This book is a superb all-in-one guide to success GCSE English Language and English Literature - GCSE English 2003

The writer's Techniques
Section Two — Writing Literature Essays

You have to show that you understand the writer's style, so get on and learn this page properly.

Writing Style Affects The Way You Feel

The style of a text is a combination of features like these:

The style influences the way you feel about characters, ideas and events.

Show the examiners you understand how the writer manages to affect the way you feel.

The author will always try to manipulate the reader

Don't always believe what the author tells you to believe.

You should always question an author's motives for letting us know something.

Pay Attention to Settings

Writers just love using settings to mess with the way you feel about what's happening.

Look At the Order of Events

1) Stories aren't always told in order.

Writers mess around with the order to keep you interested.

2) Flashbacks are a favourite trick. What happens is that the story's going along nicely in the present, and suddenly the scene shifts to the week before, or some years before.

3) Foreshadowing gives clues about what will happen later on in the story.

Don’t get carried away with the present — always ask why

There are always reasons for what happens, and they're often buried in the past. The authors like to tease the reader, so we often don't find out why things happen the way they do until the very end.