V is for Vignette
I have written numerous blog posts here on the definition of a word and its relation to writing. Today as I was brainstorming on the letter V (you almost got a post about vineyards), I landed on the word vignette. A vignette is a short description or scene more about evoking meaning through imagery than about plot or a brief evocative description, account, or episode.
An example of a vignette
Vignette comes from a French term meaning “little vines”. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the term was first used “in the mid-18th century for a design or illustration that ran along the blank border of a page, or one that marked the beginning or end of a chapter.”
Over on my food blog I used vignettes quite often. I focused on relating the recipe I was sharing with a vignette on how it related to an event in my life.
If you think about it, a novel is just an extension of vignettes. Little scenes strung together with a plot tying each of them together.
