by Naomi L. | March 31, 2014 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: reverent
Pronunciation: RE-və-rənt / RE-vrənt
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: feeling or showing deep and solemn respect
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
I don’t remember exactly where I first happened upon this word, but I’m fairly certain it was in a novel. I liked how it sounded just simple enough to seem like an average word, yet unusual enough to draw my attention in the first place. I really shouldn’t have had to wonder too much what it meant, because upon closer inspection, I realized just how familiar it actually was…
“Reverent” actions are those that demonstrate a high level of respect. The word is also an adjective in Latin meaning “revering”, a definition that made its way into late Middle English. The root verb “revere” stems from the French verb révérer and the Latin verb revereri, the latter of which is comprised of the elements re- (expressing intense force) and the verb vereri “to fear”.
Of course I should have recognized the word “reverent” right away. It has the word “revere” in it, which is a verb I’ve used plenty of times before in my writing. It also bears some resemblance to the noun form “reverence”, another word I know fairly well. Maybe the reason I enjoyed discovering this word is that I finally realized there was an adjective to complete the trio. So if you like to write detailed descriptions of characters who feel deep respect for others, keep in mind that you can write about the emotion itself, narrate the act of feeling respect, or describe such respectful actions, and you’ll know nothing can stop you!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | March 31, 2014 | Blog, Journal |
This week is a very special time for my website: its first anniversary! That’s right: this Thursday marks one year since I started blogging! It’s been quite a journey so far, and I’d like to take this time to briefly reflect on everything I’ve learned in the past year. Enjoy!
Serious blogging requires discipline. A lot of it.
Blogging is definitely fun and a great way to express yourself, but if you really want to build your identity, you have to dedicate yourself to it. Before I started, I set a goal to post at least three times a week, and so far, I’ve stuck firmly to that schedule. Because of this, I’ve learned a lot about discipline and commitment, and now I’m able to run a blog that I can be truly proud to call mine.
Blogging is one part content, two parts networking.
It’s not enough to just write good content (although that’s always important). You also need to get out there and connect with other bloggers. Share your posts on social media networks. Comment on other blogs with content similar to yours. Follow writers on Twitter and interact with them often. About 90% of my following has come from building connections with fellow writers outside my blog. My posts are accessed daily through search engines, but my regular readers are the ones I actively connect with.
I’ve also noticed that blog events are very helpful for my site. Participating in Writers Reveal has brought in more traffic and sparked some creative ideas, and my most viewed post to date is an interview with Jennifer Zeiger for my Indie Writer Spotlight segment. Blogging and networking combined! What could be better?
Patience isn’t just a virtue; it’s a necessity.
Even if you write interesting content every week and actively promote your blog on social media, it will take a while to gain a substantial following. I didn’t get my first readers (outside my real-life circle, that is) until I’d been blogging for a couple of months. Yes, I was a little anxious in the beginning about getting my writing noticed, but I stuck to my commitment, and before I knew it, I had a handful of regular readers. The important thing is to not get discouraged. Keep working hard, and it will eventually pay off.
Writers are the most supportive people on the Internet.
I was pleasantly surprised when I joined the online community of writers. I already knew that good bloggers in general are supportive of each other’s work, but those involved in creative writing seem to take it to a whole other level. Writers frequently visit each other’s blogs. They actively network on writing community sites. They share their work and exchange critique. They retweet each other and constantly promote each other’s books. And they reassure each other that no one in the community is ever really alone. They’re all like one big family.
Maybe it’s because creative writing is different from other “businesses”. Compared to other fields of marketing, there’s significantly less competition among writers (that isn’t to say that there’s no competition at all, just that it isn’t quite as cutthroat as between traditional enterprises). In fact, the opposite seems to be true: the more you promote other writers, the better it is for you. In other words, you get back as much as you give. I can see the logic in that; there’s fierce competition to sell products that people only need one of, but stories never need to be enough. There’s really no reason why one can’t read stories from several different authors, because unlike products that take up space, stories are collected in the virtually limitless mind. Of course writers want to support each other; sharing our art makes it all the more enjoyable!
If you’re truly passionate about it, you’ll always love what you do!
To be honest, I have a tendency to lose interest in activities fairly quickly. That’s why when I started blogging, part of me was worried that after a few months, my excitement would fade and it would all start to feel like work. To my surprise, I’ve found that blogging is still as much fun as it was when I started. In fact, in some respects, it may actually be more fun, now that I have active readers and a better grasp of what I’m doing. After a year of blogging, I’m now confident that I can continue at this pace, and that I’ll keep on having fun with it.
So here’s to a whole year of blogging on The Wolfe’s Den! May there be many more to come! Thank you kindly, dear readers! Bless you all!
by Naomi L. | March 28, 2014 | Flash Fiction, J.C. Wolfe's Writing |
Man, the view from my window is awesome! Seriously, you have no idea. The real upside to living in the suburbs is being able to look outside and see Nature’s work of art, you know, instead of a concrete landscape. When I look outside, I can see mountains weaving across the horizon, beautiful green mountains all covered in trees and grass. I can see the ocean far away, this big blue bay surrounded by beaches. I can see the forest stretching out everywhere, with all these vivid colors and wild animals around, mostly the birds that are always flying by. I can see houses lining the roads down the hill, and a little church on the hill right across from my window, with bells that ring every Sunday morning. I can see white clouds rolling by on clear days, and the sun setting behind the mountains in the afternoon. I can see a blending palette of greens and blues, plus whatever colors are painted on the houses. I get to look out my window whenever I want and see something beautiful every single day.
The view from my window is awesome. Why? Because it really captures so much of the natural beauty of Brazil.
I wrote this short piece a few years ago as part of a writing exercise to practice the element of voice. The exercise is to describe the view from your bedroom window as casually as if you were speaking to someone, so as to capture the essence of your natural voice in your writing. I hope you enjoy what I’ve written. Thanks for reading!
by Naomi L. | March 26, 2014 | Blog, Creative Writing |
Ready for Part 4 of my story? In case you’re just joining me now, I’m in the process of telling the story behind a “novel” I recently published online: a fanfiction titled Chaos and Control. Part 1 is the introduction to the idea, Part 2 tells of the planning that went into the fanfiction, and Part 3 is about the long process of writing the first drafts. Have fun reading the next part of the story!
After taking a break last week for Writer’s Reveal, today I’m picking up from the last point of my story to talk about the next part of the writing process: the editing. If writing the fanfiction was the learning, editing it was the studying it took to fix those lessons in my head for good. Enjoy!
Part IV: The Editing
By now, I’ve made it clear that I poured my heart and soul into this story. Committed to working on it every single day, it took me almost a year and a half to write all 14 chapters of Chaos and Control. Then came the editing. Oh wow, what a task that was! Even with the writing already done, revising probably required just as much attention and effort, if not more. Writing the first drafts is the fun part; the editing process is the time to get serious and make sure every last detail of the story is as ready for publication as it can possibly be.
Every chapter went through at least two revisions before being uploaded: once immediately after being written, and again after the whole story was complete. Working this way, I could proofread each chapter for technical errors the first time around, and edit the story itself with a fresh perspective later on. I wanted to write the entire fanfiction before I started publishing it, so that I could post each new chapter at a consistent pace. And that turned out to be the best thing I could have possibly done for my novel. But one step at a time.
Sharpening the Story
The first thing I needed to check while editing was if the story (and its characters) followed the line of development I had envisioned. Chapters 1 and 2 set up the story, introducing the most important characters and establishing the starting point for the lead couple to begin their journey. In Chapter 3, they meet at a party and kiss. Chapter 4 is the famous balcony scene (because what’s Romeo & Juliet without a balcony scene?). Chapters 5 and 6 are when they put a plan for peace into action and eventually fall in love. Things take a bad turn in Chapter 7, and keep going downhill through Chapters 8 to 11, building up to a dramatic climax in Chapters 12 and 13 until the entire story reaches its grand conclusion in Chapter 14. Yes, the basic plot was set exactly as I imagined. Time to move on to the details.
One of the most enjoyable parts of writing Chaos and Control was implementing tropes that colored the story and tied the plot together, and the editing process was the time to make sure they were all in place. Much of the dialogue and scenes were heavily inspired by Shakespeare’s poetry (especially the balcony scene, which can almost be read as a translation of the original), and I also added some shout-outs to my favorite adaptations (e.g. when asking her to run away with him, Miles tells Maria that there’s a place for them somewhere). Props were throw in to act as Chekhov’s guns and red herrings, and early lines of dialogue would become meaningful echoes in later chapters. Even some of the littlest details, like the color of their clothing in certain scenes, were purposely chosen to symbolize greater elements of the story (e.g. the night they meet, Miles and Maria are each wearing one of the colors of the other’s faction, symbolizing the overlapping of Chaos and Control). Satisfied that my plot devices were set, I could focus on honing my technique.
Trimming the Purple
Meet Amy Rose, Miles and Lily’s mother and the matriarch of Control. Her Gift is in the Mind class, with a focus in intuition.
The main reason it was best to edit the whole fanfiction before publishing it was that my style changed significantly throughout the writing process. Reading the first chapter again after finishing the last ones, I noticed some major differences in my storytelling. This was understandable and even to be expected; having taken over a year to write, it would have been surprising if the story had kept a completely consistent form from beginning to end. I learned many new things about creative writing during that time, lessons that inevitably seeped into my story the further I progressed. And of those lessons, the most important was definitely avoiding purple prose.
I have to admit I was more than a little surprised when I read back the beginning chapters for the first time in months. There were so many differences between the writing style from back then and that evident in my later chapters that I almost couldn’t believe I’d let myself get away with all those mistakes after the first revision stage. I think it wasn’t until I was halfway through writing that I really began to notice how purple my technique was, so that by the time I reached the last chapters, I had already learned to avoid my old mistakes. All I needed to do then was go back and clean up the earlier chapters to create a consistent narrative voice. It took a little extra effort to edit the entire first half of the story, but I pulled it off, and after all was said and done, I was content with the results.
Watching My Characters Grow
If implementing tropes was the most entertaining part of writing this fanfiction, witnessing my characters’ development was the most enlightening. Because I was so focused on each individual chapter while writing, it was only during the editing that I was able to sit back and see my characters’ growth through the story as a whole, and what a beautiful thing it was to see. Miles grows from a lost and confused boy to a noble young man, and seeing Maria’s development from a naïve girl to a courageous young woman made me truly proud of my work.
Meet Miles “Tails” Prower, Sonia and Aaron’s father and his nephew’s namesake. He’s the second-in-command of Control, and his Gift is in Flight.
The supporting characters change throughout the story too. Lily, pragmatic by nature, sheds her cynical views on love and destiny after witnessing her brother’s romance. Sonia and Rex go through extremely emotional experiences that teach them some harsh lessons. Angelica’s superficial persona gradually fades the more involved she becomes in her best friend’s deep secrets. Sonia’s little brother Aaron, a partial parallel to Balthasar, eventually gives up his lifelong desire to live up to his hate-filled sister’s image in favor of a new aspiration to be more like their loving cousin. Eugene Princeton, the equivalent to Paris and a major antagonist, is also significantly affected by the events of the story, but unlike the others, his character develops in a drastically negative way. Even the parents suffer dramatic changes, though this being a modern version of Romeo & Juliet, these only truly become evident towards the end of the story.
Even though all my characters grow through the course of the fanfiction, my favorite development is by far that of my Romeo and Juliet. It was enjoyably challenging to write for a young couple who find meaning in their lives by falling in love, who learn from each other and draw strength from their relationship to finally stand up for what they believe in. Despite all the effort I put into placing the details, what always mattered more than anything else was this core dynamic between Miles and Maria. Inspired by Shakespeare’s work, I did my best to create believable and relatable characters with the power to break a long-standing cycle of hatred, and though many minor details of the fanfiction were still less than perfect when the writing and editing was done, I was happy to have finally written a novel about one of my favorite literary themes: true love. As for what my readers thought… that’s a story for next time.
This concludes the fourth part of the story behind my fanfiction. Next week’s post will be about the publishing of the novel, the time when all my hard work was finally put online for the world to read. Thanks for reading!
Note: If you’re interested, you’re more than welcome to read my story and even leave some reviews. I promise you don’t need to know too much about the Sonic universe to appreciate it. Reviews are positive, but contain spoilers! Thank you!
Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters belong to Sega. All official artwork is displayed for illustrative purposes only. I own nothing!
by Naomi L. | March 24, 2014 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: commensurate
Pronunciation: kə-MEN-sə-rət / kə-MEN-shə-rət
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: corresponding in size or degree; in proportion
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Have you ever woken up in the morning and suddenly been hit by a distant memory you didn’t even know was buried in your mind? I recently have. No matter how hard I think about it, I can’t seem to remember where I first saw or heard the word “commensurate”. What I do remember, however, is waking up one morning and suddenly realizing it had resurfaced in my memory. I’m not even sure why; maybe it had come up in my dream the night before, but I definitely woke up thinking about it, and I quickly made a note to add it to my blog’s vocabulary list, or at least look it up to remember what it meant. It must have just sounded nice in my head, because I can’t imagine what dream I could have been having that made any reference to proportions…
Anything “commensurate” with something else is proportionate to or corresponds to it in size or degree. The word comes from the Latin adjective commensuratus, meaning “equally measured”. The roots of this adjective are the preposition com “together” and the verb mensurare “to measure”.
Note that evidently there are two ways to use the word “commensurate”: either followed or not by the preposition “with”. From my understanding, this slightly alters the meaning of the word. On the one hand, when used without the word “with”, it works as a synonym to “equivalent” or “proportionate”, such as in “commensurate values”. On the other hand, followed by the preposition, it means something more like “corresponding to” or “in line with”, as in “salary commensurate with qualifications”. Be sure to keep this in mind if you use this word, and you can write stories of a quality “commensurate” with your knowledgeability!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
Recent Comments