by Naomi L. | September 7, 2016 | Blog, Creative Writing, What If? Writing Prompts |
Yep, it’s another set of “What If?” Writing Prompts for you all! Since readers seemed to enjoy my list of five reasons I love historical fiction, I thought today I’d complement it with a new batch of history-themed prompts. What stories of the past can you create from these ideas? Good luck!
What if… the Confederacy had won the American Civil War?
What if… the Meiji Restoration, which returned imperial rule to Japan and catalyzed the nation’s modernization, had never happened?
What if… Africa had never been colonized by Europe?
What if… the Allies had failed to decrypt the Enigma code, used by Nazi Germany to encrypt military communication during World War II?
What if… Al Gore had won the 2000 U.S. presidential election?
Have fun writing some more historical tales!
If you have any “What If?” writing prompt suggestions (for any theme), please feel free to share them in the comments below. Ideas I like may be featured in future “What If?” posts, with full credit and a link to your blog (if you have one)! Also, if you’ve written a piece based on an idea you’ve found here, be sure to link back to the respective “What If?” post. I would love to see what you’ve done with the prompt! Thank you!
by Naomi L. | September 5, 2016 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: obfuscate
Pronunciation: AHB-fə-skayt
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: render obscure, unclear, or unintelligible
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Today’s Word of the Week is one that I’ve actually been familiar with for a long time, but that for some reason keeps slipping in and out of my memory. I read it most recently in a blog post about pen names, and it suddenly occurred to me that even though I had already read this word several times before in articles and flashcards, I always kept forgetting to add it to my vocabulary list. Given this word’s definition, I suppose you could consider this a humorous coincidence. Isn’t it funny how a word that means “to make obscure” has been repeatedly “obfuscated” in my memory?
To “obfuscate” something is to render it unclear, unintelligible, or obscure. The word arose in late Middle English and comes from the Latin verb obfuscare, meaning “to darken”. This verb stems from the adjective fuscus, which means “dark”.
Perhaps it’s silly that I need to keep looking up the word “obfuscate”, since I realize that a good way to remember what it means is noticing that it contains almost all the letters of the word “obscure”. Note that aside from its main definition, which applies to objects and ideas, “obfuscate” can also be used in relation to people to mean “bewilder”. If you write mystery fiction or characters who tend to hide things, you may have fun trying to “obfuscate” some of the details in your stories!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | September 2, 2016 | J.C. Wolfe's Writing, Poetry |
Water flows freely
Over the still riverbank
Stones gleam in the sun
Tiny ripples dance
All along the water’s edge
See the pebbles shine
Waves sway to and fro
Winding down the twisted stream
Smooth rocks tumble free
My responses to Ronovan Writes‘ Weekly Haiku Challenge #112: River & Stone. This is my first time participating in this challenge, and it’s proven to be a lot of fun! I’d definitely like to participate again! Thanks for the prompt, Ronovan!
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