Literature Glossary

Abstraction

Definition:

An abstraction is something that you can't directly experience using your five senses. Love. War. Culture. If you know it exists, but you can't see it, smell it, taste it, touch it, or hear it, that's an abstraction. (And, really—who wants to smell culture, anyway?)

So how do you help readers understand abstractions? By backing them up with concrete language. Take "relaxation," for example. You might explain that abstraction further by describing the feel of the sun on your skin, the taste of a piña colada on your tongue, the smell of the ocean nearby, and the smooth sounds of Michael Bolton on your iPod.

Oh, yeah.