by Naomi L. | June 18, 2014 | Blog, Creative Writing |
Hello, and welcome to the June round of Writers Reveal! This month’s topic was sent to us by Melissa of Melissa Writes. Her topic for us is: “When life gives you lemons… how do you keep on writing?” Challenge accepted! Thanks for the prompt, Melissa!
What to do when life tries to give you lemons?
Everyone knows that famous saying: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” We also understand what it means: instead of getting discouraged about life’s challenges (the proverbial lemons), one should strive to turn them into positive experiences (the proverbial lemonade). So we take that advice to heart and try our best to live with optimism, because we know deep down that life is best experienced with sweet refreshing lemonade as opposed to a pile of yucky sour lemons.
This is what “normal” people do. But not writers. We do very different things with the lemons life gives us. Not always, but often. Why? Because sour or sweet, they pose equal safety and risk to our writing. Yes, pure lemonade is great, but while it’s beneficial to real life experience, time spent making it is time taken away from the art that in many cases thrives on the lemons as well.
So what does my inner writer tell me to do when life tries to give me lemons? It depends on the situation, but she sometimes likes to take an alternative route to the traditional approach.
Throw the lemons back!
When life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons! What the hell am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I’m gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!
– Cave Johnson, Portal 2
OK, so I wouldn’t go as far as trying to invent combustible lemons, but sometimes when life drops too many obstacles at once into my course of writing, I just get frustrated. I wish I had the motivation to be optimistic all the time, to keep on creating the stories that so often themselves are the lemonade of my life. But the types of challenges I usually face actually keep me from making that lemonade and instead seem to push me into making some kind of lemon sorbet. And while I do come out of them a better person each time, how fulfilling can that truly be if they rob me of the time to put that new experience to the best use I know how?
So once in a while, when I’m tired of being bombarded with life’s lemons, I grab them and throw them back. I refuse to make anything out of those lemons. I try to forget they exist and just concentrate on writing about things completely unrelated to whatever I’m going through at the moment. Is that irresponsible? Maybe. Almost definitely, in fact. But that’s what I do. There are times when I need a break from life altogether, and more often than not, writing is just the thing to help me recharge so that when life decides to throw those lemons at me a second time, I’ll be ready to turn them into some darn good lemonade.
Make your own lemons! Whaaat?
Life isn’t really life without its fair share of challenges, but some of us are lucky enough to experience an opposite kind of existence, where lemonade is constantly handed to us free of charge and all we have to do is sit back and enjoy. I’m fortunate enough to live without major struggles that relentlessly test my inner strength and push me to a potential breaking point over and over again. I am one of the lucky ones. Life gives me more lemonade than lemons, and for that, I am grateful.
Having said that, this also poses a hazard to writing. Nobody wants to read stories where everyone is happy all the time and nothing bad ever happens, because those would be ridiculously boring. As much as they threaten our creative time, writers need lemons because they provide inspiration for the conflicts in our fiction. So what do I do when life won’t give me those lemons? I make my own.
I know it would be unwise to purposely create complications for myself (which I sometimes do anyway, but that’s beside the point). Life is going to hand out plenty of those on its own, so there’s no need to add to the burden if it can be avoided. Instead, I try to imagine challenges I’ve never personally faced… and then make my characters face them. Essentially, I play the part of life by giving out the lemons.
I’ve written stories about forbidden love, prejudice and senseless hatred. I’ve pitted characters against each other in action scenes fraught with violence. I’ve made them face all sorts of creatures from dragons to giant robots. I’ve subjected them to enough emotional stress to drive a real person close to a breakdown. But the best part of it all is making my characters take on all these challenges and overcome them. In a way, it’s reassuring to see them take all the lemons I give them and turn them into lemonade, because it’s as if my subconscious is telling me that if my own characters can make the best of an imaginary life, then I can certainly make the best of a real one.
When life gives me lemons, how do I keep on writing? Sometimes I don’t, but when I do, I do my best to turn those lemons into the most delicious lemonade ever.
What about you? What do you do with the lemons life gives you?
This has been a special topic post for Writers Reveal, a monthly blog swap among several talented writers. Be sure to check out the other blogs participating in the event. Thanks for reading!
Other bloggers in Writers Reveal
Melissa Khalinsky: Melissa Writes
Becky Fyfe: Imagine! Create! Write!
Ashley Howland: Ghostnapped
Emily Hawker: You Learn Something New Every Day
by Naomi L. | June 16, 2014 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: reciprocate
Pronunciation: ri-SI-prə-kayt
Part of Speech: verb
Definition:
- respond to (a gesture or action) by making a corresponding one
- experience the same (love, liking, or affection) for someone as that person does for oneself
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Here’s another of my favorite words. Unlike several others featured in my vocabulary segment, this is one I use all the time. It may be partly the sound of the word “reciprocate” that I like, but I think I appreciate it mostly for its connection to Math (a subject that I always loved in school). I was using the related word “reciprocal” in mathematical contexts long before I learned the similar verb that could be used in my other passion of storytelling, and you can only imagine how my writing took off when I finally discovered it.
To “reciprocate” a gesture is to return it in equal measure, while to “reciprocate” someone’s emotions is to feel the same way about that person as they feel about you. The word comes from the Latin verb reciprocare, meaning “to move backwards and forwards”. The definition of this word is somewhat easy to remember as it contains the roots re- “back” and pro- “forth”.
I usually use the word “reciprocate” to indicate the returning of a gesture from one character to another, the gesture in most cases being a smile. Of course, I’ve also found a place for it in romantic stories for characters who share equal feelings toward each other. Apparently, the word also works as an adjective in the form “reciprocating” to describe a part of a machine that moves backward and forward in a straight line, but I much prefer it as a verb. It’s a good word to keep in mind if you write plenty of interactions, so use it well along with all the others, and your readers will be more likely to “reciprocate” the respect you show them by giving them a good story to enjoy!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | June 13, 2014 | J.C. Wolfe's Writing, Poetry |
Teaching me everything you know about
How to succeed in this world will
Always be the greatest gift you’ve ever given me.
Never will I forget all the
Knowledge you’ve shared to help me be the best I can be.
Your love and wisdom are blessings,
Opening my eyes to new ideas and
Unbelievable experiences that I can take with me for life.
Days, weeks, years may pass, but
As life goes on, this message of gratitude remains in my heart:
Daddy, thank you for everything! I love you!
Happy Father’s Day to my awesome dad! Thank you for all you’ve ever taught me about life! I value and cherish your wisdom every day! I love you!
by Naomi L. | June 11, 2014 | Blog, Creative Writing |
English is a complex language, as many of its non-native speakers are well aware. Among the several confusing aspects of its grammar is the issue of plural forms. While those who grew up speaking English tend to take them for granted, I know several people still learning the language who find it odd that “houses” can be infested with “mice” or that North America has “moose” and “geese”. Most unusual plural forms are common knowledge to us, but even native English speakers can be thrown off by some lesser known plural forms.
Just for fun, here are three plural forms that are uncommonly known to be correct. Enjoy, and be careful not to get them wrong!
1) Fishes
There are three fish in this picture, but only two fishes! (Finding Nemo, 2003)
This may be my favorite uncommon plural word because it’s one I see all the time in my field of study. As a Marine Biology student, I’m constantly reading papers and book chapters containing the keyword “fishes”, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel smart for knowing why this plural form of “fish” is correct.
We were taught as children that the plural of “fish” is the same as its singular form, while fewer of us have been exposed to its other plural form in scientific contexts. But here’s the catch (no pun intended): “fishes” is used to indicate multiple kinds of fish (as in “Fishes of the Caribbean”), while “fish” is used to indicate multiple individual fish (note that “fishes” was once used in this sense too, but has since fallen into disuse).
So yes, you’ll probably still be using “fish” most of the time, but at least you now know why the famous phrase “sleeping with the fishes” isn’t entirely wrong!
2) Octopuses
I bet you’ve gone most of your life thinking that the plural form of “octopus” is “octopi”. Don’t worry; so have I. When I was a kid, I had a Math book titled “How Do Octopi Eat Pizza Pie?”, and ever since, I’d been walking around thinking more than one “octopus” should be called “octopi”. Turns out, until last month, I’d thought wrong.
Similar to the previous example, we were taught at a young age to follow a specific rule when creating the plural form of certain words, but without really understanding why. We just know that several words ending in -us are pluralized by replacing the last two letters with -i. However, this mostly applies to some words derived from Latin, such as “cactus” (which, despite being Greek in origin, counts as an example of botanical Latin). “Octopus”, on the other hand, is etymologically Greek, and thus does not obey this rule. This is why “cacti” is correct (though “cactuses” is also acceptable), while “octopi” is not. Instead, pluralize “octopus” as “octopuses” or “octopodes”, and if anyone ever tries to correct you, you’ll know how to explain why your way is correct!
3) Dwarfs
Fans of The Lord of the Rings and other fantasy stories by J.R.R. Tolkien may be overly familiar with the word “dwarves”. What many may not realize, though, is that this is actually a newer plural form of “dwarf” that was popularized by the author (though it seems to have originated elsewhere). The standard plural form is actually “dwarfs”, and is the correct spelling for most contexts. However, “dwarves” seems to have become increasingly acceptable in fantasy fiction to indicate multiple individuals of a race of little people, so it shouldn’t be disregarded completely. The important thing is to know the difference, especially if you write a lot in the fantasy genre. Whether you’re referring to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” or the “elves” and “dwarves” of Middle-earth, make sure you know when to use which form!
What are your thoughts on these unusual plural forms? Any more you would add to this list?
by Naomi L. | June 9, 2014 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: sagacious
Pronunciation: sə-GAY-shəs
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: having or showing keen mental discernment and good judgment; wise or shrewd
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Time to draw another word from the flashcard stack. Like others previously mentioned in my vocabulary segment, this one had me stumped the first time I read it even though it really shouldn’t have. I don’t remember what definitions I may have initially guessed, but I do remember thinking how simple it should have been to get it right once I recognized its similarity to the word “sage” (not the herb, the other meaning).
A “sagacious” person is someone who has a sharp mind and generally shows good judgment. The word arose in the 17th century, possibly as the adjective form of the noun “sagacity” (“keenness of perception”). These words stem from the Latin adjective sagax, meaning “wise” or “perceptive”.
I haven’t yet worked the word “sagacious” into one of my stories, not because it’s never accurately described any of my characters, but because I haven’t yet felt that it fits the tone of my writing. Maybe it’s just me trying to avoid flowery prose, but I often consider this word an unnecessarily sophisticated synonym for the word “wise”. Still, I suppose it could be used to describe a specific type of person, possibly someone who’s both wise and sharp-witted, so it’s certainly worth noting if you write plenty of intelligent characters. At the very least, a wise choice of words will help you come across as “sagacious” to your readers!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
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