Shifts in Focus Flashcards
All 13 cards in this deck
What is a shift in focus, and why do writers use one?
A change in what the text is looking at: a place, person, object, time or idea. It directs the reader's attention, and where it happens often signals what the writer wants us to notice or worry about.
What is the effect of 'zooming in' from a wide view to a small detail?
It narrows the reader's attention onto something the writer thinks matters, such as a face or an object. The detail feels more important or more intimate because the wider world has fallen away.
What is the effect of 'zooming out' from a character to a wider view?
It pulls the reader back to show the bigger picture. That can make a character seem small, isolated or powerless, or show that the problem is larger than one person.
What is the effect of a shift from the outside world to a character's thoughts?
It moves the reader from what can be seen to what is felt. It often reveals a private worry hidden beneath a calm surface, which builds sympathy or tension.
What is the effect of shifting focus from one character to another?
It lets the reader compare them, or see what one character cannot see. A shift to a second character can reveal a threat or a secret that the first character doesn't know about.
What is the pivotal point (or turning point) of a text?
The moment where the direction changes: a discovery, a decision or an interruption. Everything before it builds up to it and everything after it is changed by it, so it is often the heart of a Question 3 answer.
What is the effect of a shift from action to description?
It pauses the action. The writer can delay what happens next, which keeps the reader waiting, or show something (a setting or a character's appearance) that will matter later.
How can dialogue act as a structural device?
Moving from narration into speech brings the reader into the moment in real time. It can reveal conflict directly or interrupt a calm passage, and silence where speech is expected can be just as telling.
What is a motif, and what does a writer achieve by returning to it?
An image, object or sound that recurs through a text. Each return reminds the reader of it and can show how a character's situation or feelings have developed since it last appeared.
How can time and place words help you write about shifts in focus?
Words and phrases like 'Meanwhile', 'Upstairs', 'Later that night' mark exactly where the focus moves. Quoting them lets you pinpoint the shift precisely instead of writing vaguely about 'the middle'.
In 'The square was packed with stalls, music and the smell of frying onions. In a doorway at the edge of it all, a boy was counting coins into his palm.', what shift happens and what is its effect?
The focus zooms in from the busy, crowded square to one boy at the edge. The contrast isolates him and makes the reader wonder why he is counting so carefully, perhaps because he has very little.
In 'The crowd roared her name. Behind the stage, Aisha was being sick into a fire bucket.', what is the structural shift and its effect?
The focus shifts from the public scene to a hidden one behind the stage. Placing the two side by side exposes the gap between how she appears and how she feels, which builds sympathy and tension before her performance.
What three things should a sentence about a shift in focus include?
From what to what (e.g. from the street to the flat), where in the text it happens, and why: what the shift makes the reader feel or notice, linked to the effect named in the question.