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Alliteration Bug

Incanus

Auror
Somehow, I got myself into a ghastly great glut of alliteration. I have no idea how it happened. But now, there's no way not to do it, no matter what. All the time, anywhere, I alliterate. At first it was fantastic, everything flowed so freely. But it grew to be unusually unnatural and unnerving. Could there be a cure for this condition? Might a proper palliative persevere? I seem to be severely stuck in the solitary sands of senseless sounds, screaming silently inside my skull.

How I hope for help.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
This may not be the most helpful advice you will see but... I'm tempted to say just go with it and see what happens... It is a distinctive style after all... Your work will definitely stand out amongst the masses. Or try writing in verse...
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
I do it too...:rolleyes2:

Maybe we need to start an online self-help and support group?

I actually enjoy it, so...whatever. I think you need to determine whether your style even PRESENTS A PROBLEM. Maybe it isn't a negative at all.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
It's impossible to intuit if there's an issue. (okay, I'll stop; it was a question, not a challenge!)

I'm in a local writing group. One person there says alliterations drive her nuts. She rarely likes them. Others in the group like them, while still others barely notice them.

I treat these the same way I treat similes and other literary devices. I let them flow on first draft. I even indulge them a bit, like a tolerant uncle letting the kids have their fun. But when I'm revising for flow, usually when I'm reading aloud, I'm more critical. The device has to work at that point, or it goes under the revision grinder. Still later, beta readers (those cruel, heartless demons) will let me know if I have sounded a false note. I grieve, but I try not to argue.
 

Incanus

Auror
Sorry, I suppose my silliness was a bit subtle.

All right, no more of that!

I wasn't actually serious that I could not write a sentence that didn't alliterate. Even a short story that contained alliteration in every single sentence would become horribly tedious, for reader and writer alike.

I was only being a bit of a literature-nerd for a second there. It's just that a number of times recently, I would look over something I had just written, and I'd spot these glaring alliterations that I hadn't deliberately intended. About half the time I'd leave it, and half the time choose some different word that dispelled it.

I'm OK. Just a bit over-weird, that's all.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
Dispell. What a great word! It's like spelling, only you come back around and dis-spell it. Could work for actual spells, too. It's not negating the spell and not quite uncasting it, but dispell, like disassociate or disassemble.

Sorry, bit of a thread sparkle there, but the word just hit me.

Also, the Overweird could be a really fun place!
 
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