Posted in Uncategorized, tagged dinosaurs, writing on June 11, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will be released in June. I am excited. (I will grow up later) I would be even more excited if the 2-legged dinosaurs had feathers. (not sure about the 4-legged versions)
This winter I subbed in a kindergarten class. For indoor recess, the girls dressed in princess gowns—boring. The boys played with dinosaur toys—yes!
I just have to write about dinosaurs! Novels, picture books, poems, and so on.
Adulthood will just have to wait a little longer.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged writing on April 17, 2018| Leave a Comment »
The Main Character and/or Antagonist:
Osiris: Male messiah
The protagonist is the sacrificial person. E.g. Luke Skywalker, Robin Hood, & King Arthur (the hero in many action movies)
The antagonist is the punisher. The bad guy in most action movies.
Isis: Female messiah
The protagonist has a connection to the divine even if she doesn’t want it. E.g. Catniss (Hunger Games), Joan of Arc,
The antagonist is the destroyer. E.g. Miranda (The Devil Wears Prada).
Artemis: Female avenger
The protagonist likes traveling, is intuitive and instinctual. E.g. Wonder Woman.
The antagonist is Medusa.
Athena: Farmer’s daughter
The protagonist is tomboy, smart, unemotional. E.g. Hermione, Nancy Drew, Annabel from Percy Jackson, Pocahontas.
The antagonist is ?
Ares: Male protector
The protagonist is physical, the alpha male, lives on the edge. E.g. Zorro, Han Solo.
The antagonist is a gladiator. E.g.?
Hades: The male recluse
The protagonist is lonely, introverted. E.g., Edward Cullen in Twilight (or other vampire novel). Sherlock Holmes?
The antagonist is a warlock who is antisocial and bitter. E.g. Darth Vader and Voldemore.
We often spend time with the main characters, but forget these important characters:
The Magi: Source of wisdom. E.g. Yoda, Dumbledore, Merlin.
The Mentor: Like an advanced helper. E.g. Obi Wan or Morpheus.
The Best Friend: Can be helpful, not always helpful. E.g. C3PO, Hagrid, Ron (Harry Potter), Dr. Watson.
The Loner: Tends to be the confidant. E.g. R2D2 or Toto (Wizard of Oz).
Not the same as an antagonist, because they have the same goals as the protagonist.
Trailblazer: Goes ahead of protagonist. E.g. Puck.
Jester: Tries to help but gets in way. E.g. Scarecrow for Wizard of Oz.
Investigator: Gets in the way with the investigation. Many detective stories such as Sherlock Holmes arguing with the police.
Pessimist: “You’ll never get it done.” Many movies where the main character is told to give it up.
Psychic: Thinks he/she knows it all.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged snow, writing on January 12, 2018| Leave a Comment »
SNOW WORDS
Some ideas for writing.
(taken from Merriam-Webster online)
Sposh: Soft slushy mud or snow. (I call this slush) E.g. My car got stuck in the sposh.
Blizzard: long severe snowstorm. E.g. The blizzard of ’78 was the worst of the century.
Onding: A heavy fall of rain or snow, but less than a blizzard. (Scotland/ North England) E.g. I pulled over until the snow onding had passed.
Skift: A light fall of snow or rain. I would say a dusting of snow or light rain. E.g. A skift of snow forced me to drive below the speed limit.
Graupel: Granular snow pellets, soft hail. E.g. The graupel didn’t damage my car.
Névé: The partially compacted granular snow that forms the surface part of the upper end of a glacier; a field of granular snow. E.g. We skied on the edge of the névé.
Firnification: The process whereby snow is changed to névé. E.g. Firnification takes many years.
Grue: Thin floating ice: snow. I think what I call crusted snow. E.g. The boy was so light he could walk on the grue.
Sleet: A mixture of rain and snow. E.g. The sleet soon turned to snow.
Corn snow: A granular snow formed by alternate thawing and freezing. Skiers call it Spring Snow. E.g. We skied over the corn snow.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged writing on November 30, 2017| Leave a Comment »
I am, when you spell it WYRMS. These are from northern Europe.
The Cherokee have something similar called UKTENA ᎤᎧᏖᎾ.
Call them huge serpents or dragons, but either way, it is enough to cure me from fishing. But something I want to write about.
The illustration of the Uktena is by Daniel Eskridge. https://daniel-eskridge.pixels.com/
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged writing on November 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Dived or dove? Dived is an older form, but nowadays, Merriam-Webster says both are correct. You may use dive/dived/dived or dive/dove/dived. (Americans prefer dove but British prefer dived) https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/dived-or-dove-which-is-correct
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged books, writing on October 21, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Verb intr. – “To move swiftly or nimbly” – I can think of a lot of ways to use this one: “I hate it when I’m frecking through the airport and other people are turtles.” “You are so frecking dumb.” I.e. an alternative to “freaking.”
Verb – “To quarrel about trifles; esp. to quarrel noisily, brawl, squabble” – Basically means to argue loudly about something that doesn’t matter, as in “Why are we still brabbling about who left the dirty spoon on the kitchen table?” Use it as a noun: “Stop that ridiculous brabble and do something useful!” “Brabble on, no one’s listening.” I.e. an alternate to “babble.”
Verb intr. – “To laugh loudly” – This Middle English word sounds like it would do well in describing one of those times when you inadvertently laugh out loud while reading a text message in class and manage to thoroughly embarrass yourself: “He’s a kenching idiot.” “He who kenches last kenches best.”
Noun – “A drinking bout; a spree or ‘binge’” – Originally a North American slang word, but is now rarely used. “Shall we go for a brannigan on Friday?” can be a more sophisticated way to discuss such activities.
Noun – “The action of shaking to and fro” – Also used in verb form, to quagswag. Pronounced like “kwag swag.” It could work as the name for a new type of dance, or such: “Your quagswagging me will not make me change my mind.” “The couple quagswagged under the blankets.”
Adj. – An Old English/Middle English word meaning “careless, heedless, negligent” – Pronounced as “yeem-lis,” – another word that could prove useful : “A yemeles idiot like you is worthless.” “He means nothing by his yemeles actions.”
Noun – “Twilight” – Used in the early 17th century, “twitter-light” – a romantic way to refer to the hours as the sun goes down:” Let us smooch in the twitter-light.” “In the twitter-light, everyone looks better.”
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged writers, writing on October 15, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Draw the reader in. Readers need to identify-with/love/relate-to your character. Then they will keep reading to find out what happens to the character.
What’s your character’s name? Names are important. A name must ring true to your character without drawing attention from the story. With children, be aware of name styles. If your character is 5, some names are no longer in vogue.
What’s your character look like? Size, age, hair, health issues etc. are vital to give the reader a mental image.
How does your character speak? Slowly, bass/treble, formal, uneducated etc. Accent is important, but just give the readers hints about the dialect or slang.
How does your character behave? Emotional, mental, & anger states are important, if only to give the character reasons for their behavior.
How about clothes? Don’t ignore clothes/lack of clothes, as they can give the reader an idea of the character’s appearance.
Gives us the specifics. Giving your character specific interests/likes/dislikes personalizes them, makes then unique.
You must eat. What/where/when does your character like to or have to eat. Food can be regional or it can reflect a child’s whims.
Location? Where your character lives or visits can be important to the story line.
What’s your character’s past? Even if you don’t include the backstory in the manuscript, it can be important to the plot.
Put it together. Once you have built your character, write his/her story.
