say you haven’t been warned.)

Here’s our list of the 57 must-know literary devices to get you started on the road to writerly stardom:

1. Alliteration

Some super sentences supply stunning samples of alliteration, such as this one. In other words, an alliteration is a literary device that features a series of words in swift succession, all starting with the same letter.

Graceful and clever use of alliteration (not, ahem, like the example above) can create a pleasant musicality to writing.

But note: Alliterations are a special kind of consonance, which means they must use words that start with consonant sounds. Repeated vowel sounds are known as assonance.

Example of Alliteration

Most people think of tongue twisters like “Peter Piper picked a pot of pickled peppers” when they think of alliteration. But did you know many famous writers throughout the ages have used alliteration in their titles?

Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Romance Readers and Ridiculous Rascals… wait. That last one is not actually a thing. But it is alliterative!

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t share this alliterative-filled introduction from V for Vendetta:

2. Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is when a writer gives a non-human animal or object human-like qualities.

Example of Anthropomorphism

In Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Lumiere the candlestick, Cogsworth the clock, and the other enchanted residents of the Prince/Beast’s castle talk, walk, sing, and feel emotions just like people do. (Because they technically ARE people… fictional enchanted people, that is.)

3. Dramatic Irony

Audiences love dramatic irony, because they get to be “in the know.” That is, they know something that the characters IN the story do not. Hey, if you buy the book, you get privileges!

Example of Dramatic Irony

In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, two men attempt to escape their responsibilities using the same fake name: Ernest. Only the audience knows the two tricksters’ real names are Jack and Algie. (A far cry from Ernest, for sure!)

4. Euphemism

The prefix “eu-” means “good” or “well,” so it makes sense that a “euphemism” is a “good way to talk about a bad thing.” Or, a “word or expression substituted for something else that is too harsh…”

Like when you say your nephew “just needs a bit of practice” when he plays the violin like a tortured cat.

Example of Euphemism

Because of humanity’s understandable aversion to death, we have come up with quite a few creative ways to describe death and dying:

Pushing up daisies

Going the way of the dinosaur

Kicking the bucket

5. Flashback

Flashbacks are scenes which show an event that happened in a character’s past, providing clues to the present story.

Example of Flashback

In Alfred Hitchcock’s famous movie Vertigo, one key flashback scene was almost cut out of the picture entirely. (SPOILER ALERT: It’s the scene where we find out that the suicidal wife is actually an actress hired to hide the wife’s murder. The actress starts to write a confession letter, then rips it up.)

6. Foreshadowing

The writing on the wall…

A glimpse of a tombstone with your name on it…

Fingernail marks scratched in blood…

Not all foreshadowing is creepy, but they all warn or indicate something is coming in the future. You could say that foreshadowing is like the opposite of a flashback.

Example of Foreshadowing

In the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee foreshadows the last twist in the story in the very first line of the book: “When he was nearly thirteen my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.”

(Of course, by the time you get to the end of the book, you’ve probably forgotten all about the first line. But that’s why Lee is a genius and the rest of us can only wonder in awe.)

7. Hyperbole

A hyperbole is an exaggeration that a hearer or reader is not supposed to take seriously.

Example of Hyperbole

The great satirist Mark Twain wrote in Old Times on the Mississippi:

“I…could have hung my hat on my eyes, they stuck out so far.”

8. Onomatopoeia

An onomatopoeia is a word that comes from the sound it represents, such as “achoo!” or “arrgh.”

Example of Onomatopoeia

Young children’s books are the motherlode of onomatopoeia. For example, Doreen Cronin’s Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type has onomatopoeia right in the title. Same with Ross MacDonald’s Achoo! Bang! Crash! And Barry Gott’s Honk! Splat! Vroom!

9. Oxymoron

An oxymoron is a popular literary device where seemingly contradictory words are connected. Fun fact: the word “oxymoron” is itself oxymoronic — it comes from two ancient Greek words meaning “sharp and stupid.”

Example of Oxymoron

Simon and Garfunkel’s famous song “The Sounds of Silence” is a perfect oxymoron.

10. Point of View

Point of view is the perspective a writer chooses when writing. In fiction, you can have a first, second, or third person point of view.

First person uses pronouns like “me” or “I,” second person uses “you,” and third person uses “he/she” and looks at the character and story from the perspective of an outsider.

Note: Third person can be limited. The narrator can either only see inside the head of one character, or they can be omniscient — a Godlike narrator that can see everything that is going on.

Example of Point of View

In The Help, a novel about black maids in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi, the story is told from the first-person point of view of three women, looking at similar events from their own perspectives.

11. Allegory

Take a metaphor, put it on steroids, throw in a dash of realism, and you have yourself an allegory: a figure of speech used to represent a large, complex (and often moral) message about real-world events or issues.

Example of Allegory

Nothing screams “hypocritical tyrant” quite like fictional pigs in human clothing, declaring: “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others!”

At least, that’s the message George Orwell hoped to convey in Animal Farm, a fictional mirror of communism. Orwell certainly had a way with (dystopian) allegories!

12. Allusion

An allusion is a device that the writer uses to refer, indirectly, to someone or something outside of the situation, such as a person, event, or thing in another (real or imagined) world.

Example of Allusion

In The Big Bang Theory, the names of main characters Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter allude to the real-life TV producer, Sheldon Leonard. (Let’s hope that he did not share his fictional counterparts’ personalities.)

13. Anachronism

Anachronism is the time machine of literary devices. Anachronisms pop up when a writer accidentally (or purposefully) makes an error in the chronology of the writing.

It’s most often seen when writing features slang or technology that should not appear in the timeline of the story.

Example of Anachronism

In the famous “He got me invested in some kind of fruit company” scene from Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump unfolds a thank-you letter sporting Steve Job’s Apple logo.

But the letter in the movie was sent in 1975, while Apple didn’t go public in the real world until 1980. So Forrest Gump couldn’t have invested in the computer company as the movie portrayed it. (We still love you, Forrest!)

14. Anaphora

The anaphora is a literary device that emphasizes a word, word group, or phrase by repeating it at the beginning of a series of clauses or sentences.

Example of Anaphora

One of the longest opening lines by Charles Dickens (which a high school English teacher once directed me to memorize) uses anaphora generously:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the…”

(Thanks a lot, Dickens!)

15. Anastrophe

Anastrophe is a literary device that alters the normal order of English speech. In other words, instead of subject-verb-object (“I like cats”), the sentence order becomes subject-object-verb (“I cats like”).

Poets use anastrophe to make rhyming easier, and prose writers use it to sound… wiser?

Example of Anastrophe

Who can talk about anastrophe without mentioning our favorite intergalactic mentor? That’s right, Yoda’s iconic speeches are fantastic examples of anastrophe:

“Powerful you have become”

“Named must be your fear before banish it you can.”

“The greatest teacher, failure is.”

16. Aphorism

An aphorism is a short, witty saying that delivers wisdom with a punch. But in order for it to be an aphorism, it has to contain a universal truth, packed into a nutshell-sized statement.

Example of Aphorism

Benjamin Franklin was a master of aphorisms. Here is a prime selection from his treasure trove:

Little strokes fell great oaks

Strike while the iron is hot

Fish and visitors smell in three days

17. Archetype

An archetype is the original pattern, the prototype, the ideal model for a certain character or situation.

Example of Archetype

In the epic poem, Beowulf, Grendel is the archetypal monster, a “descendant of Cain,” “creature of darkness,” and “devourer of our human kind.” (Yikes. Would not want to meet him in a dark alley!)

18. Asyndeton

Sometimes, a writer leaves out conjunctions like and, but, or, for, and nor. This is not because s/he is forgetful. It’s because that’s what an asyndeton is: a group of phrases with the conjunctions left out, for rhythmic emphasis.

Example of Asyndeton

Here’s Abraham Lincoln beautifully demonstrating the power of the asyndeton:

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth.”

(Notice the glaring omission of the word “and.”)

19. Chiasmus

The Latin word “chiasm” refers to a “crossing,” so it makes sense that a chiasmus is a literary device where words, grammar constructions, and/or concepts are “crossed,” aka reversed.

Example of Chiasmus

Apparently, early Greeks were quite fond of the chiasmus, or at least Socrates was:

“Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.”

20. Cliffhanger

Cliffhangers get their name from the effect they have on readers: making them feel as if a cruel, cruel writer has left them dangling off the edge of a lonely ledge.

We all know that feeling of reading WAY past our bedtime, because every chapter’s ending has us frantically flipping to find out what happens next. That’s a cliffhanger.

Example of Cliffhanger

Here’s a cliffhanger from Harry Potter:

“Harry crossed to his bedroom on tiptoe, slipped inside… and turned to collapse on his bed. The trouble was, there was already someone sitting on it.”

Want to know what happens next? You’ll have to read the book.

21. Colloquialism

The word “colloquialism” would probably never be a colloquialism itself. That’s because colloquialism is a word, phrase, or expression that is used in daily, informal conversations by common people. Colloquialisms vary, depending on where you live.

Example of Colloquialism

The briefly popular 2012 meme series, “Sh*t X say,” are packed with examples of colloquialisms, such as these, er, jewels (?) from Episode 1 of “Sh*t Girls Say”:

“Twinsies!”

“Shut UP!”

“Like, I’m not even joking right now.”

22. Cumulative Sentence

A cumulative sentence builds on a core idea (an independent clause, if you must know the technical term) by layering on chopped-up partial sentences (dependent clauses) and phrases, like a layer cake!

Example of Cumulative Sentence

“She finished the Game of Thrones marathon, exhausted yet exhilarated, full of grief that it was all over, itching to call her bestie to discuss her impressions, shocked that it was already nearly dawn.”

23. Diction

Diction is a fancy way of saying: “the words a writer chooses when talking to a specific audience.” Diction can be formal or informal, use jargon or regional slang, etc.

Example of Diction

Formal diction:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Informal diction:

Hain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? And hain’t that a big enough majority in any town?Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn

24. Epigraph

An epigraph is a brief quote or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter that is put there to suggest the theme of said book or chapter.

Example of Epigraph

“For Beatrice — My love for you shall live forever. You, however, did not.”

“For Beatrice — When we first met, you were pretty, and I was lonely. Now I am pretty lonely.”

“For Beatrice — I cherished, you perished. The world’s been nightmarished.”

Technically, the poetic homage to the dead Beatrice in Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events is a dedication, not an epigraph. But since Beatrice is fictional (as is, in a sense, the author himself), and these darkly funny quotes set the tone for the Unfortunate Events quite well, one could make the case that these are, in fact, epigraphs.

25. Epistrophe

Not to be confused with alliteration, the epistrophe is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of a series of clauses or sentences to add rhythm and/or emphasis.

Example of Epistrophe

‘Cause if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it

If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it

Don’t be mad once you see that he want it

If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it Beyonce, Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

(My apologies for the ear worm.)

26. Extended Metaphor

An extended metaphor is a metaphor that is extended. Just like I’m about to extend this definition: a metaphor developed in high detail and spread over a large passage of writing, from several lines, to a paragraph, to an entire work. (Done! Whew.)

Example of Extended Metaphor

In 2003, Will Ferrell told graduating Harvard-ians about his alma mater, the “University of Life” where he studied in the “School of Hard Knocks” the school colors were “black and blue,” he had office hours with the “Dean of Bloody Noses” and had to borrow his class notes from “Professor Knuckle Sandwich.”

27. Exposition

An exposition is a literary device used to introduce background information about the story in a matter-of-fact way.

Example of Exposition

Because of the famous fiction writing rule, “show don’t tell,” many authors use dialogue and other tricks to convey need-to-know information. But some very successful writers continue to use plain old straightforward exposition like:

The hobbit was a very well-to-do hobbit, and his name was Baggins. The Bagginses had lived in the neighbourhood of the Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected.J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

28. Frame Story

A frame story is exactly what it sounds like: A story that frames another story. In other words, it’s a story that introduces another smaller story inside, or the story outside the story within the story… oh, never mind. Just see the example below.

Example of a Frame Story

The best example of a frame story is The Princess Bride, which author William Goldman claims to have “translated” from an old “Florinese” story his father told him.

The movie version also uses a frame story: A grandfather reads his grandson a bedtime story (The Princess Bride, of course!).

29. Humor

If I have to explain what humor is to you, I’m afraid you might need something a bit stronger than 57 literary devices to… Oh, what’s that? (My editor says I still have to give you a definition. Contractual obligations, and all that.)

Fine, fine. Here it is: humor is a literary tool that amuses readers and makes them laugh. (There, happy?)

Example of Humor

I mean, technically this whole entire article is just one big ball of fun, but… what’s that? Okay, alright. Official examples, here we go:

“It’s just a flesh wound!” — The Black Knight, after getting both arms chopped off in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

“‘Greater good?’ I am your wife! I’m the greatest good you’re ever gonna get!” — Frozone’s wife’s in response to Frozone’s desire to bail on dinner to save the world in The Incredibles

“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” — Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

30. Hypophora

No, it’s not a fancy name for a Greek hippo. Rather, a hypophora is a literary device where a writer asks a question and then immediately answers it.

Example of Hypophora

Here’s a philosophical example from the timeless children’s novel Charlotte’s Web:

“After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die.”

31. Imagery

Imagery is descriptive or figurative language used to evoke near-physical sensations in a reader’s mind. Well-written imagery helps readers almost see, hear, taste, touch, and feel what is going on in the story.

Example of Imagery

Here’s an excerpt from T.S. Eliot’s Preludes, which uses multiple senses:

The winter evening settles down

With smell of steaks in passageways.

Six o’clock.

The burnt-out ends of smoky days.

And now a gusty shower wraps

The grimy scraps

Of withered leaves about your feet.

32. Irony

Irony is one of the trickiest literary devices to define, best grasped through absorbing examples. But a workable definition goes something like this:

Irony is using a word or phrase that usually signifies the opposite of what the speaker intends to say, for comedic or emphatic purposes. Irony can also be an event that works out contrary to the expected, and can often be funny.

So enough with dry definitions, let’s see if the examples can explain better:

Example of Irony

There are three kinds of irony, one of which (dramatic irony) we discussed earlier:

Dramatic irony: In Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows that Juliet isn’t dead, but asleep. Romeo, who doesn’t know, kills himself.

Situational irony: In the animated film Ratatouille, it’s ironic that a rat (which most people don’t like to see in kitchens) ends up being the master chef in a kitchen. 

Verbal irony: When Beauty and the Beast’s Belle is trying to get away from an odious suitor’s proposal, she says, “I just don’t deserve you!”

33. Isocolon

Isocolon refers to a piece of writing that uses a series of clauses, phrases, or sentences that are grammatically equal in length, creating a parallel structure that gives it a sort of pleasant rhythm.

Examples of Isocolon

“Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered).” — Julius Caesar

“You’ve got a lot to live. Pepsi’s got a lot to give.” — Pepsi, circa 1969

“You win some, you lose some.” — Unknown

34. Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is a literary device writers use to place two highly contrasting things together to emphasize the difference.

Example of Juxtaposition

In Pixar’s Up, Carl Fredricksen is an old, curmudgeonly widower, while his unwanted sidekick Russell is a young, naively energetic schoolboy. That’s what makes the movie so much fun: the contrast (read: juxtaposition) between old, jaded Carl and young, innocent Russell.

35. Litotes

Litotes, from a Greek word meaning “simple,” refers to an affirmation where you say something by negating the contrary.

Example of Litotes

In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift prefaces his proposal to cure poverty by eating poor people’s children with a litotes:

“I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.

Having been assured by a very knowing American…that a young healthy child well nursed is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food…I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragoust.”

36. Malapropism

A malapropism is when a character (unintentionally and hilariously) mistakes a word in place of a similar-sounding word. The concept comes from a character (Mrs. Malaprop) who liked to use big words incorrectly in a comedic play by English playwright Richard Sheridan.

Example of a Malapropism

The beloved children’s series Amelia Bedelia describes a maid who takes her bosses’ instructions a bit too literally. For example: sketching her bosses’ drapes when asked to “draw the drapes.”

37. Metaphor

Ah, the metaphor! A favorite tool of writers everywhere. The metaphor is a literary device where something is compared to a dissimilar thing without using a comparison word such as “like” or “as.”

Example of a Metaphor

In Pixar’s Inside Out, the emotions Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness live and work in Headquarters, an obvious metaphor comparing the brain to a technological control center.

38. Metonymy

Metonymy is the practice of using part of a thing to represent something related to it. In other words, it’s the use of one word as a stand in for another, bigger concept.

Example of Metonymy

Mark Twain uses metonymy in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

“He said he reckoned a body could reform the ole man with a shotgun.”

Here, a “body” refers not to a corpse, but to a person. A corpse, after all, would probably have a hard time wielding a shotgun.

39. Mood

Mood is the feeling an audience gets from consuming a piece of writing. The words a writer chooses creates an atmosphere that evokes powerful emotions from the reader.

Example of Mood

Children’s writer Roald Dahl is a master of creating whimsical, funny, child-friendly moods in his books via extraordinary situations (a boy wins a golden ticket to a magical chocolate factory) and a silly invented vocabulary:

“Don’t gobblefunk around with words” — The BFG

40. Motif

A motif is a sound, action, figure, image, or other element or symbol that recurs throughout a literary work to help develop the theme.

Example of Motif

The book/movie Ready Player One is stuffed with pop motifs from the 1980s. The entire plot revolves around a virtual 1980s world, which contrasts with the main character’s bleak real-life.

41. Paradox

A paradox seems to make two mutually contradictory things true at the same time.

Example of Paradox

In the tragic revenge story, Hamlet, the title character says something that sounds paradoxical:

“I must be cruel to be kind.”

Meaning, he must kill his stepfather (cruel) in order to avenge his father’s murder (kind).

42. Personification

Personification: giving humanlike characteristics to nonhuman animals or objects. Don’t confuse it with anthropomorphism, which goes farther, making the nonhuman character act and appear human.

Example of Personification

Pixar is a master at using personification. For example, in their 2006 movie Cars, the main characters are all, well, cars — cars who talk, race, date, do community service, and win trophies.

43. Polysyndeton

Polysyndeton is a literary device that uses conjunctions quickly, one right after the other, often without punctuation, in order to play with the rhythm of the writing.

Example of Polysyndeton

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou uses polysyndeton when she writes:

“Let the whitefolks have their money and power and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and schools and lawns like carpets…”

44. Repetition

Repetition is the grandaddy of many other devices on this list, such as anaphora, epistrophe, and polysyndeton above.

In other words, repetition is the reiteration of something (word, phrase, sentence, etc.) that has already been said (for emphasis).

Example of Repetition

Repetition is frequently used in song lyrics, such as the iconic Beatles song, Let It Be:

“When I find myself in times of trouble

Mother Mary comes to me

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be

There will be an answer, let it be…”

45. Satire

Satire uses humor, ridicule, irony, and exaggeration to expose and criticize something ridiculous, stupid, or bad. Satire can be light and funny, or dark and judgmental.

There are three types of satire: Juvenalian (viciously attacking a single target), Menippean (equally harsh, but more general), and Horatian (softer, more humorous).

Example of Satire

The funny-offensive show South Park is a modern-day example of biting satire, riffing on all kinds of sensitive topics in a politically incorrect fashion, from politics to religion to Hollywood.

46. Simile

A simile is like a metaphor, except that it compares dissimilar objects using the words “like” or “as” (whereas metaphors compare directly, without any helping words).

A choice simile can be funny, memorable, surprising, or all three!

Example of Simile

Sometimes the most memorable similes are the strangest ones, like this collection of similes from Song of Solomon in the Bible:

“Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilead. Your teeth are a flock of sheep just shorn…your lips are like a scarlet ribbon…”

47. Soliloquy

A soliloquy is a speech given by a character in the absence of hearers. Soliloquies are particularly popular in plays, which don’t usually have the luxury of omniscient narration to reveal characters’ inner thoughts.

Example of Soliloquy

Who can talk about soliloquies without mentioning the Bard’s epic romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet?

“Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo!” says Juliet, speaking (or so she thinks) to herself.

48. Suspense

Alfred Hitchcock. Lee Child. Steven King. All are storytellers who create suspense, a feeling of heightened anxiety, uncertainty, and excitement.

Example of Suspense

The famous (or should I say infamous?) shower scene in Hitchcock’s Psycho kept watchers curling their toes for 45 seconds while the innocent-and-soon-to-be-dead Marion takes a shower with a killer lurking in the background.

49. Symbolism

Symbolism. A favorite device of literature teachers everywhere. Symbolism is, of course, when writers use symbols (images, objects, etc.) to represent bigger, deeper ideas, qualities, and so on.

Example of Symbolism

Harry Potter’s lightning scar, the Ring of Doom from the eponymous Lord of the Rings, the mockingjay from Hunger Games… there are examples of symbolism everywhere you look!

50. Synecdoche

A synecdoche is a literary device where a part stands in for the whole, or vice versa. It is not to be confused with metonymy, which is when something represents a related concept. (See the earlier example for metonymy.)

Example of Synecdoche

In Julius Caesar, Mark Antony asks his “Friends, Romans, countrymen” to “lend [him] their ears.” Thankfully, his audience recognized this metonymy and did not interpret Antony’s words literally. Otherwise, we would have a very different play on our hands.

51. Tautology

A tautology is a literary device often used by accident. It involves saying the same thing twice, but phrasing it differently the second time.

A tautology is something a child might say: “I want it because I want it!”

Example of Tautology

In Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, “gently rapping” and “faintly tapping” are redundant:

“But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping

And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door”

52. Tmesis

From the Greek word meaning “to cut,” tmesis is a literary device that cuts a word or phrase into two parts by inserting a word in between them.

Example of Tmesis

Here are two silly samples from Pygmalion’s Eliza Doolittle:

“Fan-bloody-tastic!”

“Abso-blooming-lutely”

53. Tone

Tone can be tricky to define. Officially, in writing, tone is the attitude a writer has toward the subject or the audience. It’s the writer’s viewpoint, conveyed through his or her word choice.

Example of Tone

Notice how the choice of emotional words, pacing, and use of other literary elements in this excerpt from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart create a guilty, anxious tone:

“I gasped for breath, and yet the officers heard it not…I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations, but the noise steadily increased. Why WOULD they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro…O God! What COULD I do? I foamed — I raved — I swore!”

54. Tragicomedy

A tragicomedy is exactly what it sounds like: a story (play or novel) that is both tragic and comedic.

Example of Tragicomedy

Having mastered both tragedy and comedy, is it such a stretch for Shakespeare to have mastered tragicomedy as well? Think: The Merchant of Venice, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest, which all blend humor and suffering in a reflection of real life.

55. Verisimilitude

Verisimilitude is a fancy-schmancy word for saying something fake looks real. Example: writing about a fictitious person, thing, or event, that seems almost true, even if it’s far-fetched.

Example of Verisimilitude

Fantasy stories are the best fodder for finding verisimilitude. For example, prolific fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson often creates convoluted magic systems based on things like color, strict rules, constraints, and consequences that almost makes them seem possible.

56. Vignette

A vignette is a short scene or episode — a moment-in-the-life description. Unlike a short story, it doesn’t have a narrative arc or all the elements of a plot.

Example of Vignette

In 2009, Pixar put out a series of video vignettes to promote their movie, Wall-E:

“WALL-E meets a football”

“Wall-E cup shuffle”

“Wall-E meets a magnet”

Here, check them out:

57. Zoomorphism

Zoomorphism is when a writer gives animal-like characteristics to something (human, inanimate object, etc.) that is not an animal. It’s basically the animal form of personification.

Example of Zoomorphism

Want a terrific example of zoomorphism? Just check out Spider-Man, Catwoman, Black Panther, and dozens other comic book superheroes.

What to Do With Your Literary Device Knowledge

Whew! That was a doozy. Congratulations on making it through the entire list.

Now, I know what you’re thinking:

“Do I need to memorize all of these literary terms?”

No, no you don’t.

“Do I even have to know them by name?”

Not necessarily.

But tell you what…

Go through the list again and just let everything soak in. Then next time you’re reading a book, blog post, magazine article, or even a tabloid, try to spot any of the literary devices hiding inside.

I promise, they’re there.

And next time you write, see if you can weave in a common literary device or two, for emphasis, for art, or just for grins and giggles.

As you learn to notice and absorb these devices into your craft — the way a kung-fu master absorbs the basic foundations of his form — you will find yourself becoming a more versatile, expressive, skillful writer.

It’s a bit like having a variety of colors to choose from as a painter. Sure, you can draw a decent portrait with just a stick of charcoal, but imagine what you could do if you had an entire palette.

That’s what literary devices can do for you, if you take the time to pick them up.

So take another peek at this list now and then, and practice sneaking lit devices into your own work.

You’ll be amazed how much clearer, stronger, and addicting your writing will become.

Editors will grin and nod as they read through your work.

Bloggers will fight to snap up your guest posts.

Readers will mob you for your skills.

And you will smile like Mona Lisa, master of the secrets of the universe (or at least this list of literary devices).

The post 57 Literary Devices That’ll Elevate Your Writing (+ Examples) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

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TL;DR -- In prep for my first visit to SaaStr Annual, I binge-listened to all 95 podcasts and wrote down the highlights. In the original blog post we built a simple search app of the data set I created along with images of all the SaaS resources mentioned on the show. The rest of the text is below. Hope some might find it useful....Who needs a #drinkwithharry?Over the past few weeks, I tasked myself with listening to all ~32 hours of the SaaStr podcast, in preparation for the SaaStr Annual conference. Each show is an incredibly dense, 20-minute nugget on the business of SaaS. IMHO, it is totally and completely worthwhile to meander through twice-weekly.However. Powering through them all in one go was the equivalent of a Brain Blaster—more like binge-watching Planet Earth than Portlandia. Do as I say, kids, not as I do.So, what did I learn? Well, a ton. Let’s try to unpack the highlights with the Data, the Recommended Resources, the Words of Wisdom and, finally, the Personal Lessons.To the Data!As part of this journey, I put together a file that combines data from the RSS feed along with my own note-taking on each episode (typos and dirty data notwithstanding).[Note: Due to reddit formatting, here are the details of the data set]:The CSV file is available on GitHub.The Search App is inside the original post.The how-to on getting dynamic data into a static set using our cloud data pipes is in a secondary post.Fun facts:54% of episodes featured a CEO and/or Founder21% of episodes featured a VC or other InvestorThe remaining episodes (with a few exceptions) were with VP of sales, marketing or customer successOf the non-VC interviewees, there was a diversity of SaaS products on display. HR and Marketing companies were most prominent (~30%), but others ranged from security-guards-on-demand to shipping APIs to a Slack bot. It’s a big world out there.There were only two repeat guests (Jason Lemkin and John Barrows)The “60-second SaaStr” was nicknamed “the Churn” for a few early episodes. The “Good, that’s perfect, I think we’re warmed up” audio snippet appeared 43 episodes in. Were these the experiments and casualties of lean podcast methodology? We’ll never know.Recommended SaaS ResourcesThis is probably a good time to note that Harry Stebbings, the wunderkind interviewer, is a natural. In addition to tight, relevant questions, the brilliance of the show really comes down to the editing. 20 minutes is a perfect length and a huge differentiator compared to other tech and startup podcasts.One question Harry often asks (~55% of all interviews) is simply: “What are your favorite SaaS resources?” Interviewees answer with various blogs, books, podcasts, among others. I compiled each resource and grouped them by number of mentions. To make things a little easier to read, I also highlighted the books in blue:[NOTE: All the SaaS resources mentioned I grouped and, due to lazyness, just took a screenshot. Top four were SaaStr, Tomasz Tunguz blog, David Skok blog, & Mark Suster blog, but a long-tail of other interesting reads; for the full list, see the original postThere is a clearly a preference for SaaStr on these Saastr podcasts (weird!), but you clearly don’t want to miss out on Tomasz Tunguz or David Skok either. When you go to google "How to Castrate a Bull" make sure you add "business book" to your search criteria.Words of WisdomAs for actual content, where to begin? It’s an embarrassment of riches. So as not to write a novel, let me give you a taste by simply quoting from a handful of interviews (with gentle editing for clarity):Nick Mehta, Gainsight, Episode #24 on What Companies are Getting Wrong with Customer Success“#1 they think it is just about churn reduction… just the beginning of the story… it’s about upsell, expansion and most importantly about advocacy and getting your customers to be your best sales people…#2 they hire the wrong leader… maybe passionate about the customer and product, but not operationally focused…#3 they put it under another exec… part time responsibility of marketing or sales… #4 they make it all about people and heroics v. process… #5 they think about it as just the CSM team’s responsibility, when in reality that customer success team is the quarterback… but you need the whole company to rally around it.”Aaron Ross, Author, Episode 46 on the Most Common Reason Companies Struggle to Grow“Because they haven’t nailed a niche… you can have a big vision, but it means being very focused—baby steps—around the type of customer segments… who today you can find, talk to and who need you enough to buy from you… so you can double-down and grow fast.An old story, company has a product, anyone in the world can use it and get value from it, but no one is buying it. Where are you a need to have vs. where you are a nice to have? It’s hard to have the internal discipline in the early days to say these customers can all use us, but they don’t need it so much that they’re going to buy… got to focus on these 1-2 very specific areas… maybe not sexy… but enough of a pain there that they’re going to need us and go through all the huge time and energy and effort—the more-than-you-expect-process—to evaluate us, buy us and deploy us.”Russell Glass, LinkedIn, Episode #14 on Marketing within the Customer Lifecycle“At each stage… [customers] have certain information needs… and if you can, as a marketer, help them with those information needs at the right part of the journey of that decision, that is when you are relevant… that is when you are able to transcend being marketing material and move into the information universe.”Seth Besmertnik, Conductor, Episode #79 on Weaponizing Marketing:“Your marketing can be a weapon and core competency and differentiator… [for a crowded market] what ends up discerning the difference is the marketing… are people finding you?… do they know you exist? There are a lot of great software companies that are dead on the side of the road because no one ever found their business, no one found their product and they weren’t good at sales and marketing. So having a great product is the start, but it’s not how you get across the finish line.”Mathilde Collin, Frontapp, Episode #10 on Content Marketing Strategy“We have a process, first try to release at least two posts per month… and then always try to write 1/3 on market we’re in… 1/3 on our journey… and 1/3 about specific use case for customers”Peter Reinhardt, Segment, Episode #80 on Turning Up Product Market Fit to Eleven“[Early on] we managed to convince ourselves that pretty meager levels of customer excitement meant product market fit, which I think is an easy thing to do… I think customers have more dynamic range in their response to a product than most people realize… “oh that seems helpful”… 7 or 8 out of 10… but when you really hit a pain point, the customer’s dynamic range goes up to 11… and their response is totally different… like holy shit, can I get access to it today? I need to call this other person on my team who has been talking about this forever, how ’bout I introduce you? and you’re like “woah, woah” it doesn’t even exist yet, slow down… I think the customer’s dynamic range is much broader than we realized and so we never actually hit that 11 and just convinced ourselves that 7 out of 10 was product-market fit.”Ryan Smith, Qualtrics, Episode #83 on Necessity of Managing Runway“Rome wasn’t built in a day… it’s going to take time, if you can keep your options from a funding or partner standpoint to actually give you a long enough runway, entrepreneurs will figure it out. The problem is when they put a stopwatch on their back… every bet that we’ve made has taken a little longer than we anticipated… you don’t want to limit yourself to one point in time… you gotta play the long game.”Leo Widrich, Buffer, Episode #89 on an Embarrassing MVP“The quote… that you should be embarrassed by your first version gets misinterpreted a lot… you shouldn’t be embarrassed because it completely breaks or is unusable… that’s the wrong type of embarrassment… the type that is good is the embarrassment of richness… like, kinda embarrassed because it’s only this one feature and you wish you had done three more… it is complete unto itself… not the base layer of the cake, but, instead, a cupcake.”Personal Lessons LearnedIf there is one thing I’ve personally learned throughout this process, it’s that the 2x speed on a podcast app is probably the greatest invention of all time.But, as far as SaaS goes, I think what you receive through drowning in all this content is a solid understanding of the conventional wisdom of running a SaaS business, from early days to scale. Things like:Hire athletes in the beginning, specialize later.Initial product market fit is when you have 10 unaffiliated paying customersSales and Customer Success need to be working in tandem, given the necessity of retention in SaaSDon’t spend money on sales until you have a repeatable processFocus early on a single personaGet people to pay you earlyMore mojitos, fasterAnother cool thing about this binge-mission, should one accept it, is that you’ll certainly find a few tidbits that speak directly to your situation. For instance, I almost fell out of my chair when Harry Glaser of Periscope Data (Episode #30) was asked about greenfield opportunities in SaaS and then went on to lay out the problem that our startup, Flex.io, is trying to tackle:“I think one thing we see that maybe other folks don’t see there’s a lot of back end data munging and processing and kinda unsexy data things going on that are really being done with a collection of hacky python scripts right now… copying data from place to place, transforming data, storing data, all that stuff is being done by people writing scripts on the side… so I think there is a big opportunity there…”Let’s hope so, Harry!…Well, I hope this proved to be a useful summary for you, dear reader. May your SaaS companies flourish and may your mojito glasses never be empty! Hope to see you at SaaStr Annual.edit: formatting